Wheels scrape the ground as Joseph Grayson drags his bulging suitcase up the concrete stairs of the inactive Sunnyside Methodist Church, commonly known as the Sunnyside Community House. He stops at the top of the stairs, fixes his luggage and pokes his head through the propped-open doors.
Three afternoons a week—Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday—the Sunnyside Shower Project offers showers, clothes and other amenities to Portland’s homeless residents like Grayson. He stops in the foyer, where two volunteers direct him to the basement.
Although the shower slots are taken for the day, he still heads downstairs and starts sorting through the clothing racks. “I haven’t changed out of these clothes since I got…[to Portland] two weeks ago,” he says. “It’s been a truly humbling experience.” Grayson became homeless right when he moved to Portland in late August, when his car got totaled and he couldn’t make his job interview…