Windermere’s Winter Drive Collects over 3,000 Items for Homeless Youth
As part of Windermere’s #tacklehomelessness campaign with the Seattle Seahawks, 37 Windermere offices* in King and Snohomish Counties collected new hats, scarves, gloves/mittens, and warm socks for Windermere’s “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive. The recipient of these donations was YouthCare, a Seattle-based non-profit that provides critical services and support to homeless youth throughout the Puget Sound area.
Over 3,000 items were collected during the four-week drive, which included some 737 pairs of socks, 391 hats, 467 pairs of gloves/mittens, 111 scarves, and an assortment of other accessories and cash donations. Two agents out of the Mill Creek, WA office even made 32 scarves by hand for the Winter Drive. We are thankful for these generous donations which will go a long way towards helping keep homeless youth warmer this winter season.
The folks at YouthCare were all very thankful to receive the delivery of eight bins full of donated items. And to make the day even more exciting, Blitz, the Seahawks mascot, was on site to oversee the delivery of the items to YouthCare!
Brittny Nielsen, Communications and New Media Specialist said, “We were thrilled to see our friends from Windermere and Gentle Giant dropping off a semi-truck full of donations for homeless youth this season. Having Blitz from the Seahawks show up to help us celebrate was icing on the cake! This crucial donation from Windermere brightens the holidays for youth in need. We’re so grateful!”
All of us at Windermere are very grateful to Gentle Giant Moving Company, who partnered with us on this drive, and generously donated their time and trucks to pick up all of the donated items from our offices and deliver them to YouthCare.
Thank you to our participating offices, the Seahawks, and all those who donated, for making Windermere’s Winter Drive a success!
*Participating Windermere offices
Bellevue, Bellevue Commons, Bellevue South, Bellevue West, Burien, Chelan, Issaquah, Kirkland Central, Kirkland Yarrow Bay, Lynnwood, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Mill Creek, Monroe, Property Management – Bellevue, Property Management – Edmonds, Property Management – South, Redmond, Seattle-Ballard, Seattle-Capitol Hill, Seattle-Eastlake, Seattle-Green Lake, Seattle-Greenwood, Seattle-Lakeview, Seattle-Madison Park, Seattle-Magnolia, Seattle-Mount Baker, Seattle-Northgate, Seattle-Northwest, Seattle-Queen Anne, Seattle-Sand Point, Seattle-Wall Street, Seattle-Wedgwood, Seattle-West Seattle, Services-Marketing, Snohomish, Woodinville
This article originally appeared on the Windermere.com blog.
Help Us Keep Homeless Youth Warm Again This Winter
All of us at Windermere are very excited to be in the midst of the second season of our partnership with the Seattle Seahawks, and continuing our campaign to help #tacklehomelessness. For every home game tackle made by the Seahawks, the Windermere Foundation is donating $100 to YouthCare, a non-profit that provides critical services to homeless youth throughout the Puget Sound area.
As proud as we are of our #tacklehomelessness campaign and the money we’re raising, we know we can do more. That’s why we’re hosting another Windermere “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive to benefit YouthCare. Each night in the greater Seattle area, nearly 1,000 young people are homeless. And with the winter months quickly approaching, YouthCare is in dire need of survival supplies to keep homeless youth warm and dry during the long, wet winter.
Here’s what we are collecting:
- Warm socks
- Hats
- Scarves
- Gloves/mittens
*New items only please
From October 16 through November 10, you can drop off donations at the Windermere Redmond office at Redmond Town Center or one of the other participating Windermere offices listed below. Our friends at Gentle Giant Moving Company are generously donating their time and trucks to pick up all of the donations from our offices. Donations can also be dropped off directly to YouthCare, Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm, at 2500 NE 54th St, Seattle, WA 98105.
We hope you will consider making a donation to our “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive. Feel free to contact your Windermere agent or local office for more information, or email justask@windermere.com.
**Windermere Winter Drive Drop-Off Locations
Property Management – Bellevue
This blog post originally appeared on the Windermere.com blog.
Windermere and the Seahawks are Back for Another Season to #TackleHomelessness!
All of us at Windermere are very excited to kick off our second season as the Official Real Estate Company of the Seattle Seahawks!
