Our Journey

Sandy Gooch and Genevieve (Genny) Nelson opened Sisters of the Road’s cafe with $10.00 and bartered for the rent.

The Portland City Council passeds an anti-camping ordinance making it illegal to sleep
under bridges. Sisters Of The Road and the Burnside Community Council filed a suit against the city and a judge, eventually, overturned the ordinance.

Executive Director Kurt Liska and Genny Nelson traveled to Washington D.C. to present
Kurt’s food stamp proposal to the USDA. Endorsed by Sen. Hatfield, the request was to accept food stamps for prepared meals from people who were experiencing homelessness. The proposal was rejected.

Victory! Under pressure from Sen. Hatfield and the House Select Committee on Hunger, a law was passed allowing people experiencing homelessness to use their food stamps for prepared meals in non-profit dining facilities.

Sisters Of The Road is the first in the nation to implement this new legislation.

The Meal Coupon Program began as a means to build community with people asking for money in public spaces.

Sisters of the Road hosted our first march and rally honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., especially his work for racial justice, peace, and economic human rights.

Sisters of the Road finished the manual, “Dining With Dignity” and video “The Invisible Community.”

Sisters leased the store front next door to the Cafe and expanded.

Sisters first community wealth building initiative “Boxcar Bertha’s Coffeehouse” opened.

The Community Organizing Project of Sisters of the Road is launched with two components; the research project which will conduct 600 interviews with people who have experience with homelessness, and the development of a self- and community-advocacy group.

Sisters Of The Road sets a Guiness World Record in organizing the world’s biggest guitar band. Donating $10 each to participate, 519 guitarists filled the Pioneer Courthouse Square and performed Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”

600 Sisters’ Research Project interviews are completed. A contract is signed with the University of Washington at Tacoma School of Urban Studies to analyze the information from more than 40,000 pages of input from 600 interviews with people with experience with homelessness, asking them about their experience.

Genny Nelson wins the National Caring Award, and the Mayor of Portland declares a day honoring her. Her induction to the National Hall of Fame for Caring Americans highlights the impact and innovation that Genny and Sisters of the Road have had both locally and nationally.

We published “Voices From the Street, Truths About Homelessness” along with a manual about how to conduct a research project like this.

Sisters brought our community together to celebrate the movement for economic justice and nonviolent social change at peaceroots: growing economic human rights and nonviolence. Genny Nelson was presented with the Genevieve Nelson Nonviolence and Economic Human Rights Award.

Right2Survive, a close ally grassroots organization with Sisters and the Dorothy Day Community School organized a direct action called “Pitch a Tent” at the Rose Parade. Over 180 community members participated who demanded camping rights in Portland.

Women’s Economic Agenda
Project (WEAP) and its allies, including Sisters of the Road, held the first World Courts of Women on Poverty in the US on May 10-13, 2012. These West Coast hearings were an outgrowth of 37 Courts of Women held in various countries around the world, but never before in the United States.

Sisters transitioned to a Staff Collective.

Sisters launched the Healthy Plate Project and started focusing on Food Justice programming.

Sisters also celebrated its 35th anniversary. 35 years of stories. 35 years of listening, serving, and organizing for justice. 35 years of healthy meals served with love.

Sisters in-house farm stand launched! Sisters dug in at Greeley Garden, managed in cooperation with Urban Farm Collective.

PhotoVoice 2.0/Through Our Lens project was exhibited at the p:ear art gallery.

Sisters transitioned back from a collective to a hierarchical structure.

Sisters celebrated its 40th anniversary! Special guests included Darcelle XV, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, Co-founder Genny Nelson, and Cowlitz Tribal Council Member Dr. Christine Dupres.

Genny Nelson left us on August 19, 2020.
Thank you Genny. Thank you for the radical
change and love you brought to Portland. Not a day goes by where a community member,
staff person or supporter doesn’t express the many ways you made them feel challenged, empowered and most of all loved.

Sisters also navigated Covid-19, closed the cafe, installed a to-go window, and supported our friends and community.

As Sisters worked towards reopening the cafe, we found ourselves with a cafe overrun with mold and asbestos, and too small to meet the growing need in our community.

After a period of deep reflection, Sisters of the Road concluded that in order to serve the houseless community we needed to rebuild, find our roots, and grow in a new space.

Sisters of the Road found a new permanent home at 331 NW Davis, the former House of Louie.

Sisters wrote a declaration of support on behalf of people affected by the City of Portland’s daytime camping ban in the case Duncan v. City of Portland. Currently, there is an injunction in place.

Sisters submitted an Amicus Brief with several other organizations in Oregon for the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court Case and denounced the decision handed down from the court.