Today, on December 21, 2021 - the Winter Solstice and National Homeless Persons Day of Remembrance was the grand opening of Unity Commons. Unity Commons is a 58 bed low-barrier supportive and enhanced shelter on the first floor with 65 apartments of permanent supportive housing. Many of our current shelter guests will soon move into forever homes of their own after staying in shelters for many years in some cases. This would never have been possible without our partnership with LIHI. Partnering with LIHI has been a great experience so far and we hope to continue to develop that relationship as we get into the groove of daily operations. 

This is undeniably a huge day for our community. Depending on your perspective, this moment has been nearly a decade in the making dating back to the People's House effort and even before that the volunteer based shelter program hosted by faith and spiritual communities throughout Thurston County, and grassroots volunteer based organizations like Bread and Roses and EGYHOP. The HOME Fund campaign is finally seeing brick and mortar outcomes and it's genuinely a huge deal. We welcomed HoHoHobos to sell wreaths in the parking lot today (we love you!) and we did our very best to be respectful of people's living space and autonomy. It was so beautiful and overwhelming and represented so much of the best of this community.

Yet, tonight as I start to deeply feel the intense exhaustion from our shelter move on December 17th into the new space, and the intensity of today, I'm feeling very similar to how I felt the night before our shelter at First Christian Church opened 7 years ago. I'm so sad that we need to do this at all. How can we live in such a wealthy society and yet hundreds still will sleep outside in the snow this holiday weekend in our community? That harsh reality doesn't cancel out this moment of massive celebration, AND If the lessons of the pandemic have taught us anything, it's that many truths can exist at the same time. So tonight, I'm holding many truths - in my joy - in my tears - in my grief - in my gratitude. 

My name gets thrown around a lot in moments like these. We tend to cling to charismatic leaders in this society and the by-product of that is we miss so much beauty and skill and recognition of vital leaders in our community. I wish the community could see and know all of the absolute gems who show up to this beautifully difficult work every single day to clean toilets, and clean up people's messes when they are uncontrollably sick, make beds, serve food, dive into to crisis, successfully reverse overdoses that would have otherwise resulted in death, sit with the coroner while a beloved guest is brought to the funeral home to never be claimed by their family. Our staff support people with a mastery that you can only understand if you've been there, in the space day in and day out and have done it yourself. Honestly, we have a team of truly diverse people in identity, in thought, in experience, and I cry when I think about how lucky we are to have the team that we have. We are multigenerational, we value hardship and resilience, we hold onto the hope that things can be better, and it matters that we show up. 

Thank you to the employees past and present of Interfaith Works. I wish there was a more meaningful way to say it, but seriously, thank you. I wanted to list everyone's name but I don't have their permission yet. So I'll get that and then I'll post all their names because you need to know them. You need to see them. You need to recognize them for all the ways they hold this community together everyday. 

Here's the other part that is so bittersweet -- since we opened our shelter in 2014, we've lost so many people. People who would have lived here with us. People who we advocated to build this building specifically for because of the challenges they had in our old spaces. These are folks who we didn't build this fast enough for. Again, this truth doesn't take away from all the good that will come and all the lives that will be extended because of the clean safe space at Unity Commons. But the community needs to know, this is the reality. 

We love you all. We hold you in our hearts and minds with every decision we make at Interfaith Works. Thank you for sharing your lives with us. Tonight and every night we honor you.

Ariel
Brady 
Sandy 
Joseph 
Angie A.
Angie R.
Blinking Mike 
Moses
Chris 
Minnie 
Wayne 
Sergio 
OMNI
Sally 
Byron 
Marian 
Pixie 
Kathy 
Johnny 
Adina 
Dee Dee 
Duke
Stacy
Kentucky Ray
Joycie

​This is not an exhaustive list by any means. May we never forget why we are here, and what it's all about. We love you Olympia, let's move forward from this beautiful moment and keep getting after it until all people have safe, clean, affordable housing and the community support they need to feel a true sense of belonging. Goodnight!

Interfaith Works, MultiCare Capital Medical Center, Providence St. Peter Hospital, and Thurston County Public Health and Social Services are partnering to provide people experiencing homelessness a safe place to fully recover after they are discharged from the hospital, with the goal of reducing readmissions and freeing up much-needed hospital beds, the organizations announced today.

The Interfaith Works Restorative Experience for a Safer Transition (REST) program will provide beds for discharged patients meeting certain criteria, giving them a safe place to recover, and coordinating social service support, hygiene services, and meals during their stay.

Providence St. Peter and MultiCare Capital Medical Center have committed to a six-month pilot project, with Providence sponsoring four beds and Capital sponsoring two beds, with a goal of adding more in the future. These six beds are expected to benefit as many as 50 people over the course of six months and free up much-needed hospital beds.

Traditionally, when an acute care hospital patient is ready for discharge, they return home, often with a discharge plan that calls for differing levels of follow-up care. A simple discharge plan is quickly complicated by homelessness. Without a safe place for recovery, patients often do not have adequate opportunity to heal, leading to readmission. Severe shelter bed shortages in Thurston County coupled with already high hospital occupancy compound an already overloaded system.

