Episode 07 - Operation Nightwatch

Cameo Tamala is the Executive Director of Operation Nightwatch Portland, which has been helping Portland’s unhoused community since 1981.

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Intro - 00:15
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Interview - 08:19
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Welcome back to Awakened Exchanges! I’m your host Jay Rich and this is our second Thanksgiving episode for you! This whole month, I’m focusing on people who care for others. People that can show us how to be grateful all year round.  We have an extra-special Thanksgiving Day episode planned, as well as a Christmas episode that I’m super excited for! I hope to tease more information we get closer to recording, but all I’ll say for now is that our Christmas guest definitely helped Trek the Vote!

It’s finally been declared that Joe Biden is the President Elect, but that doesn’t appear to have calmed anything down across the country. The economy did take a big jump today, as I write this on the 9th, but who knows if that’ll last. I think a lot of us have figured out that the stock market is more of a barometer of how rich people are feeling than about any truth about how the world is running, but it’s what we have to go on. Since the country seems to be getting more optimistic, or at least those with money, then what are we doing to help those less fortunate? That seems to be a topic that a lot of people want to avoid during Covid. With the government giving us all a single $1200 check to cover for all of the businesses that have shut down, you’d think that they thought everything was fine. Our unemployment rate is supposedly down to 6.9% right now, but that doesn’t take into account those that have just stopped looking for work. Or how about those that have drained all of their savings trying to survive on less than full-time work? Personally, I’m very concerned about the restaurant industry and all they employ as they have already seen drastic closures and we’re headed into the winter months, with no outdoor seating, and Covid cases topping 130,000 per day, as of me writing this on the 9th. While the deaths may have dropped, the fear has not, and we’re not likely to get back into life as normal anytime soon as winter is already showing itself in many parts of the country. Please take the time to be thankful for what you have and think of ways that you can share with others. The gratitude you receive for your kind deeds can do your heart much more good than the cup of coffee you give up in exchange.

I want to thank Cameo Tamala for joining me this week. She’s the Executive Director of Operation Nightwatch Portland, which has been helping Portland’s unhoused community since 1981. They seek to provide an escape from the isolation, while also providing a cup of coffee, a meal, and mental health support, even when other such agencies have closed down. Living without shelter can be one of the loneliest experiences in life, feeling shunned and rejected with little or no hope. Operation Nightwatch is there to help provide not just a meal or a blanket, but to listen to their stories and give them a caring shoulder when it’s needed most. Cameo Tamala has spent nearly a decade driving change in the community. She has taken to heart the need to personally connect and embrace those she’s trying to help, as well as bringing her personal drive and passion to the fight, and we’re honored to have her on our show today. 

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