White Bird Clinic Receives Federal Funding for Mental Health Center Expansion

Eugene, Oregon – Oregon senators Wyden and Merkley have announced that White Bird Clinic in Eugene is a recipient of $275,000 in congressional directed spending funds contained in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus appropriations package. The funds support the expansion of White Bird’s mental health counseling department. The project will double the agency’s counseling capacity, directly addressing the pressing community need for more availability of mental health services for Medicaid members.

Nationally, the demand for mental health services has risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic; bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear of serious illness and death are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. For low income individuals covered by Medicaid, it is very hard to even find a provider willing to take their insurance. In Lane County, many providers have closed their wait lists. If accepted, the wait for care can be up to five months, an unacceptably lengthy term of suffering before help is provided.

“Oregon’s senators value mental health care access for all community members,” says Chris Hecht, White Bird Clinic’s Executive Coordinator. “By championing funding for White Bird’s Mental Health Center Expansion, senators Wyden and Merkley are helping to reduce the barriers to achieving mental health wellbeing faced by Oregonians enrolled in Medicaid. On behalf of the Eugene/Springfield community, we thank the senators for their farsighted advocacy.”

The clinic expansion will enable White Bird Clinic to hire additional therapists and grow to serve up to twice as many patients as is currently possible. The facility will feature a trauma-informed design, six counseling offices, accessible bathrooms, a multiuse space, and a patient waiting room.

“These investments represent the best of the Oregon Way, namely that Oregonians in communities all across the state pulled together to determine their local quality-of-life solutions that will keep people safe…I’m glad to have teamed up with them and Senator Merkley to produce these tangible and significant results,” said Senator Wyden.

White Bird’s counseling department provides individual, couples and family counseling by licensed mental health counselors, as well as in-home end-of-life counseling services that provide support for psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual issues related to death and dying.

White Bird Executive Coordinator Attends White House 4th of July Celebrating Nation’s Birth and Pandemic Progress

EUGENE, OREGON – Chris Hecht, White Bird Clinic Executive Coordinator, was invited to attend Sunday’s July 4th celebration on the South Lawn of the White House. More than 1,000 essential workers, vaccination program leaders, and military families were at the event, which celebrated the national progress towards ending the pandemic. President Biden told event attendees that the USA is “closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus” and thanked them for their contributions to this national effort.

White Bird Clinic’s vaccination project was honored at Sunday’s White House Independence Day celebration that commemorated the holiday and celebrated the nation’s progress toward overcoming COVID-19. Chris Hecht, White Bird’s Executive Coordinator and head of the vaccination project, was invited to be among the 1,000 people gathered for the largest planned event of Joe Biden’s presidency. Mr. Hecht represented the White Bird volunteers and staff that have provided more than 7,200 inoculations to residents of Eugene and surrounding areas. White Bird was selected for this honor in recognition of the Clinic’s work in advancing vaccine equity and the agency’s focus on reaching under-served groups, including homeless, BIPOC and LGBTQA+ communities.

“President Biden spoke about our nation’s progress with COVID-19,” says Hecht. “But he didn’t claim that we’ve finished the job. He thanked us all for the extraordinary progress we’ve made while recognizing that we have some serious work left.” Hecht also met First Lady Jill Biden and they spoke about White Bird’s work reaching marginalized communities.

White Bird began vaccinating Lane County residents in January. The agency then opened two brick-and-mortar vaccination clinics and joined the federal health center vaccination project in order to obtain a direct supply of doses. Hecht said those clinics have closed so that White Bird can focus on underserved rural communities. The outreach service will utilize a custom-outfitted vaccination van awarded by the Oregon Health Authority.

Please contact our partners at the Lane Community Health Council to set up an outreach clinic. Please contact Adria Godom-Bynum at adria.g.bynum@gmail.com or call 458-240-7152.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff Visits White Bird Clinic’s Vaccine Site

Emhoff Highlights White Bird’s Vaccination Equity Efforts

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EUGENE, OREGON – Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Governor Kate Brown, and Representative Peter DeFazio visited White Bird’s vaccination clinic to learn about the agency’s work advancing COVID-19 vaccination equity by forming innovative partnerships with community-based organizations.

