Gabe Piechowicz scans a 3.5-acre lot scattered with RVs and points to an area out in the open field.
“That’s where the Ferris wheel will go,” he jokes.
Jokes aside, no ideas are off the table for Eugene’s newest Safe Sleep site, Everyone Village. Co-directors Piechowicz and Heather Sielicki are taking an “integrated living” approach as they build the village by focusing on the needs and ideas of the people who live there.
Piechowicz is a pastor at Everyone Church, which is coupled with the village. A former logger, Piechowicz doesn’t hold Sunday service, but believes more in the “boots on the ground” model. The goal of the village isn’t just to provide a place to sleep for unhoused people, but to provide people a community and improve their situation.
On April 28, the Eugene City Council approved an ordinance to create more safe sleeping spaces for the unhoused population. The city has since approved five Safe Sleep sites, including the lot north of Dani Street where Everyone Village operates, which was donated by Rexius.
CLAYTON FRANKE, Eugene Weekly
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