Republic Services Volunteers at Mary’s Place in Seattle
Republic Services of Seattle, WA took time to volunteer their time at Mary’s Place, a resource/housing center for homeless woman and children in the Seattle, WA area. Mary’s Place was in need of remodeling of the rooms of a building, a former Travel Lodge, that was donated to them. The center houses 200 family members at any given time.
Republic’s Seattle team was contacted by the HR Manager at the local Lowe’s inviting the team to support the local Lowe’s Home Improvement project. There were over 60 rooms that needed refurbishing and painting, and they were asking for donated supplies and volunteer time. Republic Services jumped in to provide recycling bins for the cardboard and recyclables and brought in lunch, water and snacks for over 140 volunteers.
History of Mary’s Place
Mary’s Place was established in 1999 in response to homeless women’s cry for a complete resource center. Women were walking from service to service, carrying their home on their backs trying to get their physical needs met. They were waiting in line for hours for meals, laundry, medical care, benefits, to use a free phone, or to apply for housing and employment.
With a $32,000 grant from the Boeing Community Fund and the passion of a dedicated Board and staff, Mary’s Place was born. Several major planning sessions involving 50+ homeless women were held to develop the program. Women were asked what they needed to rise up out of homelessness. Together they developed the structure and daily schedule that remains in effect 12 years later: two meals a day, hygiene facilities, showers, laundry, medical care, support groups and ample resources for housing, employment and benefits.
Over time, the Mary’s Place staff have seen a dramatic increase in the number of homeless mothers with children who had no where to go at night. It was heartbreaking to turn these families away at the end of each day to hide in restrooms, sleep in a car, or ride the bus all night to stay safe and warm. Mary’s Place and a generous donor offered families respite in hotel rooms until they could access a family shelter. The wait for shelter grew, along with the number of families seeking help. Mary’s Place turned to the faith community for help and was able to open the first crisis response shelter for women and children in 2010 – a rotating shelter that housed 14 families and moved to a different congregation that hosts for one week a quarter. Today, Mary’s Place operates or co-operates six night shelters and a second day center for families that co-locates over 40 local service providers.
In the spring of 2016, Mary’s Place partnered with Amazon to turn an old Travelodge hotel into a shelter. In their continuing goal to reduce the barriers to shelter, Mary’s Place now accommodates single dads, extended families, and families with pets who are experiencing homelessness. Mary’s Place now operates two day centers and six emergency night shelters. For more information or to get involved with Mary’s Place, please visit www.marysplaceseattle.org
