A lot of people probably don’t know this but along with being a strong fundraiser, United Way of King County also provides direct service around its priority areas (ending homelessness, meeting basic needs, volunteerism, and getting kids ready for school).

With our “ending homelessness” priority, our big event is the Community Resource Exchange (CRE) – a really powerful event that helps people experiencing homelessness. We’ll be hosting our fourth CRE on September 11th, 2009.

Most people have no idea what the CRE is so let me break it down:

What is the CRE?
The CRE is an event where people who are experiencing homelessness can come to receive a wide variety of services all in one place and in one day. At the CRE, a guest can talk to a whole range of agencies and take advantage of a lot of different services. Because everything is gathered under one roof, what would normally take days is done in a few hours. In the past, we’ve had over 1,000 homeless families and individuals come to our event.

Services We Have Offered
We’ve always have a little bit of everything available at the CRE. Here are some examples of the services we have had in the past:

• DSHS has provided on-site benefits applications (things like food stamps, low-cost healthcare, etc.).
• Solid Ground has been there to sign people up for voicemail accounts.
• Northwest Hair Academy has provided haircuts.
• Medical Teams International has provided free dental care.
• Seattle Central Community College Cosmetology students have given manicures.
• The Salvation Army has provided domestic violence counseling and housing support.
• Catholic Community Services has offered housing and youth support
• Farestart has provided lunch.
• Each guest have left with a care package filled with toiletries and other essentials.
• Our “store” has been filled with everything from socks to sleeping bags. Guests have been able to stop by and grab what they need.

Obviously, this is only a small sample of what has been at the CRE. We work with over 70 organizations for this huge event. The CRE always has a great mix of vital services as well as quality-of-life services. We are constantly trying to improve and increase capacity for what we can offer.

Engaging Volunteerism
With an event that has 70+ agencies and 1,000+ guests, you could imagine we need an army of people to make it all run smoothly. And we do have an army — an army of volunteers! We usually have 200-350 volunteers that help in different capacities.

A handful of volunteers organize donation drives. They take a lead at their workplaces, at their places of worship, or in their community groups and collect supplies for our care packages and “store”. The work they do is vital; without them, there wouldn’t be any care packages or a “store”.

Another group of volunteers come out the day before the event to help set up. The biggest job that is done that day is sorting through the donations and setting up the store. It’s a fun, relaxed day with pizza and mingling (and sorting!).

The biggest bulk of our volunteers come on the actual day of the event. Volunteers greet the guests, answer questions, assist agencies, run the store, and handle the outtake process. Our volunteers really make sure the whole CRE runs smoothly!

The CRE volunteer experience is unique because we really encourage the volunteers to sit and talk with the guests. They can play board games, eat lunch together, or just chat. People going through homelessness all have diverse backgrounds and unique stories to tell. Our volunteers get to take all of that in first-hand. For many, it’s an eye-opening experience.

After our last event in April, we asked volunteers to fill out a survey and we got some really touching quotes from them:

“Today I gained an understanding of the incredibly broad range of people experiencing homelessness and difficulties they often encounter when trying to access social services. I talked to one man who said that the day had changed his life. He said he had no idea he could apply for food assistance or temporary housing.”

“I heard one gentleman tell a co worker of mine that he felt like a million bucks. Feet washed, new clothes, manicure and haircut and a great meal! He was so appreciative of these things it really made you stop and think what is important. It was a very eye opening, sad and happy day!”

“My favorite interaction of the day was with a young mother of five. I walked over to her as she approached with her stroller and 5 kids in tow. She was incredibly polite and grateful, and her kids were darling. After further conversation, I found out that she was living in a motel with her children because she had come out of a domestic violence situation. She was so happy, though, because she was able to find help and had a prospect for housing by the end of the day. It broke my heart to hear her story, but I felt so happy that she was able to find help. She loved the daycare aspect, by the way!”

Community and equality are big parts of the CRE. Having a good conversation is just as important as the other services provided at this event.

September 11th, 2009
On 9/11/09, we are hosting our fourth Community Resource Exchange. We really hope to make it an even better one than our last. If you want to get involved with the CRE, you can visit our website: http://www.uwkc.org/cre or you can email cre@uwkc.org.

I hope you learned a bit more about United Way of King County and the work that we do!

Previously:
http://uwkc.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/meet-rick/
A great story about our Communications Director’s experience at the CRE