The Eugene Breakfast Brigade serves the hungry and unhoused hot breakfast Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. near the intersection of 5th and Washington Street at Washington Jefferson Park in Eugene, Oregon. (Eric Becker/Emerald)
After being told to halt operations by Eugene Police Department back in early July for not having a permit, the local humanitarian feeding group, Breakfast Brigade, took matters into its own hands to continue serving food and resources to the houseless community.
The outreach group spoke in front of the Eugene City Council on July 23, in an attempt to gain a permit so it could serve food and resources to the houseless community without any further issues with EPD.
According to Lisa Levsen, a board member and volunteer for the Breakfast Brigade, the meeting was “very productive,” as they were able to come to a reasonable solution.
Following the meeting, Eugene Parks and Open Spaces set up a meeting with the Breakfast Brigade and offered the group an annual permit to serve at the 5th and Washington Street location for $40 a month. Breakfast Brigade even agreed to pay into the succeeding year.
After news broke out that EPD threatened to arrest Breakfast Brigade members for serving without a permit back in July, hundreds of members of the Eugene community showed up to the park to voice their support, according to Jan Zoll, a member of the outreach group.
With the newly acquired permit, the feeding group is now aimed at operating on Sundays as well, pending a board meeting.
Breakfast Brigade offers breakfast, water, coffee, clothing and a takeaway lunch to its recipients, along with clothing and blankets.
The new location for the Breakfast Brigade has also led other humanitarian groups to get involved. Occupy Medical, a medical clinic based out of Springfield, recently joined the Breakfast Brigade and offered free services to the houseless population of Eugene.
“It’s not only us being able to serve breakfast; we hand out clothing and resource items on Saturdays,” Levsen said. “So now that we have a permanent permitted location, other groups are able to provide ancillary services that are really helping the people that we serve.”
There has also been growing concern from the community that Breakfast Brigade’s operations have been attracting more trash in the park due to a growing number of visitors. In response, the group aims at cleaning up trash in the park all day once a month.
Trash isn’t the only issue for Washington Jefferson Park, however.
According to Levsen, Washington Jefferson is an “open air drug market.”
“We’ve talked to the police about trying to get the drug dealers to stop dealing and the drug dealers are super smart and make sure that they have only enough bribes under the limit for Measure 110 but then they go and refresh,” Levsen said. “You know there’s supply so it’s a huge catch and release problem.”
Washington/ Jefferson Park where the Breakfast Brigade serves
With the new permit, the Breakfast Brigade has seen a huge increase in recipients, especially from the 15th to the 31st of each month, when food stamps typically run out for workers.
“We’ve got people who are coming here who have jobs. They just don’t have enough money to feed their families for the entire week,” Levsen said. “So inflation and what’s going on in our society is absolutely driving our numbers up because there are not enough resources for those people. And so we’re making more food and trying to meet that need.”
As a result, the Breakfast Brigade has seen its numbers go up 20%, from 60 to 70 people a day at the beginning of the month to roughly 100 people a day at the end of the month, according to Levsen.
While EPD has allowed the Breakfast Brigade to serve, the neighborhood service officers — a permitting department for the parks — have been chalking the group members’ cars and taking pictures amidst a citywide two-hour parking crisis. Although members of the group have spoken to the officers, clarifying that they have a permit to park.
Levsen asked Parks and Open Spaces to resolve the issue with the neighborhood service officers, but they responded by saying the service officers will give out citations if the cars are parked for over two hours, although the Breakfast Brigade members have permits.
Jan Zoll, who has worked with Breakfast Brigade for nine years, spoke on the parking issue.
“The most annoying thing is that not only do I have my permit in the windshield, I also have a handicap placard. And they marked my tires both front and back, and took pictures of my vehicle,” Zoll said. “I’m happy that we’re hanging in there and that we’re not giving up and we’re not going to let the parking police get to us.”
Despite the parking issue, the growing support from the community and from other nonprofits has been an uplifting notion for the group.
“I’m feeling really heartened again, I was very disheartened for a while. And my spirit, you know, was wounded. It’s much better now.” Zoll said.
The group is looking for financial donations, shoes and clothing as winter lurks around the corner. They also are in need of non-dairy creamer and cocoa powder for hot chocolate as the food bank does not provide any for the group. Their contact information is available on their Facebook page to donate.
The group serves Wednesday through Saturday at West 5th and Washington street from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