With strong support from the Biden-Harris administration’s Health Center Vaccine Program and funding from the American Rescue Act, federally qualified health centers such as White Bird Clinic are on the front lines of promoting vaccine equity. Oregon’s 34 FQHC’s care for almost half a million patients and serve as the cornerstone of the regional healthcare system, providing care for underserved communities, including communities of color. White Bird has vaccinated more than 2,500 people, approximately 40% of whom identify as non-white, in a state that is 75% white. In partnership with organizations serving communities of color, White Bird will operate mobile vaccination clinics that meet people where they are at, in order to reduce disparities in health and healthcare.

The community organizations will develop culturally appropriate messaging and implement outreach strategies that best reach their constituents, then sponsor easily accessible vaccination clinics. White Bird will bring its mobile medical unit to each site and provide vaccine and the clinical staff that will administer it and then monitor recipients post-inoculation.

The federal Health Center Vaccine Program provides White Bird with a direct supply of all three vaccines and the American Rescue Act’s allocation of $7.6B to Health Centers includes funding for vaccination initiatives such as White Bird’s. “The Biden-Harris administration’s philosophical and financial support for vaccination equity is the wind behind our sails in our effort to ensure that no one misses the opportunity to be vaccinated,” said Chris Hecht, Executive Coordinator.

Nationally, the vaccination rate of BIPOC individuals is roughly half that of whites. The Biden-Harris administration’s priority to reduce disparities in the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines will mitigate the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on communities of color and reduce health and healthcare disparities. Achieving high vaccination rates across individuals and communities is essential to achieving broader population immunity.

The entire community is working together to make this project a success. Nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other medically-trained community members volunteer to administer vaccines. Project partners including Centro Latino Americano, Downtown Languages, St. Mark CME church, Huerto de la Familia, and 8:46 Justice Today are mobilizing their constituents and promoting vaccination. The Community Center for the Performing Arts/WOW Hall provides their music venue as a facility. Support for the project is provided by PeaceHealth, Pacific Source, and the Lane Community Health Council.

https://www.facebook.com/KLCCOregon/posts/10158263867506033

White Bird Partners with the WOW Hall for COVID-19 Vaccination Program

EUGENE, OREGON – White Bird Clinic is partnering with the Community Center for the Performing Arts/WOW Hall to offer COVID-19 vaccinations. A team of volunteers will allow White Bird to vaccinate up to 800 people each week.

White Bird has opened a vaccination clinic at the WOW Hall in order to scale up vaccinations and offer an accessible indoor space in downtown Eugene. Nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other medically-trained community members have volunteered to administer vaccines, and volunteer clerical staff keep the operation running smoothly. White Bird staff coordinate the effort. The CCPA is providing the facility below cost because its new board agreed unanimously that this was the best possible use of the facility during this time of crisis.

A month ago White Bird began vaccinating health care professionals. In support of Lane County Public Health, White Bird is now vaccinating all individuals who are eligible according to the CDC. As a vital resource for Eugene and Springfield for more than fifty years, White Bird demonstrates how Community Health Centers are the cornerstone of the regional healthcare system.

To learn more and register for vaccination visit https://whitebirdclinic.org/vaccine or call 541-246-2341.

This crucial effort is only possible because volunteers are willing to give their time and expertise to help fellow community members. In addition to medical staff, the project needs greeters and all sorts of other help. Folks who would like to volunteer can visit http://bit.ly/wbc-volunteer to sign up.

The WOW Hall, located at 291 W. 8th Ave., is operated by the Community Center for the Performing Arts, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to providing cultural arts and educational opportunities for all ages and income levels and maintaining a supportive environment for local artists and their new creative efforts.

Staff at the WOW Hall and White Bird’s main offices and medical clinic do not have information on the vaccination project, and White Bird asks folks to kindly not interrupt their ongoing work providing care for our community.