“Community partnerships like these are how society’s toughest challenges are solved,” said Darin Goss, Chief Executive, Providence Southwest Washington. “We, along with MultiCare, are looking forward to this program helping us address the appropriate care for our vulnerable patients being discharged as well as helping us with our hospital capacity constraints.”

“We’re committed to partnering with our community for healing and a healthy future, including when a patient is discharged from our hospital,” said Will Callicoat, President, Capital Medical Center & Thurston County Market Leader. “I had a family member who was homeless for periods of his life and was cared for at both local hospitals. I can attest to the challenges that occur — both personally and those placed on society — when the patient is homeless.”

The REST program is designed for patients being released from the hospital after being treated for an acute medical condition, including flare ups of chronic conditions who cannot safely return to a congregate shelter setting. Stays are limited to 30 days and no on-site medical care is provided, but the program will support and coordinate outside visiting health care and caregiving providers. To participate, released patients must have no active infections; not be in active medical withdrawal from alcohol or prescription or illicit drugs; and must be medically stable.

Funding for the six-month, $142,220 pilot project was also a team effort. Thurston County plans to utilize non-congregate care shelter funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) COVID-19 public assistance grant program, in addition to funding from Providence Southwest Washington Foundation and MultiCare.

“The partnership between Providence, MultiCare and Interfaith Works represents the best of our community,” said Schelli Slaughter, Director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services. “The county is proud to play a part in this vital effort to ensure that people experiencing homelessness who need respite care while they heal, have a safe and supportive place to do so during this public health emergency.”

“This program is our foundation’s Fund-a-Need focus for this year,” said Peter Brennan, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Providence Southwest Washington Foundation. “Our involvement wouldn’t be possible without community support for the foundation through events like Christmas in the Forest and other donations. And the project would not have been possible without Thurston County’s efforts to secure FEMA funding.”

The program has successfully welcomed its first six guests and will continue serving released patients throughout the end of the year at minimum.

About Providence Southwest Washington

Providence in Southwest Washington touches more lives in the 540,000 five-county service area of Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties than any other health care provider.

It is made up of:

• Providence St. Peter Hospital is a 372-bed, not-for-profit regional teaching hospital founded by the Sisters of Providence in 1887 with three-time Magnet® recognition. The Magnet Recognition Program® recognizes the top health care organizations in the nation for providing nursing excellence. Only two other hospitals in Washington have garnered this honor. In 2021, Providence St. Peter named Best Regional Hospital in US News and World Report (Peninsula Region) and No. 3 in the state of Washington. The hospital was named “high performing” in 16 different categories. St. Peter is a regional leader in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics and neurosciences. The Joint Commission has designated the hospital a Stroke Center of Excellence since 2007.
  

• Providence Centralia Hospital is a 128-bed, not-for-profit community-based hospital which was awarded Pathway to Excellence nursing designation. The services the hospital provides make it the heart of medical care in Lewis County. As a community hospital with outstanding technology, Providence Centralia Hospital is large enough to provide state-of-the-art services such as MRI, 64-slice CT scans and digital mammography. The hospital is also small enough to offer personal, compassionate care to everyone it serves.
  

• Providence Medical Group operates more than 40 clinic locations, with more than 300 specialized providers in Lewis, Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor counties. The group provides primary and specialty care. All 11 primary care clinics are level-3 accredited by the NCQA. Clinics include family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, neurosurgery, oncology, diabetes care, general surgery, endocrinology, obstetrics/gynecology, infectious disease services, physiatry, psychiatry and urology.

About MultiCare

MultiCare is a not-for-profit health care organization with more than 20,000 team members, including employees, providers and volunteers. MultiCare has been caring for our community for well over a century, since the founding of Tacoma’s first hospital and today is the largest community-based, locally governed health system in the state of Washington.

MultiCare’s comprehensive system of health includes numerous primary care, urgent care and specialty services — including MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care, Pulse Heart Institute and MultiCare Rockwood Clinic, the largest multispecialty clinic in the Inland Northwest region.

MultiCare’s network of care includes 11 hospitals:

1. MultiCare Allenmore Hospital, Tacoma
2. MultiCare Auburn Medical Center, Auburn
3. MultiCare Capital Medical Center, Olympia
4. MultiCare Covington Medical Center, Covington
5. MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, Spokane
6. MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup
7. Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Tacoma
8. MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma
9. MultiCare Valley Hospital, Spokane Valley
10. Navos Behavioral Health Hospital
11. Wellfound Behavioral Health Hospital
    

About Interfaith Works

Interfaith Works has a legacy of promoting interfaith understanding and collaboration in the community through social justice, community, and educational endeavors.

We create and support the intersection between the values of the world’s wisdom traditions and the public square through diverse programming and ongoing nurturing of relationships across and between faiths. Thus, our work in Interfaith Relations exists to strengthen regional, interfaith communities and as a resource and support for social justice and peace in the wider community.

