FILLING EMPTY BELLIES
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Facts Figures & FAQs

Collaboration & Cooperation
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In this picture from left to right is: Marianne Martin - CCA Homeless Liaison, Cheryl Paul - CCA Homeless Liaison, Erin Carlsen - Director of Beacon Clubhouse, Osarch Orak - Executive Director of LiFEBoat Services and Director of Filling Empty Bellies, Trista Boudon - SUD Counselor/Recovery Ally Coordinator at CBH, Brittney Roberson - CBH Recovery Ally, and Dave Hsiao - Recovery Services Program Manager at CBH
In this picture from left to right is: Marianne Martin - CC Homeless Liaison, Cheryl Paul - CC Homeless Liaison, Erin Carlsen - Director of Beacon Clubhouse, Osarch Orak - Executive Director of LiFEBoat Services and Director of Filling Empty Bellies, Trista Bouden - SUD Counselor/Recovery Ally Coordinator at CBH, Brittney Roberson - CBH Recovery Ally, and Dave Hsiao - Recovery Services Program Manager at CBH. We work together literally EVERY day, on the ground, directly with the most under-served members of our community, to provide wrap-around services to those in need. These services include: crisis support, clinical mental health advocacy, non-clinical mental health advocacy, substance abuse counseling, peer support for those navigating addiction, employment and housing advocacy and placement, emergency rental assistance, SSI, SNAP, and OHP assistance, bus passes, showers passes and meals. This is a short list. We see, and talk, with each other every day. These advocates co-locate at LiFEBoat Services every day. We have placed, and kept, many people in housing, and off the streets, BECAUSE we work together. Please keep seeking truth before criticizing the programs, people, and organizations who are at the heart of this work. Not pictured is an advocate from The Harbor. We work frequently with the Harbor and a co-located advocate is at LiFEBoat Services every week. Seek knowledge. Speak intelligently. Your common perception of what's happening within each local organization may not be accurate because you simply don't know. The beauty of that, is that you can always learn more! Thanks for reading ​
Questions Comments & Accusations
It is our preference to address questions/comments and accusations on our own page, or in person, vs. other people's pages on Facebook. One thing that has been said publicly is that our location is "unkind" to the people whom we serve because we are forcing them to be seen downtown. First and foremost, I encourage any person with this belief to actually come and speak with our participants and seek truth rather than project one's own presumptions onto an entire group of people. Secondly, we find no reason for anyone who is seeking help and basic needs to live in shame, or to hide their needs. That mentality is indicative of a culture rooted deeply in capitalism and prejudice. Perhaps if people were made to feel like humans FIRST, with less shame and fear around openly seeking help, we would see a decrease in drug and alcohol abuse and mental health crisis'. ​
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Pertinent FACTS
  • LiFEBoat Services is the only local
    organization serving houseless people
    whose Executive Director has lived
    experience.
  • More than 90% of our participants and the
    houseless suspects of the local dispatch
    calls are individuals originally from Clatsop
    county (other cities do not bus in their
    Houseless people to Clatsop County).
  • We currently have two separate programs,
    Filling Empty Bellies (meal program/
    Navigation Center) and Beacon Clubhouse
    (members only clubhouse for individuals
    with diagnosed mental illness).​
  • Filling Empty Bellies had been trying since
    2018 to secure a space to move indoors
    with around ten denied proposals for
    spaces outside of the direct downtown area
    (countless times we asked for assistance
    from local municipalities and local
    churches in this endeavor and they did not
    assist) 
  •  Our co-located services agencies include:
         The Homeless Liaisons, Clatsop Behavioral
          Health’s Recovery Allies and The Harbor. 
  • We currently work with: The District. 
    Attorneys’ Offices Victim services, County
    Jail Pretrial Release Program, Clatsop
    County Parole and Probation, Astoria Parks 
    and Recreation, and The Astoria Police
    Department.
  • LiFEBoat Services has no more control over 
    the actions of citizens on the streets or 
    sidewalks than law enforcement enforcing 
    the laws of the state. I recommend that all
    concerned read the following house bills:
    HB3124, HB2006 and HB3115.
  • Since we moved into 1040 Commercial
    street, we have extended an open invitation 
    to anyone who would like to schedule a tour,
    or just come down and join us for a meal, in 
    order to better inform the community as to 
    what we do and who we are.
    ​
A Few More Pertinent FACTS
    A couple of years ago our participant's started being forced out of the wooded areas on the outskirts of town due to public concern. They began moving closer into town. Which brings us to the situation in which we currently find ourselves. A highly visible increasing houseless population. Then add a pandemic on top of it all, part of the reason I believe that it might seem to be all of a sudden is the fact that we were shut down for so long. Most people didn’t notice the movement of our houseless population into the downtown area because they were at home. We saw it daily since we worked right through the pandemic providing services and have stepped up to become part of the solution.
Without services including Navigation Centers (LiFEBoat Services) and Warming Centers (Astoria Warming Center), houselessness on the streets of Downtown Astoria will increase. The following two court cases are currently law. Mayor Bruce Jones, Chief Spalding, the City of Astoria and LiFEBoat Services have no choice but to work within the confines of these court decisions. 
  • Martin v. Boise
    “The Ninth Circuit's landmark decision resolved that the Eighth Amendment prohibits cities from criminalizing the status of homelessness itself by punishing individuals for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go,”
  • Blake v. Grants Pass
    Local ordinances may not prohibit camping, sitting or laying on public property and sleeping on city streets and sidewalks, when there are no shelters available and cannot impose fines. 
    Since LiFEBoat Services exists, we are the available shelter (alternative to every other public space downtown). Which allows law enforcement within our city the legal power to move individuals along while we are open.
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