In 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene, OR. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 10 programs, 220 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers each year.

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Senator Wyden and Mayor Vinis Visit CAHOOTS

Citing CAHOOTS as a Model for Reform

Senator Ron Wyden will meet with White Bird CAHOOTS staff at CAHOOTS headquarters at 970 W 7th Ave in Eugene to discuss how this groundbreaking program can be a model for a national policing reform package and how Congress can best support the work. “The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 takes a vital first step toward accountability, and I am all in with pressing forward to achieve this legislation’s urgently needed re-focus of resources and policies,” said Sen. Wyden. Sen. Wyden co-sponsored the legislation, which would hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement and build trust between law enforcement and communities in Oregon and nationwide.

31 years ago White Bird Clinic launched CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) as a community policing initiative to provide mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. CAHOOTS offers compassionate, effective, timely care while diverting a considerable portion of the public safety workload, conserving police and fire department capacity. In 2019, CAHOOTS handled 17% of the Eugene Police Department’s calls. In 2017, police officers nationally spent 21% of their time responding to or transporting people with mental illness.

Dispatching appropriate responders for each unique situation is essential to ensuring the best outcome. CAHOOTS focuses exclusively on meeting the medical and mental health needs of the community, making it more appropriate, economical, and effective than traditional models involving agencies with a much larger scope of responsibility.

Police officers and fire fighters receive training in a broad set of skills, making their deployment to non-emergent situations unnecessarily costly. The CAHOOTS model also ensures that health and behavioral health care are integrated from the onset of intervention and treatment, adding to the efficacy and economy of the model.

White Bird’s CAHOOTS program has attracted notice from international news media as communities across the nation and around the world confront the need to reimagine public safety to ensure that it equitably serves human beings of all races and ethnicities.

CAHOOTS is providing strategic guidance and training to assist communities in developing innovative public safety systems that align with their values.

In 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene, OR. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 10 programs, 220 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers each year.

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Dental Office

White Bird Dental Clinic Grand Opening Celebration!

EUGENE, OREGON – The grand opening of White Bird’s expanded dental clinic will be January 23rd from 4pm to 6pm. The community is invited to tour the new facility at 1415 Pearl St. and celebrate with us.

Please join us to celebrate the opening of our state-of-the-art clinic. Take a tour, have a bite to eat, and meet our team.

Too many unhoused and low-income community members need dental care that they cannot access. White Bird Dental has responded by building a larger clinic that increases capacity by over seventy percent and accommodates twelve dental chairs. The new facility will make it easier for community members suffering from dental pain to get immediate, walk-in access to a dentist, and also allow White Bird to serve more elderly patients, children, and families.

White Bird has invested $2.5M to develop a state-of-the-art facility that provides acute and preventative oral health care to our community’s most vulnerable residents. The clinic’s design features the latest innovations in modern dentistry in a bright, airy space. The facility lets patients know that they are valued members of the community who deserve excellence in health care.

Support Us

Cold Weather is Here

White Bird’s Stay Warm Drive Activates

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EUGENE, OREGON – With the onset of cold weather, our most vulnerable community members who are living outdoors face freezing winter conditions. White Bird Clinic is sending out a call for any and all winter gear, particularly socks, warm gloves, blankets and sleeping bags.

For those who spend most of their time outdoors, winter in Eugene can be dangerous, as wet, cold weather makes it hard to stay healthy. Your donation of winter gear makes a difference for people who don’t have a warm and dry place to live. White Bird asks you to partner with us to support under-resourced community members and strengthen our shared culture of caring for one another.

Please bring donations to our main clinic building at 341 E 12th Ave. in Eugene:

  • Blankets
  • Sleeping bags
  • Coats/Jackets/Sweaters
  • Warm pants
  • Socks/Gloves/Scarves
  • Rain gear
  • Tarps

We’re happy to pick up larger donations. Please call 541-342-8255.

