Roy on ever-popular Burrito Day

Alicia with her doll

Jasmine with her mom and dad Crystal and Josh

Eric serves Heather on Customer Appreciation Day 2006

Volunteers Joanne and Matt on Customer Appreciation Day 2006

Brian models Sisters’ drink tokens

A special sign made by our customers

Steve stops in for a coffee

Friend Francine with Christina and her five gorgeous children, from left: Chuy (held by staff member Lauren), Pedro, Lilly, Alicia, Angel

Gary

Robert enjoys lunch at the counter.  Photo by Mary Kay McDermott

Beverly flashes a peace sign while enjoying the Cafe’s signature rice, beans ‘n’ cornbread.

All are welcome, stop in for lunch!

Meals at Sisters Of The Road cost $1.25 and can be paid for in many ways, including: cash, barter work and food stamps.  Meals are served with hospitality and a smile.  There is always a choice of at least two hot, delicious and nutritious entrees and always a vegetarian option.  Come have a bite to eat at Sisters -we would love your company!  We serve between 10am and 3pm Monday through Friday. Sisters is not a charity – but an exchange of good will, companionship and work.

Since 1979 we have operated in the Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood,  and the entire community – both people passing through and those living here their entire lives – have come to depend on the cafe for its safety, its hospitality, and perhaps most importantly, the opportunities for barter and job training.  With our philosophy of nonviolence and strict adherence to health code, it’s been said that our staff are one part Gandhi and one part health inspector! Last year we received three out of three 100% scores (with no violations) from the Multnomah County Health Inspector for restaurants - not an easy feat!

Did you know that in 1987 we helped pass national food stamp legislation to implement a USDA policy that allows people experiencing homelessness to use their food stamps to buy prepared meals from nonprofit cafes?  We became the first cafe to implement the policy, and have since continued to distribute our manual Dining with Dignity to those interested in starting one of these cafes.  Call (503) 222-5694 for more info.

Who we serve

Sisters is unique in that meals served are available to everyone who walks through the door, regardless of their ability to pay. Neither do you have to be low-income to dine with us; we welcome people of all classes to come build community over a delicious meal.

Family Advocacy and Support

We make a special effort to help children and their families with services including information, referral and advocacy; free hygiene supplies, formula (when available) and diapers; and some toys. There is a special children’s area and two tables just for families with children to be treated specially while at the cafe. Single parents with their children eat for free, a service provided by other customers/barter workers in the cafe to help single parents and their kids. Sisters’ staff take special time out to check in with children and families and offer friendship and support.

Numbers served

We serve an average of 350 meals per day, and sometimes over 450 near the end of the month when people’s food stamps and benefit checks run out. In fiscal year 2007-2008 we served 62,866 meals. Come check out our little kitchen and you’ll be amazed!  Because we have many repeat customers and we do not track individuals, we estimate that we serve about 1,000 different people at least once in any month, equaling 12,000 a year.
 

Last year general need was up in our area since the closing of the Tacoma Cafe, which was the only other cafe that took food stamps, and the fact that people do not get the food stamp money they used to: the common allotment is down to $21 per person per week. To learn more, click here.

Barter Work at Sisters

Over half of the meals we served were earned through our Barter Program. The purpose of this program is to provide men and women with the opportunity to obtain a nutritious meal with dignity.

As an example, customers can spend fifteen minutes of their day mopping the floor, taking out the garbage, or sweeping the front stoop and earn $1.50 in credit at the Cafe – enough for a hot plate of food and a drink.  Furthermore, a customer may barter for several hours at the rate of $6.00/hour meal credit.  A three hour shift results in $18.00 in meal credit – enough money to eat for a few weeks at the Cafe or to treat friends.  Barter workers can put “money on their books” to use later or to share a meal with a friend, or they can buy barter meal coupons to give away. Sisters is the only restaurant in Portland that provides an ongoing avenue for individuals who want to work in exchange for meals.

Beginning in August 2009, Sisters will have a new computerized Barter System! Both customers and staff have identified the need to computerize our Barter Accounts. Each record is currently a single, hard paper copy kept in a binder with hundreds of other records, and is used to document both debits and credits to a customer’s account. A floor manager may be using a binder to record one customer’s work, while the cashier needs to record the meal purchased by a different customer. This leads to slow lines, inaccurate record keeping and sometimes even lost records. Keeping accurate records of customers’ barter credit shows respect for how much we value their work.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Portland, the new system will be used much like a credit card machine with each person who barters at the Cafe issued a magnetic strip card along with an account number. When adding to or subtracting from an account the person will simply swipe their card. We’ll keep a second set of cards on hand in case someone loses theirs, and we will happily issue a replacement card for $1.50. Come down to the Cafe and check out the new system in late August, get signed up to do a barter job and see for yourself if it works better than the old system! 

Other services

In addition to meals, the Hot Meal/Barter Program offers several services:

• A telephone for an urgent call
• A phone message board
• U.S. Mail
• Free feminine hygiene items, adult and infant diapers and formula
• A safe and clean children’s play area and tables for families
• Safe and clean public Restrooms
• Information regarding services
• job recommendations

What Food Costs in the Cafe

* $35 – Hard Boiled eggs for two days, Fresh fruit side for two days, or Salad on spaghetti day
* $100 – Cornbread for one week
* $135 –Spaghetti Day, one day
* $250 – Coffee for two weeks
* $260 – Burrito Day, one day
* $865 – All groceries in the Cafe for one week