While homelessness in Seattle is growing, there are things that everyone can do.
Dear readers,
Winter is hard when you’re homeless. The temperatures drop. The rains come. And the holidays are a painful reminder of what you’ve lost.
Friends. Family. Work. Community. These are the things that make us whole. We all crave connection. We all need to feel both useful and loved.
While homelessness in Seattle is growing, there are things that everyone can do. Your support of Real Change brings work and community to more than 700 vendors each year.
When you make your holiday gift this year, I’d like you to think of Rose. When she became a vendor three years ago, she never imagined the difference it would make.
This winter, Real Change needs to raise $220,000 to fund our work year-round. Your support makes the caring community of Real Change possible.
Rose moved to the United States from the Philippines in 2011 after the death of her husband.
“I cried every day,” she said.
Alone in Issaquah, Rose felt isolated and helpless. When she lost her housing, it was easy to feel hopeless.
Meeting a Real Change vendor at a community meal was the beginning of Rose’s road home. He told Rose she didn’t have to do this alone. He invited her to meet the Real Change team.
That was the beginning of a new chapter for Rose. But the change didn’t come easy.
Selling papers on the street takes a lot of courage, and Rose was timid at first.
“Sell papers outside? I’m ashamed! They said, ‘Try!’ Then when I tried, I sell 10 papers and made so many friends.”
Those friends turned into a set of lifelines for Rose. After months of sleeping on the streets, loyal customers offered her their guest room until she could get back on her feet. Now Rose sells more than 600 papers each month and has achieved housing and citizenship.
When Rose talks about Real Change, her whole being lights up.
When Rose talks about Real Change, her whole being lights up.
“Meeting some people, the community. This changed my life.”
Your support makes Rose’s story of perseverance, courage and hope possible.
When you give to our Winter Fund Drive, you build the caring community that opens up new possibilities.
New relationships get built, one person at a time. This makes big life changes possible.
Rose wants you to know that your gift matters, and that your support gives vendors like her the leg up they need to help themselves. Your gift of work and community made all the difference for Rose.
Please give generously to our Winter Fund Drive and help us extend that gift to others.
Sincerely,
Tim Harris, Founding Director
Tim Harris is the founding Director Real Change and has been active as a poor people’s organizer for more than two decades. Prior to moving to Seattle in 1994 Harris founded street newspaper Spare Change in Boston, in 1992 while working as Executive Director of Boston Jobs with Peace.
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