White Bird’s Front Room program offers a warm and dry space. We are open 7 days a week 9am-12:45pm – 1:30pm-5pm, and Weds close at 3:30pm.

and located at 341 E 12th St. in Eugene, we welcome the community to come get supplies to shield from the cold.


In 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene, OR. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 10 programs, 220 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers each year.

To celebrate fifty years of service, White Bird is growing, demonstrating our commitment to serving low income, under-resourced community members. We’re expanding many different programs at once, so we’re turning to the community for support and partnership. Please call 541.342.8255 or visit www.whitebirdclinic.org to donate to the project of your choice.

White Bird Turns Fifty & CAHOOTS is Thirty!

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White Bird Clinic has been serving the community since 1969, and CAHOOTS began in July of 1989.

EUGENE, OREGON – A celebration for White Bird and CAHOOTS will take place at WildCraft Cider House at 232 Lincoln St. on Friday, 8/30. Music from The Dirty Dandelions, Muddy Souls, and Cedar Teeth will begin at 7pm. Minimum donation of $10 at the door.

In 1969, a small group of student activists and concerned practitioners founded White Bird Socio-Medical Aid Station to provide crisis services and free medical care to counter-culture youth in Eugene. Having grown continuously for fifty years, White Bird Clinic now has ten programs, 200 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers. In response to burgeoning community need, White Bird is expanding medical, dental, CAHOOTS, and crisis services.

Relocated Crisis Center

The new crisis center will house the 24/7 crisis line phone service as well as walk-in services in a trauma-informed space intended to minimize environmental triggers that may be re-traumatizing.

White Bird opened a new crisis center adjacent to the Whiteaker neighborhood in late July. The center houses the 24/7 crisis line as well as walk in services in a trauma informed space. White Bird now offers the Whitaker and West Eugene neighborhoods an opportunity to reach out without having to travel across town. We’re also building a new dental clinic that will increase capacity by 50 patients a week and will allow us to serve more elderly patients, children, and families. White Bird Medical is reducing barriers to accessing care in multiple ways: the clinic is now open forty hours a week, and we’re launching White Bird Street Medicine to bring care to a diverse range of sites, reaching individuals who are transportation insecure. A walk-in primary care service will open later this fall in the Medical Clinic.

CAHOOTS is celebrating 30 years of providing mobile crisis intervention as an alternative to traditional public safety response. CAHOOTS has attracted notice from national news media as well as from communities across the country. The Wall Street Journal and the CBS Evening News have showcased CAHOOTS as an innovative model for reducing the risk of violent civilian/police encounters. Communities from California to New York have requested strategic guidance and training in order to implement CAHOOTS’ model of mobile crisis intervention. CAHOOTS operates 24/7 in Eugene and Springfield and handled over 17% of the total Eugene public safety calls last year.

In order to care for our most vulnerable community members, White Bird is taking a risk by expanding many different programs at once, and we’re turning to the community for support and partnership. Please call 541.342.8255 or click here to donate to the project of your choice.

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White Bird Building New Dental Clinic

Rendering courtesy of GMA Architects, an architecture and design firm in Eugene, Oregon

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The new clinic will increase the dental program’s capacity by seventy-five percent.

EUGENE, OREGON – White Bird is constructing an expanded dental clinic at 1415 Pearl St. that will offer urgent and preventative oral health care. The clinic is expected to open in October.

Too many unhoused and low-income community members need dental care that they cannot access. In response, White Bird has purchased the building at 1415 Pearl St. and is developing a dental clinic that increases capacity by 50 patients a week. The new facility will also allow White Bird to serve more elderly patients, children, and families.

Poor oral health presents significant challenges for many unhoused community members. According to Trillium Community Health Plan, many of their patients don’t ever see a dentist. The last two Lane County Community Health Improvement Plans identified access to affordable dental care as a major priority.

The dental clinic was founded in 1995 and has grown continuously since then. The twenty three year old facility is the limiting factor in White Bird’s ability to meet the increased community need for oral health care.

