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Fall 2024 Newsletter

CSS Leadership Team Advocates for Alternative Shelter Models at National Conference in Washington, D.C.

November 1, 2024
This past summer, the leadership team at Community Supported Shelters took a powerful step forward in advocating for alternative shelter solutions by attending the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) conference in Washington, D.C. The team joined thousands of advocates, policymakers, and service providers nationwide to share best practices, exchange ideas, and drive critical discussions on addressing homelessness with innovative, community-centered approaches.

Access Center Expands Services

October 31, 2024
The last time Shaggy (given name Steve) got a haircut was right before he moved into the CSS Lot 9 Community about two years ago. His hair was long and he’d been sleeping under the Harlow Street Bridge between Eugene and Springfield and he wanted to make sure he didn’t bring any lice or other parasites into the community. He shaved it all off.

HIV Alliance Brings Testing and Education to CSS Communities

October 30, 2024
Since August, residents of the 14 CSS Communities in Eugene have seen a white van and new faces arrive on site during Tuesday group meetings. HIV Alliance is a Eugene-based nonprofit focused on supporting people with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other sexually transmitted diseases—and actively promoting prevention through testing and education.

Empowering Voices: Homeless Not Voteless

October 29, 2024
In partnership with The League of Women Voters of Lane County (LWVLC), CSS is making significant strides in expanding voter registration outreach to unhoused individuals in our community. Historically, unhoused individuals have faced numerous barriers to voter registration and participation including lack of a permanent address, identification issues, lack of information on candidates and issues, and limited access to information about the voting process.

Ernest Packaging Donates 164 Shirts


Lots of gratitude directed at Ernest Packaging employees, who gave "so that those less fortunate than ourselves can at the very least have a new, clean top or two going into the winter months."

Eugene Gay Mens Chorus Supports Through Musical Arts


In September, we held a fundraiser at Oakshire Public House, and Eugene Gay Mens Chorus performed live music for the occasion! Thank you for extending your message of inclusivity to unhoused neighbors.

UofO Partnership to Alleviate Space Woes


We have major space constraints at the CSS office. Students from the University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment are putting their heads together to brainstorm ways we can optimize our limited space to the fullest!

Handmade Winter Attire Provides Warmth


A number of supporters have recently donated handmade hats and scarves. Thank you so, so much for using your knitting skills for a good cause! For those interested in helping us prep for the winter, we also need lots of firewood and hand warmers.

Giving Shoppers an Opportunity to Help Unhoused Neighbors


Big thanks to Buffalo Exchange in Eugene! Until the end of the year, instead of giving out single-use plastic bags, they hand out 5-cent tokens that customers can donate to one of several local nonprofits, including CSS.

Interested in Buying a Conestoga Hut?


The starting price is $2500 refurbished, $4000 new. For additional cost, we can:

- Deliver (within 100 miles of Eugene)
- Assemble (in Eugene/Springfield)


Interested? Reach out to community@cssoregon.org.

Bingo Night at Hop Valley Brewing


Fri, Nov. 15, 6-8 pm
Hop Valley Brewing
990 W 1st Ave, Eugene


Bingo is $20 for 5 games. All Bingo proceeds go to CSS. Additionally, $1 from every beer goes to CSS.

Cyprus Home Duo Benefit Concert


Sat, Nov. 23, 7:30-9:30 pm
Unity of the Valley Church
3912 Dillard Rd, Eugene



Live original folk music! Pay what you want. All ticket proceeds go to CSS.
Check out their music here! 

All Articles

CSS Leadership Team Advocates for Alternative Shelter Models at National Conference in Washington, D.C.

November 1, 2024
This past summer, the leadership team at Community Supported Shelters took a powerful step forward in advocating for alternative shelter solutions by attending the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) conference in Washington, D.C. The team joined thousands of advocates, policymakers, and service providers nationwide to share best practices, exchange ideas, and drive critical discussions on addressing homelessness with innovative, community-centered approaches.

