IMAGINEif Someone Listened And Did Not Judge:
As we turn the calendar page to a new year, we can feel a palpable, collective sense of relief. But many of the challenges of 2020 will come with us into the new year, and not all of us will look at 2021 and see it as a fresh start. In fact, the number of people living outside in Seattle is growing.
If we all play our part, this community can and will rise to meet those challenges. We’ve done it before, so many times. Ten years ago, we were a Facebook page. Today, we’re a connected community that is actively building the world we want to live in.
This incredible community is stepping up more than ever. Over the holidays, we took the Window of Kindness to the streets and met unhoused people where they were to distribute sleeping bags, tents, and survival kits.
But it’s not just our staff that are stepping up. You, our incredible community, are stepping up too. You’re finding ways to use your resources and your compassion to shape the future of people living outside. We’ve seen a huge increase in donations of food and survival items to the Window of Kindness - items that can literally save lives during a cold, uncaring winter.
One of our volunteers knows how to sew. She used that skill to design sleeping bag liners with built-in pockets for hiding necessary items overnight. She refined the design based on feedback from people who needed to use them. Now, we’re distributing those liners at the Window of Kindness as quickly as she can make them.
Even if you can’t sew, or don’t have spare time to volunteer, there is still something you can do right now to be part of the solution. You can donate. Funding is the fuel for our engine of compassion and kindness. The more we have, the farther we can go.
https://give.classy.org/FH2020
Small acts of kindness matter on a bigger scale than we realize, and huge changes start with small steps forward. One donation, one smile, one hot meal, and one home at a time, we are creating a better world together. We are just about $5,000 shy of our stretch goal - help us meet it by midnight tonight and we’ll be another step closer.
With gratitude,
The Facing Homelessness staff, board and volunteers