Caption: another entire village like South End Village will be built with money from the WA State Department of Commerce.
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About a year ago, State Senator Joe Nguyen visited The Hope Factory. As many of you know, when Barb invites electeds to The Hope Factory, she always invites them in the finished home first. She then shuts the door, stands in front of it, and conveys our thoughts until she’s done: usually about five minutes or so. With Sen. Nguyen, it was FORTY FIVE MINUTES, and mostly voluntary on his part!
Last May, Senator Nguyen sponsored a budget proviso that awarded us money through the Department of Commerce to build 40 more homes. What we have learned from this experience is that state money moves slowly sometimes. Last week, after many, many, many, many emails, and miles of red tape, we finally signed the contract to get that grant. WOOHOO!! Forty more people will be immediately off the ground; warm, safe, and dry. Up to 2400 people will be affected in the lifetime of these homes.
A huge amount of thanks and gratitude goes to Senator Nguyen and his staff for being doggedly persistent, along with Amy and Taylor at the Department of Commerce, and our friends at LIHI, particularly Sharon, Brad, and Josh. We all learned some valuable lessons which will make it easier if/when we receive more money from the Department of Commerce and WA State.
…MAKE THAT 41
On Tuesday, we had 41-8th grade students from Lakeside School spend some time at The Hope Factory. They got a tour and had Lunch and Learn with our volunteers. Then they watched a tilt up, wrote love notes and named the home “Wilson”. Thanks, Lakeside School, for the visit.
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TRES BIEN!
Last Fall a production team from the TV show Échappées Belles (which means Beautiful Escapes) came from Paris, France to do a travel show on Seattle. They were kind enough to include us in their show. The YouTube video is below. We start at 26 minutes.
GIVE BIG COMING SOON
By Barb Oliver
Hi everyone, and thanks so much for all that you do every week to get our homeless neighbors off the ground and inside a warm, safe, and dry tiny home!
As you’ve heard me mention, the annual statewide fundraising event known as GiveBIG is coming up early next month. More about GiveBIG 2023 can be found here. This year, SFNW will be participating for the first time and we’re working hard to spread the word about transitional tiny homes as a highly effective solution to the cascade of unsheltered homelessness.
One of the best ways for us to get the word out is for folks who already know us and our tiny homes, all of you, to share our method and our success with your own networks of friends, colleagues, and social media followers.
Fortunately, the GiveBIG platform makes this really easy. Just start by clicking on the SFNW page on the WA Gives website https://www.wagives.org/
On that page, just below the “donate” and “fundraise” buttons you’ll see a link to “share this organization”. Click that link and share with your network via email, Facebook, or Twitter – it’s really that simple.
If fifty of us each reach a few dozen in our own networks, we’ll have gotten our message in front of hundreds of people who otherwise wouldn’t know about the effectiveness of tiny home villages!
While “fundraising” is never easy, other people who care as much about actually solving homelessness as we do (and not just talking about it), will appreciate just hearing about our solution. If readers also choose to donate then great, but even getting the word out among our networks is very helpful too and that’s what sharing our page will do.
We will be featuring various information in this newsletter and a few other emails that you will be receiving throughout the month of April and early May. This is intended for you to share to your friends and those who care about getting our neighbors off the streets.
So please, share our page with your network a couple of times during the GiveBIG event, April 18-May 3, and help us spread the word. Thanks so much for your support, and I hope you’ll consider participating on our behalf as we strive for our ambitious $1M goal this year.
Remember, Homelessness is Solvable!
Thanks again,
Barb
LOOK WHAT’S HAPPENING IN BURIEN
A REMINDER
We will be closed this Sunday, April 9th. Happy Easter!
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THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED THIS WEEK
- Our “regulars” who are the heart and soul of our organization.
- “New Crew” members: Emily, Jess, Danika, Anella, Kalen, Hank, Ben, Claude, and Tim.
- Our wonderful groups: Slalom, Jain Society of Seattle, and Mercer Island Rotary.
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