June 2024 Newsletter
A message from Founding Executive Director, Anton -
Meeting the needs of people in our community can be as simple as telling them to make an appointment at their local mechanic and picking up the tab afterward. It can also be as complicated as using a translation app and advocates at two other agencies to chat with someone in another language to make arrangements for them to stand in line at the licensing office with a check funded by your generous donations to get tabs and transfer a title for a person so they can get a job and support their family of five.
There is no end to the basic needs that can be found in our community, needs that create disproportionate barriers to success that society tells us everybody has a right and equal access to. Both of the examples above are taken from the outreach we’ve done over the past month, and we are very lucky to be in a position to help thanks to the community that has grown around us. That said, we are halfway through the year, and there has already been an estimated $44,000 in needs that we haven’t been able to respond to for lack of funding - bus passes, gas, propane, hotel stays, rent assistance, and more. These significant barriers stand in the way of the type of stability and security many of us take for granted.
A lot of what we do is build relationships, hoping to be able to welcome people in a way that will encourage them to continue engaging with other organizations and us so they can have a supportive community around them to break those barriers down. It can be hard to quantify that impact because there isn’t always a service or supplies that go along with it, but at the same time, occasionally a new tire or pair of shoes can have a much greater influence on a person’s situation than one might expect. You - the people reading our newsletter and supporting our outreach financially - are the backbone of the community that empowers our relationship-building and the tearing down of barriers. Thank you very much!
Our amazing partners in mutual aid - West Seattle Mutual Aid Party! - just started up an Instagram account. Everyone in their crew has access to the social media but they have people who are the main drivers of content. Please feel free to follow them on their brand new Instagram and they also now have a Linktree to keep everything easily accessible.
One of our supporters nominated Northwest Hospitality for a Starbucks Neighborhood Grant. We are honored to say that we were one of the 2800+ organizations selected by The Starbucks Foundation from across the U.S. and Canada to receive grants in its tenth round of Neighborhood Grants. “These grants were nominated and inspired by Starbucks partners who highlighted causes they are passionate about and organizations making an impact in their communities.”
Look at all those boxes!! This is the latest delivery of brand new socks from Bombas. 7,500 pairs of socks! For every pair of socks that Bombas sells, they donate a pair to organizations like NW Hospitality, so we can distribute them to folks in need. We love this partnership and have no trouble at all getting these socks out, either through direct outreach or through our partner mutual aid groups.
In case you missed it…
Ways to get involved
Volunteer - nwhospitality.org/volunteer
Donate Funds - nwhospitality.org/donate
please consider becoming a monthly supporter!
Donate Items - Some of our current needs include:
Tents
Sleeping bags
Underwear
or check out our Amazon Wishlist