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Written by Patrick Kelley on 2 Sep 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness

As I struggle to wrap my brain around the tragic death of John T. Williams (I’m devastated, been staring at my computer for days…I’m sure work will love that), I’m also reminded of others.  Homelessness is deadly.  Sixteen other human beings have died on our streets in King County in the past six months:

Anna Moore, 42, Ballard, Drowned

James Dolan, 73, Seattle, Fall

Randy Leonard, 52, Seattle, Overdose

Matthew Crook, 41, Normandy Park, Suicide by drowning

Chad Venegas, 32, Auburn, Shot to death

Brandi Lambert, 35,…

Just thought it was time to share a few links with our readers:

  • Here’s an interesting thought.  How crazy am I to even think this cold work??  Go to town, naysayers!
  • Last Sunday, YouTube featured our old friend Mark Horvath and his invisiblepeople.tv site on their main page to help bring some social media exposure to the issue.  Successful?  I stopped counting at 500,000 views.  Mark continues to give voice to the people who we too often ignore at our convenience.
  • Written by Patrick Kelley on 25 Jun 2010 | No Comments | Basic Needs , Homelessness
    And I LIKE Cyndy’s…

    The first time I walked into Cyndy’s House of Pancakes up on Aurora Avenue and 105th, I pretty much knew what I was getting into.  Mediocre coffee, service that I couldn’t quite decide if it was gruff or motherly, and a delicious stack of blueberry hotcakes.  I’ve only been back a couple of times, and the fact that I have lived in the neighborhood for almost 5 years begs the question as to why that is.  I guess I thought it would always be there.…

    Help spread the word!

    Every year, thousands of low-income families depend on the school-based free and reduced lunch programs to provide nutritious meals for their children.  But what happens when the little munchkins are about to embark on that most wondrous of all nostalgic occasions known as ’summer vacation’?  That’s where the Summer Meals Program comes in.  Sites are located throughout King County at schools, summer camps, and other community and faith-based organizations.  United Way of King County and WithinReach are teaming up to help spread…

    Written by Patrick Kelley on 19 Apr 2010 | No Comments | Basic Needs , Homelessness

    “While bankers and traders were taking without conscience, the folks at Washington CASH have been showing that small doses of capitalism altruistically administered can give people a lift up from the economic lowlands.”

    This is from a nice piece in today’s Seattle Times about Washington CASH, a local nonprofit organization committed to helping people get out of poverty by supporting their entrepreneurial efforts.  Our Free Tax Campaign also has a budding relationship with them to help small business owners learn how to…

    What is VITA?

    There are a lot of us exhibiting some pretty negative emotions these days towards our federal government, and as April 15th approaches a lot of that sentiment will inevitably turn towards our buddies at the Internal Revenue Service.  And let’s face it, some of those feelings are warranted, no doubt.

    But I’d like to talk about an IRS program that many people may not even know about.  It’s one of the most successful community volunteer initiatives ever, in terms of return on investment (for you…

    Written by Patrick Kelley on 12 Mar 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness
    Happy Birthday, Mark!

    Here’s another plug for one of my heroes.  I know I’ve written about Mark Horvath and his project, invisiblepeople.tv, previously on the blog, but can’t seem to find any of those links now.  If you don’t know Mark, you should get to know him, because he is doing incredible, heart-wrenching work with social media and raising awareness around homelessness.

    I met Mark when he came to Seattle last year for a social media conference.  He’s been in the news a lot lately (google him,…

    Written by Patrick Kelley on 9 Mar 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness , Public Policy
    Housing Trust Fund in jeopardy…contact your state Senator TODAY

    The state Senate has proposed a devastating $39.3 million cut to the Housing Trust Fund.  At least $32 million of this will come from funding that has already been allocated and projects that may already be underway.  The Housing Trust Fund is Washington’s most important means of providing safe, decent, and affordable housing.  Without the Trust Fund, we can’t make progress towards our commitment to end homelessness.  A cut this deep to projects that are already underway will not only

    Written by Patrick Kelley on 3 Mar 2010 | No Comments | Basic Needs , Homelessness
    Have you filed your 2006 tax return?

    Yesterday, the IRS released a statement indicating that there are more than $1.3 billion in unclaimed federal tax refunds for people who did not file for 2006. This includes approximately 37,000 filers in Washington state! If you are one of those people, you need to file your 2006 return by April 15, 2010, or you lose that refund…

    Our sites can help!  Don’t miss out on your money!!

    Written by Patrick Kelley on 25 Feb 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness

    Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this post (or any post on this blog, for that matter) represent the opinion of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of United Way of King County staff or volunteers.

    My logic tends towards the illogical, as many of you know, so try to stick with me here:

  • A ‘credit-default swap’ (also, I think, known as a ‘derivative’) is basically a contract that allows financial institutions to GAMBLE on whether or not a company will