Once again, our #tacklehomelessness campaign is front-and-center, with the Windermere Foundation donating $100 for every Seahawks home-game tackle during the 2017 season to YouthCare, a Seattle-based non-profit organization that has been providing services and support to homeless youth for more than 40 years. Last year, the Seahawks helped us raise $35,000 through our #tacklehomelessness campaign, and this year we are looking forward to raising even more money – and awareness – for this important cause.
Our partnership with the Seahawks and YouthCare fits perfectly with the mission of the Windermere Foundation which is to support low-income and homeless families in the communities where we have offices. Through the #tacklehomelessness campaign, we hope to be able to do even more.
A “score card” will be posted after each home game that shows how much was raised during that game. You can follow our progress throughout the Seahawks season on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/WindermereRealEstate
This post was originally published on the Windermere Eastside Blog.
Windermere Foundation Dollars at Work: 2016 Summer Report
We are excited to announce that as of third quarter of this year, the Windermere Foundation has collected $1.4 million in donations, which means we are well on our way to reaching our goal of raising $2 million by year’s end! Individual contributions and fundraisers accounted for 58 percent of the donations, while 42 percent came from donations through Windermere agent sales transactions. In total, we have raised over $32 million since the Windermere Foundation was started back in 1989.
Windermere/Seahawks #Tacklehomelessness Campaign
We recently made the announcement that Windermere is now the Official Real Estate Company of the Seattle Seahawks. And at the center of this partnership is a new #tacklehomelessness campaign in which the Windermere Foundation will donate $100 for every Seahawks home-game tackle during the 2016 season. On the receiving end of these donations is YouthCare, a Seattle-based non-profit organization that has been providing services and support to homeless youth for more than 40 years.
So far, the first two Seahawks home games have generated $5,700 in donations, but it’s still early, and we expect to raise upwards of $35,000 by the end of the season. These funds will help YouthCare provide services that help get youth off the streets and prepared for life—youth like Dana and Leslie.
Dana’s Story
Dana is 20 years old and has been living on the streets since she was 14 or 15. Dana was wary of accessing drop-in and other services due to family and personal trauma, and the failure of various systems to support her in her past. Once she learned that she was able to enroll in case management through YouthCare’s outreach services, she agreed to work with YouthCare’s Street Outreach Case Manager, Sam. Through Sam’s coaching and support, Dana has completed a housing assessment to get on the waitlist for available housing. Dana has a vision of herself beyond the streets, and she has Sam and YouthCare’s Outreach Team to walk that road beside her and offer the support she needs along the way.
Leslie’s Story
Leslie walked in the front door of YouthCare’s James W. Ray Orion Center, wet and cold from an early spring rainstorm, and asked for help. She had lived in Seattle her entire life, moving between her mother’s apartment and foster care, hoping always to be able to stay in one place for longer than a month. She had recently turned 18, and the friend’s couch she had been sleeping on was no longer available. Her education had been patched together over the years as she’d shuffled between schools, not connecting with any specific teacher—and she wanted to achieve her GED. She told the Orion Community Resource Specialist that she had met a YouthCare Outreach team member on the streets and came in to see how YouthCare could help.
The Community Resource Specialist sat down with her, completed an intake form and offered her food, water, dry clothes, and invited her to eat a hot lunch. Every day, YouthCare’s Orion Center offers a hot breakfast at 8:30 am, lunch at 12:30 pm, and dinner at 6:00 pm. Leslie stayed for lunch and then the cooking class in the afternoon, where she learned to cook falafel, pita bread, and tomato-cucumber salad. She stayed overnight at YouthCare’s Young Adult Shelter and was referred to YouthCare’s Barista Training Program, where she started an eight-week apprenticeship. Soon she was running the Orion Center Mock Café — an event hosted by graduating Barista program apprentices—and serving up complicated coffee orders with ease.
Thank you to everyone who supports the Windermere Foundation. Because of you, homeless youth like Dana and Leslie receive the services and support they need to get back on track with school, work, and life. If you’d like to help support programs in your community, please click on the Donate button.
This article originally appeared on the Windermere.com blog. To learn more about the Windermere Foundation, visit http://www.windermere.com/foundation.