Caption: Do you ever wonder why The Hope Factory is such a colorful place? 
(Photo by Aimee)
DID YOU KNOW…
In the last three months, 51 groups plus our regulars, a total of 1156 people, volunteered at The Hope Factory contributing nearly 7,000 hours! Wow! It truly takes a village to make a village. Thank you, everyone, for what you are doing to end homelessness.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT ALDERSGATE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Our 2nd annual Walk for Belonging is coming up next month on Saturday, April 22nd at Greenlake. We hope that you’ll be able to join in person and that you can also share this event with your networks. This is an opportunity to bring together those who have been impacted by homelessness and incarceration, and community partners who support reentry efforts. We want as many people present as possible to show the community HOW MANY PEOPLE have been impacted by systemic challenges!
Here is the link to the Walk for Belonging for additional information:
https://
AND FROM ANOTHER TINY HOME ADVOCATE
Recently Erika Bigelow and Ashley Cappel, two parents of children who go to school close to a very large tent encampment, toured The Hope Factory. They have been strong advocates for ending homelessness and now of the tiny home village program. Look what Erika wrote in the comment section of Post Alley’s article, “The Cost of Solving Homelessness: Dones Calls the Bluff”
“Please review your facts about Tiny Homes and correct them in the above article. The median stay in a Tiny Home is 114 days and they have the highest success rate of any type of transitional housing, for transitioning people into more permanent accommodations. Additionally, they have a surplus of Tiny Homes in a warehouse in SODO just waiting for funds in order to house people.
They are WAY more cost effective than putting people temporarily into hotels. Each Tiny House costs $4300 to build. They can house three different residents per year, and they last 20 years. So, each home can house up to 60 individuals over the course of its lifetime.
Obviously, that doesn’t include the costs of running the village – that’s simply the structure – but you won’t find anything cheaper that gives a homeless individual private space, a community, and access to a caseworker and services.
You should review this plan and then ask KCHRA why Marc Dones’ feud with Sharon Lee is preventing them from a solution that works.
https://www.
Thanks Erika. We couldn’t have said it any better.
IN THE NEWS
There is a lot of information that came through the news this week. Here you go.
Interesting article in the Times today about what has happened in the past year regarding homelessness. Note that in the tiny home section, the “zero tiny homes built” were a part of CM Andrew Lewis’ “It Takes a Village” initiative, not what we are doing at SFNW. Last year we built 176 homes. This year we are on track to build between 200-225 homes.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/one-year-later-where-do-seattle-king-county-homelessness-promises-stand/
The new Seattle Point in Time Count reveals that 2288 more homeless this year than last year. That is the NET gain, not the gross. If you take into account the 2100 homeless persons we got off the streets with the tiny home village program plus the 4500 that KCRHA proports to have gotten off the street, the GROSS amount of new homeless is 8888 more. From a 13,000+ homeless population last year, this is a significant increase.
Danny Westneat continues to prove that sunlight is the best disinfectant.
https://www.seattletimes.com/
NATIONAL NEWS: Taking care of our veterans.
AROUND THE HOPE FACTORY
What an image of beauty. This represents A LOT of volunteer work! Thanks for what you do every day.
Look at our Sponsor Board grow! You are so generous. We can’t do this without you. THANK YOU!
COMING SOON
- SATURDAY, April 1st, we will open up the Group Build schedule for July. First emailed, first scheduled.
- SUNDAY, April 2nd, an independent film crew making a documentary on homelessness in Seattle will be joining us to film and interview folks. If you want to be a part of this, please sign up to volunteer on Sunday.
- TUESDAY, April 4th, we will have group of 41 – 8th grade students from Lakeside School touring The Hope Factory.
- EASTER SUNDAY, April 9th, we will be closed.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED THIS WEEK
- Our “regulars” who are the heart and soul of our organization.
- “New Crew” members: Madeleine, Jess, Kyle, Megan, Arturo, Paul, and Woody.
- Our wonderful groups: Rotary District 5030 and Lake WA Sai Ctr.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
TO VOLUNTEER
Come build with us this week! Here’s the link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/
Please remember to wear painting clothes even if you do not anticipate painting. Minimum age is 16 years. Please, no exceptions.
Clarification: If the SignUpGenius says (The name of a Group Build) AND Open Build, this means that you can volunteer even if you are not a part of the group.
TEAM LEADERS IN TRAINING: If you wish to become a Team Leader in Training, DO NOT SIGN UP for the day you wish to do this. Email SoundFoundationsNW@gmail.com and we will put you on the list.
We hope to be building with you soon.
Your Leadership Team: Beatrice, Tom, Bruce, David, Timothy and Barb