On behalf of everyone at Real Change, thank you to each and every person who makes our work possible! We are humbled by the support we feel every day from readers, volunteers and donors alike.
This Spring Fund Drive, we had a critical fundraising goal of $100,000. We raised $74,051, falling $25,949 short of our goal. If you haven’t yet, please donate. Every dollar makes a difference.
Your gift waters our roots.
We started this year’s Spring Fund Drive with the hopeful, loving story of vendors Adam Ruark and Wilma Hush. The couple reconnected in the Real Change office after years apart and recently got engaged. They support each other through hardship, including Adam’s ongoing battle with cancer and family deaths.
“I stayed together by staying with her,” Adam said. When times get hard, instead of isolating and running from each other, Adam and Wilma get even closer. Their love is a testament to the power of togetherness.
These are incredibly difficult times. We are all feeling the pressure that has built over the past couple of years. As inflation, a lingering pandemic and other challenges continue, our unhoused neighbors continue to face these burdens first and hardest.
Despite this, in the last couple of months, so much has grown and flourished at Real Change.
In June alone, 166 vendors found work, community and a Wednesday morning cup of coffee at Real Change — an increase from 2021. Vendors with pets received free care from Seattle Veterinary Outreach. Vendors got free cell phones through a new program launched in our office.
Your donations make our low-barrier work and personalized support possible.
Real Change is rooted in vendor success, building programs that respond to the real needs of community members. Our commitment to this mission perseveres because we see the tangible, long-lasting impact it has.
We are sure you see it, too.
We need to close our $25,949 fundraising gap to ensure these successes continue. Your gift could support free pet check-ups, free emergency dental services and ongoing individualized case management for each vendor. Our programs grow and diversify with your support.
Your donation today could mean a second chance for a vendor. A steady income and meaningful work on their own terms provides vendors of all backgrounds the independence and flexibility to build pathways to stability. They grow into who they want to be at their own pace.
Arts Editor Henry Behrens taught me that rhododendrons are perennial. With the proper nurturing, once planted, a rhododendron bush will regrow every spring. Even when snow blankets the ground and heat waves grow in intensity, these flowers will prosper.
Real Change is perennial as well. Since our newspaper began printing in 1994, we have endured three recessions, a technological boom that changed how we all consume media and a pandemic. Thanks to the generous gifts and support of donors like you, Real
Change continues to blossom year after year.
Please donate today to ensure our growth never stops.
Rain or shine, we bloom together.
Read more of the July 13-19, 2022 issue.