SEATTLE (January 22, 2019) – Businesses and individuals across King County came together again this past holiday season in support of the annual No Child Sleeps Outside campaign that addresses the crisis of hundreds of families and children sleeping outside in King County. With contributions from more than 100 local businesses, foundations, and organizations, as well as thousands of individuals, Mary’s Place – the region’s largest family emergency shelter provider – raised just over $2.4 million in 45 days, exceeding the campaign goal of $2 million, and last year’s total of $2.2 million.

When we first asked our customers to help us support Mary’s Place during the month of December five years ago, we could only dream of its eventual potential,” said Jasmine Donovan, V.P. Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants. “We are proud to be a founding No Child Sleeps Outside sponsor, and excited to be joined by so many amazing Seattle companies and individuals. Together we will realize the dream that no child sleeps outside in our community.

Last year’s successful No Child Sleeps Outside campaign raised $2.2 million that allowed Mary’s Place to bring over 800 moms, dads, and kids inside to shelter each night, and help over 300 families move into permanent, stable housing in 2018.

This year’s $2.4 million will renovate, open, and operate a Rapid Exit Shelter on Aurora Ave N in downtown Seattle, providing warmth, safety, stability, and 30-day placement into housing for approximately 900 families over three years. These are families who have a housing voucher, income, or other resources and who only need a short stay as they work with Mary’s Place Housing Services to identify and move back into stable housing. The shelter building is owned and being made available by real estate developer, Tarragon.

The Rapid Exit Shelter model has been informed by the successful Diversion project funded and piloted in partnership with the Schultz Family Foundation over the past three years. Diversion offers flexible and tailored solutions to both stop homelessness before it happens as well as strategies to move families from the streets and into stable housing solutions as quickly as possible. Mary’s Place has used the Diversion and mobile outreach model to help hundreds of families find stable housing at dramatically less cost than a shelter stay. The successful program serves as a model for other communities.

Family homelessness is solvable, and once again our community has come together to raise the funds to address this community crisis! Thanks to the extraordinary gifts of our donors and supporters, we will bring more families inside to safety and warmth, and move them quickly back into stable, permanent housing,” said Marty Hartman, Executive Director of Mary’s Place. “The amazing success of this campaign gets us that much closer to our goal of bringing all families inside, and we are so grateful!

The Seattle employer community refuses to stand by while hundreds of families with young children are forced to sleep outside or in cars this winter.” said John Kelly, senior vice president of Global Public Affairs and Social Impact at Starbucks. “We will not stop until no child sleeps outside.

Mary’s Place was pleased to welcome partners and sponsors to an event today, January 22 at the planned new Rapid Exit Shelter at 712 Aurora Ave N in Seattle. The goal of the event was to announce the remarkable campaign results and to thank supporters and sponsors, including:

Starbucks, The Starbucks Foundation, Albertsons Safeway, Amazon, Barsuk Records, BECU, Bentall Kennedy, Biscuit Bitch, BNBuilders, Brooks Running, Chihuly Studio, Columbia Bank, Comcast NBCUniversal, Costco, Darigold, Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants, Downtown Seattle Association, Expedia, Google, Graphite Design Group, H.D. Fowler Company, Hasbro, Heritage Bank, HNN Associates, Holland America Line, Kaiser Permanente, Lakeside Industries, Lease Crutcher Lewis, LMC – A Lennar Company, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Neighborhood Grills, Nintendo of America, Premera Blue Cross, Puget Sound Business Travel Association, PwC, Regence, RUN Studios, SAP Concur, Scan Design Foundation, Schultz Family Foundation, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Restaurant Alliance and Seattle Hotel Association, Tarragon, U.S. Bank, Uber, Union Bank, Visit Seattle, Vulcan, Walmart, Washington Federal Bank, Wells Fargo, Weyerhaeuser, Windermere Foundation, Women President’s Organization, and Zillow Group.

HD Fowler Company is family-owned business based here in King County who believes in building the strength of our community and is deeply committed to supporting programs that support all of our neighbors”, said Carie Fowler Antonelli, Owner at H.D. Fowler Company. “We have supported Mary’s Place for many years, and the NCSO campaign since its inception because we share the belief that no child should sleep outside in our community and we know that Mary’s Place strives to get us closer to that goal.

The event was broadcast live on Facebook, and the video is available at www.facebook.com/marysplacewa.

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About Mary’s Place

Mary’s Place believes that no one’s child should sleep outside. They provide safe and inclusive shelter and resources for women, children and families on their journey out of homelessness. Mary’s Place operates eight crisis response family shelters providing refuge and community for 560 family members experiencing homelessness. The organization focuses on an innovative strategy of combining prevention, emergency shelter, and resources for transition into housing to bring families out of homelessness. At their Family Centers, Mary’s Place provides shelter, services, and resources in the same building. This allows families, together with their assigned Housing Specialist, to focus on individualized plans for overcoming barriers and finding stable housing. It does all this cost-effectively in loaned buildings that are empty and awaiting development, for just dollars per night. To learn more, visit www.marysplaceseattle.org.

Contact: Linda Mitchell, Mary’s Place Chief Communications Officer, 206-334-4687 linda@marysplaceseattle.org

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