All healthy communities have at least one thing in common – active people who volunteer their time, effort, and, where possible, financial resources to support their neighbors when they face hard times. Many communities have been in crisis for some time because people across the board are struggling or feeling the threat of struggle looming which is a barrier to looking outwards to the needs of the community. Northwest Hospitality has spent the last eight years looking for ways to make it easier for people to be more active in their communities by creating volunteer opportunities and being creative with program designs to make it easier for people to be engaged in positive ways. Amazing volunteers are the key to it all and to properly grow and continue improving on what we’ve been able to accomplish, it is long past time that we fill the special role of Volunteer Coordinator.

Northwest Hospitality’s strengths lie in our independence, flexibility, and focus on client-driven solutions to the myriad challenges faced by our neighbors every day. Recognizing this, we often find ourselves battling against the grain to avoid following conventions that may conform our structure and operations to fit a mold that is overly familiar across the nonprofit industry. We have strived not to become too reliant on over-managed grants tied up with red tape; not to focus our services on a narrow region of Washington State; not to invest vast amounts of resources on vetting every request that comes through our doors as opposed to getting to know the people sending in the requests and leaning a bit more on trust and communication; not to decide precisely what our programs will look like rather than letting our neighbors and community define what they require and molding ourselves to those needs. 

We have also made a deliberate choice to keep Northwest Hospitality completely volunteer-run without having any paid staff. This has consequences that cut both ways – nobody wants to demand too much of a volunteer, so it has undoubtedly limited our growth, but it also lets us explore what we can and probably should be doing as a society to build and support our communities in more creative ways. This strategy has proven to be exceedingly challenging but successful and rewarding in many ways. We look forward to continuing along this path to see what else we can learn from our fantastic volunteers. 

Northwest Hospitality’s Volunteer Coordinator will work with Executive Director, Anton Preisinger, and the rest of the Directors and Committee Chairpeople to better engage and build relationships with the people who have shown an interest in volunteering in their communities. We have hundreds of people who have signed up to volunteer for different programs, and there are many more out there looking for the smallest nudge or tiniest bit of support to be able to give back in a way that will be meaningful to them and their community. We are actively recruiting an eager and outgoing volunteer to connect with these volunteers and help Northwest Hospitality’s leadership remove barriers so that more of these community outreach efforts can spread like wildflowers. We hope to fill this role with a person who can be available at least two to three hours per week, is very motivated by a desire to serve unhoused people wherever they are and whatever their story is, and who is excited to meet lots of fascinating people to help them help others.

Please find a Role Description on Northwest Hospitality’s website at https://www.nwhospitality.org/volunteer and email anton@nwhospitality.org with any questions. Thank you!

In case you missed it…

• West Seattle Mutual Aid Party Updates!

• April 2024 Newsletter

Ways to get involved

1. Volunteer - nwhospitality.org/volunteer

2. Donate Funds - nwhospitality.org/donate

   • please consider becoming a monthly supporter!

3. Donate Items - Some of our current needs include:

   • Tents

   • Sleeping bags

   • Underwear

   • or check out our Amazon Wishlist