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Food, Howard Friedman readily admits, is his passion, one that he loves to share with others. Before becoming a principal broker with Compass Commercial Real Estate in Bend, Ore., he spent about 20 years as a professional chef and restaurant owner.
“In my restaurant days, I struggled to make a living,” he says. “It was a tough time. Once I got into real estate and became a little more successful, I was able to give back both in time and money to help the community. It’s a great feeling.”
Every month since 2006, Howard Friedman, together with his wife, Nancy, and another couple, prepares a meal for the residents of the Bethlehem Inn, a homeless shelter in Bend. The crowd can range from 80 to 120 people on average. The meals might feature stews, a Moroccan meal, Thai cuisine—“whatever pops into my head,” Friedman says, depending on what ingredients are available at the time.
“It’s just wonderful to see him here, preparing and serving a meal that is truly made with love,” says Gwenn Wysling, executive director of the Bethlehem Inn. “And he makes the most amazing cookies.”
Preparing meals soon led to a deeper impact when Wysling asked Friedman for his help in securing a new home for the Inn.
An Exit for Central Oregon’s Homeless
The Bethlehem Inn serves as a temporary housing shelter for the Central Oregon region, which has experienced a marked increase in the homeless population in recent years. The Inn provides temporary housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and offers meals, case management services and assistance with finding employment.
“Howard has a genuine heart for caring for his neighbors. He always looks for opportunities to share what he has.” –Gwenn Wysling
“It’s a clean and sober facility; it’s a high barrier facility—no drugs, no smoking, no sex offenders,” Friedman explains. “For a lot of people, that really helps to straighten their lives out and gives them an opportunity to move forward and gain a future for themselves and their families.”
Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang attests to the importance of the program. “For people to climb back out of unsheltered homelessness, they need a safe place to sleep at night. They need support and structure and accountability,” he says. “Bethlehem Inn does that for so many people in our community. It’s a critical piece of the wraparound services that allow people to exit homelessness.”
Originally hosted by a regular rotation of churches, the Bethlehem Inn moved into an old county-owned motel in 2007. The 1960s-era property gave the Bethlehem Inn a permanent location from which to operate, but it had its limits. There was no kitchen, for example, requiring Friedman to prepare food offsite and transport it to the Inn.
In 2013, the shelter decided to explore new options. Wysling asked around for a real estate expert who could help, and Howard Friedman’s name kept coming up. “He worked for Compass Commercial and had a reputation as an amazing broker and community servant,” she recalls. “And then I learned that he’d already been preparing meals for the Inn for years.”
Turning a Rundown Motel into a New Home
Friedman analyzed the market and brought in a contractor to assess the property. The Inn was already in a good location, he determined, with bus routes and zoning regulations in place, and viable alternate locations in the city were all but nonexistent. However, the motel was run down and needed almost $900,000 in renovations just to meet current safety standards. The nonprofit eventually purchased the property from Deschutes County for $1 million, in an agreement negotiated by Friedman and a newly formed facility committee.
Instead of renovating, though, the Inn decided that rebuilding would be a better option, allowing them to double the capacity and provide more services for individuals and families. “The reality was that we could put almost a million dollars into an old motel and still end up with an old motel,” Wysling says. “By building the new facility, we were able to create something that will last well into the future.”
Friedman was instrumental in a capital campaign to raise the estimated $9 million needed to tear down the old facility and build a new one. He served on the capital campaign committee and the strategic planning committee, and he joined the executive board in 2016. Within a couple of years, the Inn had sufficient funds to be able to start building. Friedman even persuaded the Central Oregon Association of REALTORS® to participate, including a competition with the Central Oregon Builders Association to raise funds.
“The reputation of the Inn and what it brought to the community, Howard knew firsthand because he had been preparing meals for the residents for so many years,” Wysling says. “He was an ideal ambassador and spokesperson.”
“Volunteering helps people become aware of what you do and how you give back, and those are the kind of folks you want to work with.” –Howard Friedman
Two buildings subsequently replaced the old motel: The Family Residence and Service Hub opened in June 2018 to 10 families (double the previous capacity) and in May 2019, the Next Steps Adult Residence opened, sheltering 112 individual adults experiencing homelessness, an increase of more than 30%.
In addition to the residential space, the buildings feature meeting rooms, program rooms, play space for children, and sustainable features such as solar panels and air filtration systems. And, where the motel had no kitchen, the new facilities include a large commercial kitchen and dining area. “With his chef’s background, Howard helped us design the most amazing state-of-the-art kitchen, where our residents eat and our volunteers just love to come and cook,” Wysling says. “It’s basically a restaurant.”
During construction, the Inn continued providing shelter for those in need, a feat of which Friedman is proud. “We never were down one day,” he says. “We staged with the contractors to tear down the old facilities a little at a time and were able to still have residents stay while we were building. We never had any down days during the entire process.”
Continuing to Serve
Friedman is serving a second term on the board and on several committees and is mentoring new board members. He recently helped the Bethlehem Inn expand to the nearby town of Redmond, Ore., negotiating the purchase of another old motel to be converted into a homeless shelter under the state’s Project Turnkey program and donating the commission to the Inn.
Through it all, he has continued to prepare meals once a month for residents, even during the teardown and rebuilding process. Having the opportunity to share his passion for food and interacting with the residents keeps him motivated.
“When people are in the buffet line, they thank us for being there and for what we do,” Friedman says. “We hear a lot of stories about how the Inn is helping them find employment or permanent housing or health care. I think that’s the most fulfilling part of all.”
Howard Friedman is principal broker with REALTOR® with Compass Commercial Real Estate in Bend, Ore. He has volunteered at the Bethlehem Inn, a homeless shelter, since 2006, preparing and serving monthly meals.
