Operation Nightwatch is a non-sectarian night ministry of friendship and community that has been serving Portland’s street population since 1981.

“Even as you did to the least of these, you did also to me...” (Matt. 25:40)

Whereas other agencies exist to provide services such as housing, food, and clothing to the homeless, low-income, and mentally ill, ONW’s unique vision is that these populations also suffer from simple social isolation. Our simple mission is to reach out to them, nurturing relationship.

We welcome each person who comes to us, just as they are. No one is required to conform to any particular belief or faith practice in order to receive our services.

The Latest . . .

* Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition

Presenting “Nightwatch Stories”

Spiritual Retreat Scheduled for June 4-6

Read About ONW on Great Nonprofits

   Those who come to Nightwatch suffer from their circumstances for a variety of reasons: joblessness, foreclosure, unaffordable medical crisis. Yet they come to us because of this common plaint: “I had no place else to go.”
    Even the shelters and community clinics may have turned them away because they were full.
    We’ve compiled some of their stories.
Camp Adams will once again welcome our guests to our 3-day Spiritual Retreat, June 4-6. It is a time for renewal of body, mind and spirit that has been a highlight of our annual schedule since 1998.
To be homeless
Extending hospitality
is to lack more
than a roof
over one’s head;
homelessness
is not simply
“house”-lessness.

To be homeless
is to lack roots,
ties to place,
and a sense
of belonging.
reestablishes
  connection,
welcoming
  everyone
“into a safe,
 personal,
and comfortable
  space,
a place of respect
 and acceptance
 and friendship...
including them
in a life-giving
and life-
     sustaining
  network of
     relations.”*
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