White Bird Clinic has a history of identifying, assessing, and responding to community need by leveraging existing resources. The dental expansion project is a central component of White Bird’s mission of service to low income, under-served community members. Once the new dental clinic is completed, the current clinic facility will be renovated to add a walk-in clinic to White Bird Medical. The new service will provide an alternative to hospital emergency room visits for low-income patients suffering an acute issue, offering compassionate and expert care and substantial cost savings for the community.

In addition to the dental clinic and walk-in medical clinic, White Bird is developing a new crisis center adjacent to the Whiteaker neighborhood as well as expanding CAHOOTS hours and geographic coverage. This is the first time in White Bird’s fifty year history that it has conducted two construction projects and multiple program expansions simultaneously, an indicator of the volume of unmet community need that the agency addresses.

In order to care for our most vulnerable community members, White Bird is taking a risk by growing many different programs at once, and we’re turning to the community for support and partnership. Please call 541.342.8255 or click here to donate to the project of your choice.


In 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 200 staff members and more than 400 volunteers each year.

White Bird Breaks Ground on New Crisis Center

White Bird is developing an expanded Crisis facility adjacent to Eugene’s Whiteaker Neighborhood

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EUGENE, OREGON – White Bird Clinic’s Crisis program will offer expanded walk-in services as well as a telephone crisis line from a renovated facility at 990 W 7th Ave. Construction started April 29th and is expected to be completed in early July. The new location improves access to White Bird services for community members in the Whiteaker and West Eugene.

The new crisis center will house the crisis line phone service, which White Bird has operated 24/7/365 for 50 years, as well as walk-in services in a trauma-informed space. The choice of location is intended to expand White Bird’s presence in the Whiteaker neighborhood as well as its reach into west Eugene and western Lane County.

This safe space is intended to minimize environmental triggers that could be re-traumatizing. In 2018, the crisis team had 13,387 client encounters, 2,743 of them walk-in and 10,644 through the telephone crisis line. There were 4,237 contacts with clients in crisis and 2,976 contacts with clients seeking mental health information and referral. We served 2,006 unhoused clients and diverted 636 emergency room visits.

The crisis center construction is the first of many projects that will increase White Bird’s ability to care for Eugene’s most vulnerable community members. The agency has purchased two new buildings, is developing new dental and medical clinics, and is expanding CAHOOTS coverage and hours.

White Bird is taking a risk and growing to better serve, and is turning to the community for help with the financial resources needed to care for our most vulnerable community members. Contributions support White Bird’s mission and services for those in need. All donations are tax deductible.

In the Media

White Bird Clinic Expanding Dental & Medical Services

White Bird Executive Coordinator Miles Mabray (front) stands with Fund Developer, Chris Hecht, in front of the dental and medical clinic currently serving 2,000 low-income patients annually.
CREDIT TIFFANY ECKERT, KLCC

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EUGENE, OREGON – White Bird Clinic will purchase the building at 1415 Pearl St. and redevelop it into a dental clinic to serve burgeoning community need. The existing dental facilities at 1400 Mill St will be renovated to add urgent care services to White Bird’s medical clinic.

The new building will allow White Bird dental to serve 50 additional patients each week and increase capacity to host student internships. The clinic will also provide denture care for elderly patients and allow White Bird to serve more children and families. White Bird medical’s new urgent care services will provide an alternative to hospital emergency room visits for patients experiencing an acute issue who lack health insurance.

“With the increase in community need for affordable urgent and preventative dental care, we’ve been on the lookout for a larger facility to better serve clients. When this opportunity came up, we knew we had to move on it immediately,” White Bird Dental Program Coordinator Kim Freuen said.

Founded in 1995, the dental clinic provides urgent care as well as preventative care. The program has continuously grown and is now constrained by its 23 year-old facility, and is not operating at optimal capacity due to a shortage of space. This year to date, the dental clinic has provided 4,848 visits for 1,992 patients:

  • 829 for emergency care;
  • 1,322 for hygiene/preventative care; and
  • 2,697 for restorative care.

