In Time of Need

This is the source of The Path to a better future.

In Time of Need is a 501(c)(3), Oregon public benefit corporation [2209845-95]. Our miossion is to provide supportive information and direction to as many people in need as we possibly can.

Eventually this website will be the public access portal to the smart application we are calling The Path. We intend for it to be a free source of helpful information for anyone in need, as well as a resource for everyone serving those in need.

This will be an immense undertaking. Our plan is to employ a staff to populate and update an extensive database of service providers, which will feed our GPS-based smart application linked to Google's vast database of geographic and institutional information.

The original HTML version of The Path, which is temporarily located on my personal website, has two principal resources...

• The Directory—a long list of organizations, mostly in the greater Portland area.


• The Library—a place to explore ways to manage challenges and opportunities.

If you are currently seeking help I encourage you to use these two links to help you find what you're looking for. (And please see the Note at the bottom of this page.)

Some of the links in the Directory and the Library are bolded with an asterisk (*). Those are links to pages in my personal website, which I created for family and friends. If you're reading this you're a friend. Feel free to explore.

---

If you're interested in a little bit about who I am and how this came about...

A decade ago I created a website (dickwillis.com) to give my grandchildren and great grandchildren a sense of who I was and what I experienced when I was their age (My Stuff).  The site features a Resources menu that includes a bit of my personal philosophy and interests as well as sources of helpful information for my family.  I invite you to use any of it that can be of service.

For decades I've volunteered to improve the prospects of what I experienced as distressed populations: at-risk teens, abused and neglected children, the impoverished, the elderly and infirm and, most recently, I've been mentoring prison inmates one-on-one in preparation for their release from prisons here in Oregon.

Typically, the work involves helping inmates plan for and secure a place to live, a job, affordable transportation, healthcare, etc.  (COVID-19 added complications to the usual challenges of their being forced to land in strange and unforgiving territory.)

At this writing I'm in my late 70s and clear-eyed about my mortality.  Recently Josh—a prisoner who's aware of the work I've done for his fellow inmates both before and after their release—said to me, "I have eight years left to my sentence.  You may not be around when I'm ready to be released.  I'm asking that everything you've done for those other men you make available to me."

This website, and eventually the smart GPS-based application, are my response to Josh's request.  I'm clearing a path for him to follow when his release arrives whether I'm here or not.  But The Path is not for Josh alone nor for inmates alone; it's for a whole universe of people needing to survive in this society who might have limited resources. People like:

• The dispossessed (due to fire, flood, earthquake, violence, or simply bad luck)
• Unemployed heads of household
• Emancipated youth
• Indigenous persons and migrants
• Discharged veterans
• Immigrants and refugees
• Job hunters of all kinds
• ... in fact, anyone who might need a helping hand.

If that list hits close to home, it's my hope that you find something here that works for you or those you love.  I'm wishing for everyone who's on their life's path a safe, happy and satisfying journey!


Dick Willis

---

Thank you.