givingKINDNESS

PLEASE MEET GAIL AND JAY

When I walked into Kathryn & Jeff's backyard in the Crown Hill neighborhood, where another BLOCK Home is nearly finished, Gail was on her knees scrubbing the decking and her husband Jay on a ladder cleaning the window.

It's easy to spot people who are self-motivated with a strong work ethic, they just go about getting things done. When you mix that with KINDNESS, you get positive change!

Jay & Gail Winberg make positive change happen! They both grew up in Seattle caring deeply about this city and specifically for those struggling without basic needs being met. Gail recalls back in 1980 Mayor Norm Rice's call-to-action around housing. In response, she and a small group started the University Congregational Housing Association, of which she was on the Board of Directors for 29 years!

For 10 years Gail was the coordinator of the University Church's Emergency Fund, an effort to address the needs of those walking into church's asking for help.

Then there is Gail and Jay's time given at the Thrift Store in the University Temple United Methodist Church. For the last 7 years Gail has helped co-manage the operation with Jay faithfully there every Friday making peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches!

Jay & Gail are not interested in receiving attention for their efforts, they are simply interested in real community driven solutions, looking for positive change. For this reason they have been supporting the BLOCK Project wholeheartedly!!

Their donated $35,000 built the BLOCK Home in Kathryn and Jeff's backyard, a home that Mark will be moving into this week, wowWOW!!

Facing Homelessness is beyond grateful for the funds that make this project possible. What is so beautiful about Gail & Jay is that they have not only contributed needed financial resources, they are community members that roll their sleeves up and jump in to make positive change happen!

So much LOVE and ADMIRATION for Gail & Jay from everyone in the Facing Homelessness community!!!

Crown Hill neighborhood | Rex

A QUIET THOUGHT - If you're moved by the goodness of this community, please visit http://www.facinghomelessness.org/ and click on the 'donate' button and consider a "monthly recurring" donation of just $5 in support of the work. THANK YOU!
#kindness #JustSayHello #FacingHomelessness #BlockArchitects Lockhart Suver, LLC

loveWINS

PLEASE MEET MARK

The BLOCK Project is profound in its depth of LOVE. Scores of ordinary people stepping forward with extra-ordinary acts of beautiful KINDNESS!!! Nowhere is this more evident than in those opening their backyard for a BLOCK Home, saying, "I want you to succeed" to someone in need!

BLOCK Home #5 Hosts, Kathryn Jacoby & Jeffrey Whitehill, married just two weeks ago, wowWOW, living in the Crown Hill neighborhood, invited Mark to live in their backyard BLOCK Home!

Kathryn said, "We are two people with an available backyard, how could we not when 12K people in King County live without a home." Jeff added, "I said yes because I love Kathryn, she is genuine, she lives her values."

Mark, who is moving into the newly built BLOCK Home next week, was a journalist in Bremerton when he learned he had congestive heart failure. The newspaper told him they would like to carry him, but they couldn't. After getting out of the hospital Mark became homeless for six months, it was seriously rough on him, he said, "Every day you have to fight to keep your spirits up, you have to believe in yourself to be able to push forward."

Mark's BLOCK Home, like all BLOCK Home's, was community funded, community built, and community supported!!! So very beautiful!

The highly sought after construction company Lockhart | Suver built the home for under $35K, providing ALL labor for free. Mark Urquhart, the Project Manager, put in countless hours of his own time building and managing the work. Keep in mind that a unit of supportive housing typically costs between $300-$350K, ten times a BLOCK Home!

Shawn Sandoval, with "Plumbers Without Borders" & Superintendent at Holmberg Mechanical provided his time for free; American Standard donated the plumbing fixtures; Dovetail General Contractors provided cabinets for free; Active Engineering donated the electrical labor; Solterra donated (8) solar panels; Weisman Design Group donated the landscape design; Mutual Materials provided discounted pavers; Cal Portland donated 6 yrds of gravel; Issaquah Cedar & Lumber Co. donated all cedar for decking & hemlock for trim; Cardinal Heating & Air donated the HRV & labor; Mighty Energy Solutions provided the free radiant ceiling panel; NW Partners LLC donated Vaproshield WRB; Pin Foundations Inc. provided free diamond piers; Milesi and Barron Specialty Coatings provided clear coat 50% off; just to name a few!!!

It is easy to see how wonderful you are Mark, wishing you the very best as you begin a new chapter of opportunity and hope, living in a loving community that believes in you!

Crown Hill neighborhood | Rex

A QUIET THOUGHT - If you're moved by the goodness of this community, please visit http://www.facinghomelessness.org/ and click on the 'donate' button and consider a "monthly recurring" donation of just $5 in support of the work. THANK YOU!
#JustSayHello #FacingHomelessness #Kindness Lockhart Suver, LLC