According to Trillium Community Health Plan, many of their patients don’t ever see a dentist. The last two Community Health Improvement Plans for Lane County identified affordable dental care as a major issue. Poor oral health presents significant challenges for many unhoused community members; White Bird recognizes that need and meets it.

White Bird Medical Clinic provides affordable and friendly medical care to indigent, homeless, low-income, and otherwise marginalized populations, such as community members who are employed but uninsured or underinsured. In addition to staff physicians, there is a behavioral health consultant and a psychiatric prescriber who collaborate with the physicians to offer integrated, holistic care. This year to date, the medical clinic has provided 2,226 visits for 950 patients. 1,020 of those visits were with unhoused patients.

Providing primary care to patients is crucially important, as White Bird’s patients often suffer from multiple complex medical issues that are compounded by socioeconomic barriers to health care and lifestyle changes. These community members face significant barriers as well as discrimination when attempting to access health care institutions in the community, and having White Bird primary care providers advocate for them and coordinate their care is vital.

The new medical urgent care service will divert a great number of emergency room visits, which are very costly for all stakeholders. White Bird Clinic is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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Please support our efforts by making a donation in person, by mail, or online through our website.




In the News

White Bird Providing Medical & Crisis Response to Camp 99

EUGENE, OREGON – In response to the urgent needs of community members at Camp 99, White Bird Clinic has mobilized a rapid response team and set up a temporary clinic at the Lindholm Center across Hwy 99 from the camp. The interdisciplinary team provides integrated, wrap-around services aligned with White Bird‘s comprehensive care model.

The temporary clinic offers medical services 16 hours per week. Crisis response workers and behavioral health counselors including drug and alcohol counselors are on site 8 hours each week. Outreach and enrollment specialists from White Bird’s Homeless program are on site. Services are provided daily except Sunday, for a total of 24 hours each week through January 7th.

Saint Vincent De Paul is providing space in its Lindholm Community Service Center for the temporary clinic. Their participation has allowed White Bird to get services up and running in a matter of days. Individuals utilizing SVDP’s Service Station are welcome at the clinic. The temporary clinic is funded by Lane County.

“It’s great to see such a speedy response by the county,” said White Bird Clinic Co-Coordinator Miles Mabray. “Their staff recognized the emergent nature of the situation and committed to immediate action. We’re partnering to meet this need within days.”

Camp 99 is a sanctioned camp created by Lane County on October 27 for people who were camping at the butterfly lot in downtown Eugene. The camp, located on a graveled lot in an industrial area on Highway 99, is intended to offer a safer, more sanitary place to sleep. On or around January 7th, Camp 99 is scheduled to be cleared. Campers on site will be given the option to transfer to other shelter options as they are available.

Individuals and businesses wishing to support the project can help in many ways. Financial donations, cold weather gear, food, and toiletries are welcome. For more information on how to help, please email camp99@whitebirdclinic.org, or call 541-342-8255.

See Also

White Bird doctors kick off new program connected to Camp 99
by Stephanie Rothman and NBC16.com Staff

White Bird Will Provide Clinic At Camp 99 In Eugene
By RACHAEL MCDONALD • KLCC

Eugene’s White Bird Clinic now offering medical services at Highway 99 homeless camp
by Alisha Roemeling, Register Guard

White Bird Clinic Launches Stay Warm Drive

White Bird asks the community to share the warmth with our most vulnerable community members.

White Bird Clinic needs help supporting unhoused community members who are facing the onset of the winter season. We’re sending out a call for any and all warm winter gear, particularly blankets and sleeping bags. For those who spend most of their time outdoors, winter in Eugene can be tough. White Bird asks you to help us help all of us and build a healthy and strong community. Please bring any of the following tax-deductible donations to our main clinic building at 341 E 12th Ave. in Eugene:

  • Blankets
  • Sleeping bags
  • Coats/Jackets/Sweaters
  • Warm pants
  • Socks/Gloves/Scarves
  • Rain gear
  • Tarps

Please click here for a list of the other items we are currently accepting.

We’re happy to pick up larger donations. Call us at 541-342-8255.