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

enduringSOLDIER

PLEASE MEET ANDOR

It’s September in South Seattle. Rain pounds the dark scene like a bad cinema effect. A band of beaten down folks has gathered away from the flashing blue lights and hazardous waste vehicles. Their meager salvaged possessions heaped in a few piles and small carts. There’s wet clothing, mold and mental illness in the vacant stares. Confusion and sadness in the aftermath of another encampment sweep. Two grown men embrace each other weeping. A young woman stares stone faced at the ground.

Andor is steel eyed and focused. The rain runs off his face. “They took most of our things.” he says angrily. But he turns and speaks gently to his companions, proposing a strategy for their next camp. He negotiates the chaos with determination and a thick accent.

Andor was born in Budapest, Hungary in a war-torn town and time. The son of a motorcycle gang king-pin, they lived in the woods and in abandoned bomb shelters. He hunted wild pigs and was drafted into the military at a young age. He served a short time as a POW. “I can’t tell you what happened to me there, but afterwards I became a bad person. I wanted to hurt people.”

Andor escaped to America using a fake black market passport. He joined the Army and served in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars. “I was a soldier. Fighting was all I ever knew.” Afterwards he made good money smuggling Mexican families into the US. He was arrested and spent 4 years in prison. He ran a paint business for a while. But a struggle with cancer left him weak and unable to work. Andor became homeless. “I can live this way. I learned how growing up.”

Andor survives conditions that have stirred havoc in the lives and hearts of others. He endures the hardships of homelessness and remains stable surrounded by mental illness, abuse, and emotional trauma. Domestic violence, sweeps, endless rain, and snow. He is appreciated by his small community as they are swept from place to place.

Andor is always polite. Always positive. Always the same.
At age 46 Andor isn’t hurting people anymore. He likes fishing and has a keen interest in post apocalyptic sci-fi. He loves medieval garb, weaponry, and “steam punk” imagery. His mask collection lines the walls of his tents. He has artistic skills blending medieval costume effects with modern styles and materials. His eyes light up as he explains. And it’s really hard to believe Andor ever hurt anyone.

Back at the corner, a distraught man clutches a bible while fumbling aimlessly though damp belongings. A young man sits on the curb and vomits as he cries in the rain. An exiting police car passes by closely. The officer’s eyes remain straight ahead.

SODO Neighborhood | Damian

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 #Kindness #FacingHomelessness

communityCLEANUPS

PLEASE MEET OUR COMMUNITY

All the Community CleanUPs end the same way, with everyone feeling amazed and proud of the transformation that just took place, it is a wowWOW every single time!!

If you are looking for something beautiful to do in community with a bunch of kind thoughtful people, then come join what is usually a group of 30 or so folks wanting to make a difference.

The immediate goal of each cleanUP is to make new friends, with those living inside and outside, through the joy of picking up litter! You might laugh, but it is crazy enjoyable to pick up litter, filling that immediate gratification bucket!

The long-term goal is to beautifully cleanUP our city and compassionately step forward to stop the sweeps! Sweeping is for garbage, not people suffering to survive.

If you are interested, the next cleanUP is September 22, 2019 from 10:30-12:30 at James Street and I-5, at the east side of the freeway.

This will be our eleventh Community CleanUP, makes me smile so big just typing that, knowing all the beauty and friendships that have come from the first ten!

See you SUNDAY!!!

Seattle neighborhoods | 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 #CommunityCleanUP #FacingHomelessness #JustSayHello

ourYOUTH

PLEASE MEET CHRIS

It is difficult to discuss youth homelessness, to hear the numbers of those living on the streets away from family, those that are suffering from anxiety or other mental health issues, those that aged out of the Foster Care system never finding home, or those that did not graduate from high school and are wondering where they fit in, or on and on. It is enough to make your beautiful brain hurt.

But sit with somebody that is in their teens or early 20's that is is homeless and your brain will not only hurt, but your heart will want to burst. You will go home, sit down, and cry.

It is important to know that nobody chooses to be homeless. It is important to know that rather than a choice being involved, something happened to this person that set them on a path towards homelessness. You may not know the reason, you may never know the reason, but you can be sure that this person knows it, lives with it, constantly.

Nobody chooses homelessness because homelessness is suffering, and nobody chooses suffering. Nobody ever chooses suffering.

Chris and his girlfriend Bana are living homeless along I-5, they were in need of a new tent, and if possible, a guitar. Both were provided by kind people in this community. So much kindness.

Kindness cannot be overstated or overemphasized in the conversation on homelessness. Kindness is what provides HOPE to those in need, and HOPE is everything for those that have nothing.

Chris and Bana you are BEAUTIFUL together!!! A heartfelt thank you for sharing your beauty with us. LOVE to you,

Downtown Seattle 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 #Kindness #FacingHomelessness

seattleALIVE

I really resisted writing about the 'Seattle is Dying' video, but in the end, the hurt felt and being expressed by folks living homeless was just too great to not make a comment.

I believe it is safe to say: 1. There is an addiction problem. 2. Crime is not acceptable. 3 The police and our justice system must function. 4. Mental health awareness and services are severely lacking. 5. Available and affordable housing is severely lacking. 6. Garbage is not acceptable.

The list could go on. The common ground that we all share as citizens of Seattle is wide and deep and beautiful when we work to find it. We lose sight of our common ground when issues are presented in a way that divides us.

This is what 'Seattle is Dying' did. It took the mentioned truths above and created a narrative that divided further an already emotionally hurt community on this issue. It painted a picture that dehumanized and unfairly categorized.

YES to everyone in this city that is frustrated with the homelessness crisis and is looking for systems solutions, your voice is heard and wanted. YES to everyone that leans forward with compassion and is looking to humanize the issue, your voice is heard and wanted. YES to our police officers, to our fire-fighters, to our politicians, our judges and lawyers, to our city workers, our business owners, building owners and residents, which includes those living inside and out.

If we want to live in community we must act in community, we must work together for solutions, not against one another for victories.

Whether 'Seattle is Dying' resonated with you or whether it upset you, the next step for all of us is the same, to come closer, to take part in the solution with an open heart and open mind. Every person here, no matter if they live inside or out, is welcome and deserves our LOVE.

Please watch Tomasz Beirnacki's film, "Trickle Down Town", found on his web-page - http://www.pechara.com/?fbclid=IwAR1s89eBnhhD-zfaPgYpz5pTAZP_ze_753z03K7C-6c6Cilj-xWEN6ougdQ.

Seattle neighborhoods | 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