NINE STATES / ONE MISSION
Caption: Members of AWS / Tammy’s Team came from nine different states to build with us today!
It takes a village from all over the United States today to build “Karma Chameleon”, our 333rd home. We learned about homelessness from other cities and states from San Francisco to New Jersey and Connecticut. We are so glad that our friends from AWS continue to build with us and educate us.
AND NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!
One week from tomorrow, March 16th is Sound Foundations NW’s fifth anniversary! Next week’s newsletter will feature several photos like this one from days gone by. It will be fun looking back as we move forward. Party on, Garth!
NEWS FROM AROUND THE AREA
SHOULD SEATTLE BARE THE BURDEN OF THE HOMELESS IN ALL KING COUNTY CITIES?
Here’s more information on the subject.
LGBTQ+ YOUTH AND HOMELESSNESS
- LGBTQ+ youth are 2.2 times more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ+ peers.
- Black LGBTQ+ young people are twice as likely as white LGBTQ+ young people to experience homelessness.
HOMELESSNESS AND CRIME
People living unsheltered are increasingly vulnerable to attacks from people targeting them specifically because they’re homeless. The Seattle Police Department’s 2022 crime report, released earlier this month, showed a 229 percent increase in hate crimes targeting homeless people (an increase of 16 individual crimes), and an increase of 11 homicides in which the victim was homeless over last year.
(When Barb met Police Chief Diaz at the Mayor’s State of the City address, Chief Diaz told Barb “We never worry about the tiny home villages because there is no crime there.”)
MORE GOOD NEWS FROM OUR DEVELOPMENT TEAM
GiveBIG is May 2-3, 2023!
Greetings Tiny Home advocates, and thanks so much for all that you do! Because of your incredible volunteer efforts day after day, SFNW is able to continue building tiny homes to get our unhoused neighbors off the ground for just the cost of materials. Currently, that cost runs about $4300 per home and we continue to raise funds from individuals, corporations, and governments to buy those materials. Thanks to all of your support, we’ve now built 333 tiny homes that will shelter nearly 20,000 people over the life of those homes!
Coming up on May 2-3 is another great opportunity to boost our efforts. GiveBIG is a major 2-day fundraising event started in 2011 by the Seattle Foundation to encourage investment in our local community. In 2018 it became a statewide event that last year garnered nearly $15M in donations for nonprofits from more than 27,000 donors in just two days! This year, SFNW will be participating for the first time and we hope that as the weekend approaches and you begin to hear, see, and read more publicity for the event, that you’ll consider continuing to fund our costs of materials as we strive for our ambitious $1M goal this year. Through all the noise, the policy debates, and the battling media coverage, we just keep on building tiny homes – less talking, more doing. That’s what we do. So thanks for sharing with your network and helping direct their GiveBIG dollars our way too, so we can all keep doing what we do. Stay tuned for links and other ways to participate in GiveBIG very soon.
Lastly, we’re excited to announce a convenient new way to donate to SFNW. For those of you with Donor Advised Fund accounts who’d like to donate, we can now accept donations directly from your DAF with just a few clicks, right from our donation page https://www.
Stay tuned for more fundraising updates, and thank you for sharing your positive opinions regarding tiny home villages and SFNW with your family, friends, and colleagues. Anyone, anywhere can GiveBIG to the causes they believe in!
THIS WEEK AROUND THE HOPE FACTORY
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED THIS WEEK
- Our “regulars” who are the heart and soul of our organization
- “New Crew” members: Hunter, Bernard, Elizabeth, Jeannie, and Thury
- Our wonderful groups: YMSL (and all the Team Leaders that helped last weekend!), Mercer Island Rotary, AWS / Tammy’s Team, and Coldstream
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