Across Western Washington, our programs care for the homeless in ways beyond basic needs. By offering opportunities in the creative arts for expression, health, and pure fun, together we serve the poor and vulnerable by caring for the whole person. At CCS/CHS, children craft with volunteers at the Sacred Heart temporary shelter; adults paint on canvases at Nativity House in Tacoma, and; women like Ivory, who are transitioning out of homelessness at Dorothy Day in Seattle, participate in workshops such as the one the Seattle Symphony recently held in partnership with our CHS residents.
“Ivory enjoyed the workshops not only for the art making but for the connections she formed with her neighbors,” wrote Rich Smith in The Stranger newspaper. “She told me she was nervous to see how it’ll all come out and said she’d like to see more projects like it. ‘The system can seem pretty impersonal,’ she said. ‘I feel like a burden sometimes, but I don’t get that sense from the teachers.’
‘We all need the true, the good, and the beautiful,’ she added. In her case, the true is the facts of her life, the good is the therapy and housing at Dorothy Day, and the beautiful is the art she needs to make sense of it all.’
Contact us about how you might help others like Ivory by volunteering, donating funds or art supplies and getting involved.
You can make a difference!