Richard shivered in the cold Portland rain. Sick with the flu, he walked the littered sidewalks of Portland, feverish and completely soaked.

“I was constantly walking. I had nowhere to rest,” Richard remembers. “I couldn’t lay down on the ground. I had no medicine. No one to comfort me. I just felt so alone and lost.”

At Portland Rescue Mission, Richard found a refuge of hope. A hot meal and safe place to sleep were just the first steps toward his new life.