About 10 years ago, a group of friends and I started volunteering to prepare meals for the kids at YouthCare, a local nonprofit that serves homeless youth. We would shop for the items, cook, then head over to the old site of the Orion Center and serve the food. Despite already having worked in nonprofits, it was a powerful experience. I was struck by two things:
Read MoreEvery year, United Way of King County hosts the Community Resource Exchange (CRE) to offer a one stop shop for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. There have been 9 so far and because of my background in nonprofits, I've been fortunate to participate in 7. Over 1,400 people received services in one day at Seattle Center.
This year, I volunteered to do intake- in other words, I helped people in a very long line identify the services that would be helpful to them and gather data that would be useful to United Way for future funding. In short, I asked hundreds of people whether or not they were homeless, where they slept and heard their stories. It is a powerful day, for sure.
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