Our President-Elect, Kim Moore, introduced our main program and our member Heather Fitzpatrick, CEO of Wellspring Family Services, who led a discussion of family homelessness.  She was joined by her colleagues at Wellspring; Derek Taylor, Walter Washington, and Bevette Irvis.

 

Heather reminded us that ten years ago our club celebrated its 100^th Anniversary and as part of our centennial project built the Rotary Support Center for Families. Wellspring provides children education and counseling services in an effort to try to avoid the problems that come with homelessness and break the cycle of family homelessness.  Wellspring's Rotary Support Center for Families “works with adults to find and retain housing and works with children to succeed.” 

 

She asked us to close our eyes and envision what you see when you think of someone who is homeless and mentioned that what “most people think of is not the face of family homelessness.” 

 

Derek Taylor, Evaluation Data Analyst at Wellspring said that “families experience homelessness for very different reasons” and shared some very interesting statistics on why families lose their housing and become homeless:
35% = increase in rent/cost of housing
25% = domestic violence
17% = job loss
and 12% = medical bills or taking care of an ill family member

 

What you don’t see in those statistics are mental illness or drug addiction, he said. “When comparing low-income families who are housed with those who lose housing, there is no difference in levels of addiction, mental health, education, employment, etc.”  He said that families become homeless because something happens and they lack resources or a safety net and that “family homelessness is a poverty problem.”

 

They then talked about the cyclical nature of family homelessness: everyone has a 2-3% chance of experiencing homelessness when they are born, but that number jumps to 30% if you experienced it as a child.  Being homeless can lead to problems in school and holding down a job, not just for the homeless person, but for the next generation, so the cycle perpetuates.

 

Walter and Bevette shared very moving stories of homeless people they have encountered and how they have helped them find housing and turn their lives around.  Walter talked about how Wellspring works on preventing evictions and “providing short-term shelter to bring some stability.”

 

Bevette also talked about how she works with children who are both homeless and those who have recently experienced it. They help “form a supportive network and safety net and help them overcome this early childhood trauma as early intervention makes a difference.”

 

Heather reminded us that a support system does exist in our region as there are over 1,000 organizations that can help people gain skills and regain stability, so Wellspring helps navigate this system and connect them.

 

She invited us all to stop by their Family Services Center as they have an upcoming service project this Saturday the 20^th and also their upcoming 10^th birthday party on June 13th.  We then all wrote notes of inspiration and encouragement that will be provided inside books that children will read at Wellspring.

 

Past President Bill Center teased next week’s program that will feature Admiral Bill Owens, a futurist who will talk about what our country’s relationship with China will look like 20 years from now.  Bill said he never passes up an opportunity to hear him speak.

 

It was an uplifting and inspirational first meeting led by President-elect Kim!

 

President-Elect Kim opened the meeting with our Greet-n-Grin based on the meeting’s theme of homelessness, asking, “do we have someone in our lives who has been homeless?”

 

Jimmy Collins and Freeman Fong led us in the “Bing Crosby version” of Home on the Range and Rabbi Daniel Weiner led us in prayer with a focus on “opening our minds to those who are struggling and our hearts to those striving.”

 

We had several visitors with us including our annual spring visit from three Rotarians from LaConner who brought boxes of freshly cut tulips that they sold after the meeting!

 

John Steckler re-introduced Bill Hammond who rejoined our club today!  Dr. Hammond has spent a career on the scientific side of medicine with the University of Washington, and Swedish, and he helped open the oncology center at Northwest Hospital.  He recently married our own member and past president, Nancy Osborne!

 

President-elect Kim introduced her “favorite Seattle School principal," Dr. Barbara Casey of the Center School as part of our Foundation Flash.  Dr. Casey thanked our club for helping sponsor their first music program at the Center School which is “enhancing music for her students.”  She brought Walter White, who is leading their music program, and Samantha Gellerman-Bowers, who leads their Glee club, to the podium to talk about what they are doing to get their students engaged in music.  One of their students, Ramona then sang a beautiful original piece from their forthcoming “Romeo and Juliet” musical that they will present next year.  Dr. Casey concluded their segment with, “We so appreciate your funding, support, and collaboration for our first music program.”

 

Kim then introduced Stacie Sherman who encouraged us to spend part of our day, next Saturday the 27^th, doing some spring cleaning at the Rotary Boys and Girls Club.  Stacie, who co-chairs our Rotary Boys and Girls Club Committee, reminded us that our club owns this “wondrous place” and that we should all try to “spend one day a year together to spruce it up by doing some light maintenance outside,” while at the same time enjoying some of Patrick’s homemade Strawberry Shortcake!

 

Taylor Shimizu encouraged us to attend the next Networking Night that is taking place on May 9^th at 5:30 pm at the Hard Rock Café. All Rotarians and guests are welcome to attend and “make lots of new connections.”