Correction: Meals on Wheels People (MOWP) is “an independent nonprofit, with its own programs, funding, and service area (Multnomah and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington).” It has no ties to Meals on Wheels.

Meals on Wheels People (MOWP) has been forced to shutter two distribution points in America’s most leftist city, Portland, partly because of the usual drama and nonsense that every business in a leftist wonderland has to deal with, including but not limited to crime.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Meals on Wheels People Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Washington told local station KOIN.  “I can’t keep our staff safe and our volunteers safe because there’s always something happening.”

“We’ve been threatened with knives, and fires have been set. It was time to close. Every day, they’re stepping over feces, and there’s needles and drug dealing and deaths,” she added.

According to Washington, there was even once a time when her staffers had to step over a dead body to enter their facilities.

Sounds about perfectly right for the leftist utopia that is Portland, Oregon.

(Video Credit: KOIN 6)

In an exclusive statement to BizPac Review, MOWP said that the “Elm Court Center closure is primarily an operational decision” related to efficiency and that the “Hillsboro Center was consolidated into nearby Forest Grove Center.”

The nonprofit also maintained that it continues to “serve all of its recipients,” including the ones who were affected by the two closures.

MOWP added that it’s “navigating federal funding uncertainty” due primarily to the Trump administration’s cutbacks to entitlement spending, including SNAP and Medicaid, but also to cuts to senior nutrition funding through the Older Americans Act.

MOWP also stressed that “safety concerns were one factor among many” and alleged that “while there are safety concerns, Portland is far from the chaotic image portrayed in the media.”

We have our doubts …

On July 1, a man was killed just blocks away from one distribution point. In mid-June, someone else was stabbed in a separate incident nearby.

Of all the cities in Oregon, Portland has consistently reported the highest number of crimes every year.

“In 2023, it logged 42,238 incidents, including 4,560 violent offenses,” according to Reolink. “Its residents face a 1-in-15 chance of becoming a victim, and car thieves strike at a rate of 13 per 1,000 people.”

This just released, according to FBI statistics, Portland, Oregon now ranks as the second most dangerous place to live, second only to Memphis, Tennissee.

Portland’s total crime rate per 100,000 shows a +194.8% difference from the national rate.https://t.co/UuSRnSc1cv pic.twitter.com/s6eNteEDZR

— Brandon Farley (@TheRealFarley) August 28, 2025

A couple of miles away from one of the shuttered MOWP locations, Elm Court, is Portland’s Pearl District, where residents have said it’s “every man for himself.”

“It’s sad. No security. It’s like every man for himself,” longtime resident Guthrie Murry Jr. told local station KGW last month. “The homeless people, their bicycles, their dogs, the aggressiveness — they use, smoking the fentanyl.”

“It makes us feel unsafe, especially when the assaults are happening in our blocks,” neighborhood activist Linda Witt added. “And you know they are happening to elderly people because we have a huge elderly population here in the Pearl.”

“My building has to pay for private security to loop around the building at night to make sure nobody is breaking in,” she added.

Their remarks were prompted by a spate of recent break-ins and attacks.

“[A] man followed a resident into the parking garage of the Cosmopolitan Condos in late July, stole a camping hatchet from a vehicle, and was seen carrying it around the garage,” KGW notes. “Around the same time, surveillance video from The Fields Bar and Grill showed a shirtless man attacking a woman without provocation.”

(Video Credit: KGW News)

Making matters worse are plans by city officials to open a 200-bed homeless shelter in the area this month.

“They are concentrating a drug crisis in the neighborhood with multiple hundreds of people who are going to be sheltered at night and then released out into the streets during the day,” Northwest District Association President Todd Zarnitz said.

“It’s creating a fertile ground for craziness and dangerous conditions,” he added.

In fairness, leftist policies have been turning ALL of Portland into “fertile ground for craziness and dangerous conditions.”

As America’s most leftist city, Portland has a habit of pursuing the most radical, insane policy “solutions.” As a result, it’s been hemorrhaging taxpaying voters left and right.

“Nearly 12,000 people moved out of Multnomah County between 2020 and 2023, per data from Portland State University,” according to a Politico report filed last October.

“The exodus between 2020 and 2021 alone took nearly $1.1 billion in taxable income out of the city, according to data analyzed by the Economic Innovation Group. Portland’s once bustling downtown is nearly empty, and a negative national reputation clouds its economic future,” the reporting continued.

//

UPDATE:

Meals on Wheels People (MOWP) is an independent nonprofit, with its own programs, funding, and service area (Multnomah and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington). While it collaborates with Meals on Wheels America (MOWA), based out of Arlington, VA, it is not governed or funded by them. MOWP headquarters remain in Multnomah Village in Southwest Portland, Oregon and operates dining centers throughout the Portland–Vancouver metro area.

The recent change involved closing the Elm Court Center, which was a downtown meal delivery hub — not the headquarters. Although that center was consolidated, all of the participants continue to be served. Last year, the org served more than 1 million meals to over 9,100 older adults.

Meals on Wheels People responded to critics by stating:

The Elm Court Center closure is primarily an operational decision. By consolidating meal preparation into a building we own, rather than paying rent for a downtown location, we can deliver meals to more participants efficiently and sustainably. MOWP continues to serve all of its recipients — just not out of the Elm Court Center.

Like many senior nutrition providers nationwide, we are also navigating federal funding uncertainty. The expiration of pandemic-era support and broader cutbacks to aging services — including programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and senior nutrition — create significant challenges for both older adults and the organizations like ours that serve them. Consolidation is one way we are working to preserve resources and continue meeting the needs of our community.

Safety concerns were one factor among many. Our staff and volunteers at Elm Court faced real challenges downtown, including safety incidents. The consolidation decision, however, reflects a combination of factors — primarily operational efficiency and funding uncertainty — that position us to continue serving older adults as effectively as possible.

• About
• Latest Posts

Vivek Saxena

Senior Staff Writer
Vivek@bizpacreview.com

V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

• Mammoth teacher’s union, NEA shoveling some of the worst woke garbage in history - December 18, 2025
• Vanity Fair’s extreme photo of Karoline Leavitt is shameful by any standard - December 18, 2025
• Middle school celebrates ‘Transgender Awareness Week’ with lessons on binding body parts - December 9, 2025

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.