*UPDATE* Check out our Facebook page for more photos of the event!

As I’ve mentioned numerous times in the past, one of United Way of King County’s biggest projects of the year is our Community Resource Exchange (CRE).  The CRE is a huge one-day event where we bring a wide variety of services to people experiencing homelessness all in one place and in one day.  We connect with dozens of organizations to provide resources that are vital (health care, dental care, legal services, housing support, job training/search services, veteran’s support, etc.) and resources that focus on quality-of-life (massage therapy, foot washings, haircuts, manicures).  What makes the event tremendous is that we are able to bring everything under one roof so that someone experiencing homelessness can get things that might take weeks to acquire otherwise.

Our last event was on 9/11/09 (our Day of Caring) down at Qwest Field Plaza.  It was one of our biggest CREs yet and I wanted to share some of the great results we had from that day:

• We welcomed and served 1,227 guests at the event.  This makes it our largest CRE yet!
• 100 organizations and 300+ volunteers made it all possible
• 300+ guests got free haircuts from local cosmetology schools
• 400+ guests received reading glasses, sunglasses, and vouchers for prescription glasses
• 100+ guests received massage therapy
• 100+ guests received eye exams
• 200+ guests received flu shots
• 54 guests signed up for free voicemail accounts
• $5,704’s worth of dental service was performed
• Our free “store” was filled with 700+ backpacks, 1,300+ toiletry packs, 1,000+ jackets, and tons more!

Even with this big list, it still only represents a small sample of the results we had that day.  The Community Resource Exchange changed many lives that day and I am really grateful that we were able to bring together all these services to help those in need.