Pardners, the hour glass is running out on gettin’ yer tickets to the Hoedown and Auction, a rip snortin’ event if there ever was one!  We’ll sell tickets until Friday October 12 at 5 pm - nine business days away.  Tickets are $85 for individuals and tables of 10 are $850 with a limited number of patron tables available. (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) call (503) 222-5694 ext. 19, or click here to order securely online, tell us the names of any guests, and your meal choice.  The Hoedown is Saturday, October 13 4:30- 9:30 pm at the Portland Art Museum’s Kridel Ballroom.  Click here for the full run-down.

Cowhands, we need your help volunteering on the day of!  If you can help, email Mary at sistersoftheroad.org, or give her a holler at (503) 222-5694 ext.x17.

Hot off the presses, get your Sisters’ how-to-manual, “‘Tell me some stories about your experience of homelessness’: A practical guide for replicating Sisters Of The Road’s Research Project.” Click here to download the manual (when you download, we will collect your name and email for internal tracking purposes, but we will never share or sell it.)

Not just for studying homelessness, this manual could help any group wishing to gather their own in-depth information about the communities they serve.  It describes how to replicate the project from the ground up, including:

• funding and budgeting
• hiring and training personnel
• technology and logistics
• the interview process
• coding and analyzing the data
• using the project as a kernel to launch a people’s organization.

  The manual was written by the Research Project’s leader and Sisters’ Cofounder Genny Nelson (photo, by Stephen Voss, above), and co-authored by staff member Jamie Manuel and project consultant Judith Chambliss.

November 1 through December 31:

Get ready, Sisters’ Holiday Matching Grant Challenge begins soon.  All donations to Sisters these months are matched 50 cents per dollar through the help of a generous group of individuals and businesses.

But wait - long-time Sisters supporters Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust and Collins Foundation will

  The new donor match will match all gifts up to up to $30,000.

There is one catch: to receive the new donor match, Sisters must receive at least $30,000 in gifts from people who have never donated to Sisters, by midnight on December 31.  So please let your friends and networks know, the holidays are a great time to become a new supporter!

Sisters raises most of their budget during these two months, so it is a crucial time to reach out and help raise the funds necessary to help low-income families and individuals throughout the whole year. The goal this year is to raise $270,000 in two months.
 

The beautiful, poignant photos from the PhotoVoice project will soon be available in an exciting 2008 wall calendar.  This 12 X 18 inch,12-month calendar features striking black-and-white PhotoVoice photos chosen by the photographers, paired with moving quotes from people interviewed in Sisters’ research project on such topics as community, dehumanization, love, spirituality, violence, and the search for vital services like restrooms and shelter.

The calendar also includes a very wide range of politically progressive, spiritually diverse and fun holidays and dates.
Profits from sales of the calendars will be shared with the PhotoVoice photographers.  The PhotoVoice project allowed our customers to document their search for food, shelter, and community through photography.  Many of the quotes featured in the calendar can also be found in Sisters’ new book, Voices from the Street, available at bookstores and at Sisters: (503) 222-5694.

Click on the picture above to see our “Take Action” feature, a project of our Civic Action Group, a community organizing group of men and women with experience with homelessness.