donations

Windermere Offices Continue to Support Communities Through COVID-19 Pandemic

by Karen Prins

Windermere offices have continued to support their communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, raising money for the Windermere Foundation, which has provided over $43 million in funding to support low-income and homeless families throughout the Western U.S. since 1989. Here are some highlights from the past holiday season.

Windermere Whatcom Donates 84 Thanksgiving Boxes

For over 20 years, Windermere Whatcom has donated Thanksgiving boxes to local school districts and organizations. These boxes contain all the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast, from sparkling cider and pumpkin pie to turkey roaster pans and a recipe book. The meals benefit families in need of a warm Thanksgiving meal. Agents at Whatcom’s five offices select the recipient organizations, then agents and staff are assigned items to fulfill depending on the number of meals needed. Keeping COVID-19 guidelines in mind, agents worked in small groups/shifts to pack the boxes of food and supplies on the day of delivery. In total, 84 Thanksgiving meals were donated on November 23 and 24, 2020.

Two men unpack a box of food donations for a Thanksgiving meal.

Picture L to R: Alex Stredicke & Ken Gustafson

Windermere Abode Supports Tacoma Rescue Mission

Every Friday since March of 2020, Windermere Abode in Tacoma, WA has helped the Tacoma Rescue Mission serve sandwiches and snacks. After speaking with Windermere agent Melo Hogan, Broker/Co-Owner of Windermere Abode Anne Jones learned that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization had been losing volunteers and needed to provide to-go meals for the community members they support. “The coolest thing about this program is we’ve invited our community to participate,” said Jones. “That’s how we’ve kept it going and literally have delivered thousands of sandwiches. We’ve had a few Fridays with two fully-loaded SUVs.”

A woman unpacks food donations from the back of a vehicle.

Pictured: Melo Hogan

Windermere Greenwood Donates $4,418 to WA-BLOC

In the summer of 2020, the agents and staff at Windermere Greenwood were looking for ways to support grassroots, Black-led organizations in underserved communities and youth. When they came across WA-BLOC (Building Leaders of Change), they jumped at the chance to support the organization. WA-BLOC works with students in South Seattle, igniting transformation and building leaders of change through revolutionary education and social justice leadership development. Understanding that the pandemic would impact students’ learning ability, the Greenwood office wanted to contribute to help make distanced learning more equitable. Totaling $4,418, their donations went towards purchasing laptops, wi-fi hotspots, school supplies, tutors, school lunches, and more.

A flyer showing Windermere Greenwood's $4,418 total raised for WA-BLOC.

Windermere Greenwood’s total amount raised in support of local organization WA-BLOC

Windermere Eastlake Gifts $5,000 to St. Francis House

Agents and staff at Windermere Eastlake in Seattle came together this holiday season to support low income and homeless families in their community through St. Francis House, an organization dedicated to serving the homeless population of King County. Eastlake donated $5,000 to the organization to distribute holiday gift packages to families including a new blanket, a new game, and a grocery gift card. Each child received a pair of socks, a new toy, and a book. So far, 375 families have received their gift.

A selection of toys distributed by St. Francis House through Windermere Eastlake’s donation

A selection of toys distributed by St. Francis House through Windermere Eastlake’s donation

To find out more about the Windermere Foundation or to make a donation, please visit the Foundation’s website here: Windermere Foundation

Windermere’s Winter Drive Collects Nearly 6,000 Items for Mary’s Place

by Karen Prins

It’s another fall season and the fourth year of Windermere’s #TackleHomelessness campaign with the Seattle Seahawks. As a part of this campaign, Windermere hosts an annual “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive. This year, 33 Windermere offices in in the greater Seattle area* participated in the drive, collecting new hats, scarves, gloves/mittens, socks, and other warm winter items for Mary’s Place.

Mary’s Place is a non-profit that provides safe, inclusive shelter and services to support women, children and families on their journey out of homelessness. Since 1999, Mary’s Place has helped hundreds of women and families move out of homelessness into more stable situations. But shelter capacity is limited and there are still hundreds of families sleeping outside in cars and tents each night, so Windermere collected items to help them stay warm this winter.

During the four-week drive, our offices collected donations from agents, staff, and the community, which included over 630 hats, 680 pairs of gloves, over 200 scarves, over 2,000 pairs of socks, and an assortment of coats, jackets, sweaters, blankets, toiletries and other items, bringing our grand total to nearly 6,000 items collected for Mary’s Place.

One office made the drive extra special by partnering with a local knitting group. The Windermere Mercer Island office partnered once again with the Mercer Island Tuesday Knitters, to make cozy hats and scarves. This year the knitting group contributed 67 hand-knitted hats and scarves to the winter drive.

The staff at the Mary’s Place donation center in South Seattle were grateful to receive the bins full of donated items that were delivered by Gentle Giant Moving Company. “We are so incredibly grateful to our Windermere family for all that they do for our families!” said Marty Hartman, Mary’s Place Executive Director. “These gifts of warm winter gear will keep our kids and families warm and loved this winter!”

Windermere is also grateful to partner with Gentle Giant Moving Company on our winter drive. For the past four years, they have generously given their time, muscle, and trucks to pick up and deliver all of the donations.

And this drive would not be possible each year without the support of the Seattle Seahawks, our offices, and all those who donated. From all of us at Windermere, thank you for making our fourth annual winter drive a success and for supporting families experiencing homelessness in the greater Seattle area!

*Participating Windermere offices:

Bellevue, Bellevue Commons, Bellevue West, Federal Way, Federal Way-West Campus, Kent, Kirkland, Kirkland Yarrow Bay, Lynnwood, Mercer Island, Mill Creek, Property Management – Bellevue, Property Management – Edmonds, Property Management-Everett, Property Management – Seattle North, Property Management – South, Redmond, Seattle-Eastlake, Seattle-Green Lake, Seattle-Greenwood, Seattle-Lakeview, Seattle-Madison Park, Seattle-Mount Baker, Seattle-Northgate, Seattle-Northwest, Seattle-Pike/Pine, Seattle-Queen Anne, Seattle-Sand Point, Seattle-Wall Street, Seattle-West Seattle, Services Company, Shoreline, Snohomish

This post originally appeared on the Windermere.com Blog

Keeping Families Warm from Head to Toe

by Karen Prins

Windermere is in its fourth season of helping #TackleHomelessness with the Seattle Seahawks!

Each year, as part of that campaign, Windermere hosts a “We’ve Got You Covered” winter drive for a local non-profit. This year, we are collecting warm winter gear for our new non-profit partner, Mary’s Place, an organization that provides safe, inclusive shelter and services to women, children and families on their journey out of homelessness.

We are asking for donations of NEW hats, scarves, gloves/mittens, and warm socks for all genders and sizes.

From October 14 through November 8, you can drop off donations at our participating Windermere Real Estate and Property Management offices in King and Snohomish Counties**. Once the drive is over, our friends at Gentle Giant Moving Company — our winter drive partner for the past three years — will once again generously donate their time and trucks to pick up the donations collected by our offices, to deliver to Mary’s Place.

Since 1999, Mary’s Place has helped hundreds of women and families move out of homelessness into more stable situations. Across eight emergency family shelters in King County, they keep struggling families together, inside, and safe when they have no place else to go. But shelter capacity is limited and there are still hundreds of families sleeping outside in cars and tents each night. Please help them stay warm during the cold winter months by dropping off your donations to our participating offices.

Feel free to contact me or local office for more information, or email justask@windermere.com.