Elizabeth

Everybody KNIT!

Auctioneer Johhna Wells and Sisters’ staffer Orion

Honkey Tonkin’ Hoedown guests


Cowboy Marc Jolin with Anja

This page is updated frequently with events that change hearts and minds and support our great work!

Candidate Forum

Join us for a forum with Portland’s mayoral candidates. A broad base of community organizations will be asking candidates questions about homelessness and affordable housing.

First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97205.
Thursday May 1, Noon-1:30PM.

Click here to open the flier (pictured at left) in PDF format.

Help us to keep the cornbread comin’

During May, June and July our special fund-raising drive Operation Cornbread will support the 400-450 meals we serve a day. Our goal is to raise $20,000 that will be matched two-to-one by Operation Cornbread Matching Grants. Every dollar you donate will become three!

The money we raise will support the work of Sisters throughout the summer months - when people are hungry for a good low-cost meal, when children are out of school and need a safe place to eat, and when seasonal workers are looking for a safe welcoming place to enjoy a solid, low-cost meal.

They need you!
Please click here to donate and choose ‘Operation Cornbread’ as your donation type. Click here for more information or call Katharine Babad at 503-222-5694 ext. 12 or . Thanks for your help keepin’ the cornbread comin’ over the summer months!

Chez Jose Benefit

When you eat at either Chez Jose location in April, May and June, it will help Sisters -especially if you vote for us!

April 1 through June 30, 1% of all sales (including all alcohol and retail sales) will go to Sisters Of The Road, Portland Habitat for Humanity, Hollyrood-Fernwood Elementary and the Oregon Food Bank.

All will receive a check at the end, but customers determine how much goes to which charity, voting every time they dine! Please vote for Sisters - our customers will thank you!

Visit Chez Jose at the following two locations:

1) 2200 NE Broadway St, Portland website
2) 8502 SW Terwilliger Blvd, Portland website

We were chosen to be one of Chez Jose’s beneficiaries this quarter based on their customer’s votes.  Thank you to them, and to Chez Jose - you’re all heart!

Mother’s Day Meal

We will host a special meal Monday, May 12, to honor the moms among us!  This meal will feature flowers on the table and a special menu of ham or barbecued tempeh, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and a complementary dessert.  Bring your mom, mom-in-spirit, or a mom you know, and share a special meal with us.

Party at the Old Town Chinatown Street Fair

Come on down to the Trimet Old Town Chinatown Street Fair, May 1, 5pm - 9pm. Sixth Avenue will be a giant party!  Sisters’ cafe (133 NW Davis) will host our PhotoVoice exhibit and an art exhibit by p:ear, featuring the art of youth experiencing homelessness. 

We’ll also sell our book Voices from the Street and give tours of the cafe and Personalist Center. Light refreshments will be served.  Please join us for this cross-class community event celebrating Old Town Chinatown - when you do, also check out our tent in front of Cal Skate on Sixth between Davis and Everett!

April Personalist Center Events Schedule

Our Personalist Center , located next to our cafe at 137 NW Davis, hosts a number of free, cross-class community events.  Please join us:

• Knitting Circle Wednesdays. Join us on the 9th, the 23rd, and the 30th, from 10:00am to 12:30pm.  All skill levels welcome, basic materials provided.
• Nonviolence Training: Wednesday the 9th from 1pm to 2:30.  Open to all, RSVP to Lauren, below. These trainings variously cover: the roots of nonviolence philosophy; identifying acts of violence; issues of power and class; and practical skills of interrupting violence.
• Civic Action Group meets Saturdays, April 12th and 26th, 12-3pm.  People with experience with homelessness are welcome to attend.  Contact Patrick for more info: (503) 222-5694 ext. 13, or email Patrick at sistersoftheroad.org.
• We will be closed for construction on Friday the 18th.
• Skill Share! Early this summer, we hope to begin a series of skills trainings taught and chosen by cafe customers and volunteers.  Have a skill you’d like to teach?  Contact Lauren!

Got a question about the PC?  Contact Lauren for more information at 503-222-5694 x25 or

Save the Date:  Hoedown – Friday, October 10th, 2008

Pardners, join us on Friday, October 10th, 2008 (note the date change) from 6:30-9:30pm at the Portland Art Museum’s Kridel Ballroom for our biggest fundraiser of the year!  Last year’s Hoedown & Auction grossed $137,277 for the good work of Sisters.

The amazing Sparrow Quartet has been invited to perform at Hoedown.  This American acoustic group features Béla Fleck on banjo; the fabulous Abigail Washburn on banjo and vocals, Casey Driessen on violin, and Ben Sollee on cello.  We’ll know soon if Sparrow Quartet will be performing; please check our website for more information! The wonderful Casey Neill band will be performing at the beginning of the evening.


Tickets are $85 for individuals, tables of ten are $850; and a limited number of patron tables are available for $1,300.  To buy tickets or a table, or to become an event sponsor, call Monica at (503) 222-5694, ext. 19 or email . We need your fabulous Live Auction donations!  Please contact (503) 222-5694 ext. 14 or to donate or if you’d like to volunteer on the Hoedown committee of the day of the event.

Systemic Change Events

To learn more about Systemic Change events, click here.

Volunteer Training

Volunteering at Sisters can be wonderfully rewarding.  The second Wednesday of each month, from 5:00 – 7:00 pm, there is a Volunteer Training at the Cafe.  To sign-up, contact Mary at 503-222-5694, x17 or