Access Center Expands Services

October 31, 2024
The last time Shaggy (given name Steve) got a haircut was right before he moved into the CSS Lot 9 Community about two years ago. His hair was long and he’d been sleeping under the Harlow Street Bridge between Eugene and Springfield and he wanted to make sure he didn’t bring any lice or other parasites into the community. He shaved it all off.

HIV Alliance Brings Testing and Education to CSS Communities

October 30, 2024
Since August, residents of the 14 CSS Communities in Eugene have seen a white van and new faces arrive on site during Tuesday group meetings. HIV Alliance is a Eugene-based nonprofit focused on supporting people with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other sexually transmitted diseases—and actively promoting prevention through testing and education.

Empowering Voices: Homeless Not Voteless

October 29, 2024
In partnership with The League of Women Voters of Lane County (LWVLC), CSS is making significant strides in expanding voter registration outreach to unhoused individuals in our community. Historically, unhoused individuals have faced numerous barriers to voter registration and participation including lack of a permanent address, identification issues, lack of information on candidates and issues, and limited access to information about the voting process.

Art Partnership Celebrates Community

July 23, 2024
On Friday, August 2, 2024, art created by CSS community members and staff will be featured on Eugene’s First Friday Art Walk in an exhibition titled “Community is Key” at the Oregon Supported Living Programs Arts and Culture Center (110 East 11th Avenue, Eugene). The exhibition, which opened on the First Friday Art Walk on July 5, is the culmination of a partnership between CSS and OSLP that began almost magically on a rainy day last Fall.

Director's Letter: Shared Leadership

July 22, 2024
We are delighted to bring you the Summer edition of our shelter program's newsletter. A special welcome to our new friends from the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in D.C. For those receiving our newsletter for the first time, our mission is to support the unhoused in rebuilding their lives through intentional community. We seek to provide not only a safe haven for those experiencing homelessness but also a nurturing community that fosters growth, dignity, and hope.

Staff Spotlight: Mellinda Poor, Navigating Toward Sustainable Lives

July 21, 2024
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a navigator as “one who navigates.” Further it defines navigate as “to make one’s way over or through.” At Community Supported Shelters, the role of the Service Navigation Manager is precisely that: to assist clients in making their way over and through challenges to a place of sustainability in their lives, including with housing. And you would be hard-pressed to find a better navigator than Mellinda Poor.

Community Court Program

May 4, 2024
Community Supported Shelters’ Roosevelt Safe Spot Community has been transformed into a shelter community aligned with the City of Eugene Community Court program. Beginning in January, people charged with minor misdemeanor offenses who have opted into the Community Court system (rather than Municipal Court) can opt into the CSS shelter program and move into one of 16 available Huts at Roosevelt.

Volunteers Boost Energy Systems at CSS Communities

May 3, 2024
During the ice storm that brought Eugene to a standstill in January, all the batteries that stored the energy from the solar panels at CSS’s Lot 9 Community went dead, meaning no lights and no way to charge cell phones. Dave Reuter knew that because of a monitoring system he had set up to keep track of the status of the solar energy systems at eight CSS communities. Dave, a volunteer who has led an effort to upgrade and standardize the CSS power systems, and his wife Janel Erickson, who has worked with him on this project, are intrepid outdoors people. While most of us struggled to get out of our front doors, Dave and Janel loaded a couple of fresh batteries on their Flexible Flyer sled and attached Yaktrak spikes to their shoes and a rope to the sled. With Dave in front and Janel in the rear, they guided the sled the five miles from their Friendly neighborhood home to Lot 9, near Autzen Stadium.

UO Interior Design Creative Storage Collaboration

May 2, 2024
A sixty square foot area. Six feet by 10 feet of space covered by an unconventional Conestoga shaped canvas. This is the simple description of the Hut basic to all CSS communities. How can a safe, comfortable, and efficient habitat be created within this framework using common and inexpensive materials? This was the question posed by Assistant Professor Solmaz Mohammadzadeh Kive to her Architecture 484 class this winter term at the University of Oregon.
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