History

Gary Vaughn (l), with friend

Debbie Coppenger

Gary Davis

Our current Executive Director, Gary Davis, has expanded the vision of Nightwatch, along with its vision. He has revived the street ministry in a renewed form–Street Hospitality Teams, well-trained crews who connect positively with people who cannot or will not access the Hospitality Center itself. Furthermore, he has inaugurated the “Nightwatch on Wheels” program, making Nightwatch mobile to extend the work of hospitality to homeless clusters located outside the downtown core.

Operation Nightwatch is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, governed by a Board of Directors. The work of its second Executive Director, Debbie Coppenger, did much to set Nightwatch on a stable institutional and fiscal footing. Operation Nightwatch continues to be funded primarily by individual donations, along with some small foundation grants. ONW also receives critical volunteer and monetary support from a roster of churches, ranging across the theological spectrum. ONW is a member of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

Under the leadership of its first director, Gary Vaughn, ONW began as a street ministry, its volunteers approaching the homeless in the doorways, loading docks, and campsites where they had bedded down for the evening. In time, a Hospitality Center was established, to which the homeless and other low-income people could gather with others for the evening, socializing, sharing stories, and playing games over sandwiches and coffee. The Hospitality Center has since become the hub of Nightwatch’s activities, from its footcare clinics to its monthly Birthday Nights and Comedy Movie Nights. It also is a place where people can be supplied with blankets, clothing, and personal hygiene items at a time of day when no other helping agency is open. For many years now, the Hospitality Center has been hosted by the First Presbyterian Church at the Julia West House, 522 SW 13th.