Every night in our community more than 1,000 people sleep in doorways, on cold concrete sidewalks, and in wooded areas around Thurston County. This public health emergency is challenging for those needing shelter and for our community. We are addressing that challenge through our dedication to a continuum of services that meet both emergency shelter needs as well as permanent long-term solutions to resolve homelessness. Our programs are designed to serve people in our community who are routinely and historically screened out of opportunities due to the complexities of the challenges they face related to their physical and mental health. We screen them in. Interfaith Works is a primary services provider for seniors and adults with the most complex challenges experiencing homelessness in our area. We will always prioritize those with the most barriers to service connection and opportunities for a higher quality of life.

Our guests receive 24/7 shelter, two meals daily, peer advocacy, connection to permanent housing, connections to primary care, mental health, and substance use treatment, and access to basic hygiene services, including laundry and showers.

• 24/7 supportive shelter space for 60 vulnerable, homeless adults currently hosted by two member faith communities, First Christian Church (host since 2014) and First United Methodist Church (host during the pandemic)
• Community Meals Program, which coordinates the donation of meals to our shelters and the social inclusion and increased understanding of our guests.
• The Navigation Team peer support-based case management and outreach program that works to support individuals in achieving their goals
• Advocacy and education amongst community members, businesses, service providers, and government partners to destigmatize the experiences of our most vulnerable neighbors

Learn More about the Interfaith Works REST program.

Check out this short video that talks about how we are pivoting to meet the rising need and challenge of Covid 19! Listen in for ways that you can help!

​

There are so many issues swirling around right now. Questions of public health, public safety, and public good. Everyone is struggling in some way as we all try to find some sort of equilibrium during the pandemic. ​We wanted to make a forum for those conversations. Check out our new facebook livestream, Lean in Olympia! Interfaith Works will be making space every couple weeks on Tuesdays at noon to have these talks on topical subjects. ​

If there are topics you would be interested in seeing us cover, reach out!

As we have said many times before, this work is not easy. It takes a toll mentally, emotionally, and politically. In the world of providing for the basic needs of people regardless of their circumstances, it doesn't always look pretty from the outside, and the complex realities of homelessness are often misunderstood and misrepresented.

Meg Martin, MSW, CPC
Executive Director

CLOSES MARCH 17, 2020

Interfaith Works appreciates Providence's desire to slow the spread of COVID-19, but we are highly concerned about the health and safety of unsheltered people in Thurston County and the lack of options available for people who are living with permanent disability and chronic illness and who are at high risk for transmission.

Additionally, we are taking the following steps to keep our guests and our staff safe:

1. Closely following State and County Health Department recommendations and talking daily with healthcare partners at the Community Care Center like Providence, Valley View, and The Olympia Free Clinic for most up to date recommendations.
2. As of March 12, 2020 we started mandatory and daily screening of all guests at the Community Care Center and the Nightly Shelter to determine if their symptoms meet criteria for testing. Through our partnership with Providence, we are coordinating closely with three clinics who are now testing people in Thurston County. We are arranging for safe transport in the event someone meets the criteria and needs to be seen at a clinic.
3. Increased outreach and information sharing with our staff, partner agencies, and guests who utilize our services about who's at highest risk (older folks, folks of any age who have weakened immune systems or complicating health factors like chronic illness, substance use, and people with lack of access to basic hygiene). We have posted Health Department posters about how to wash hands properly, signs and symptoms, and what to do if someone is symptomatic.
4. All guests and employees are being directed to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.
5. All employees who are sick are being directed to stay home whenever possible. We currently offer paid leave for all of our employees, but in addition to their normal accrual, we are creating an internal emergency declaration policy regarding paid leave for employees who may require additional time off to get well.
6. Our services rely on maintaining a safe and adequate staff-to-guest ratio, and we are prepared to modify our hours of operation if we cannot adequately staff any of our programs. This would be a worst-case scenario that we hope would not ever be necessary.
7. All guests and employees are being directed to cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
8. All guests and employees are being directed to wash hands multiple times per day!  To be effective, wash hands for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after nose blowing, coughing, or sneezing.
9. All guests and employees are asked to fist bump, elbow bump, or shoe bump to say hello to people -- no high fives, no handshakes. If they forget, they should wash their hands immediately and avoid touching their face.
10. All guests and employees are being told to get a flu shot if they haven't already.
11. We are making sure that hand sanitizer and disinfectant cleaning supplies are well stocked and promoted regularly.
12. We are buying as many N95 masks as we can and prioritizing them for immune compromised employees and guests at highest risk of severe illness. 
13. We are performing regular bleach wipe-downs of door handles, light switches, table and counter tops, computers, phones and other frequently touched surfaces multiple times on each shift. During daily cleaning shifts at our shelter, we open windows and run fans to promote air flow and ventilation. 
14. All employees are being told to increase their use of protective gloves and to distribute gloves to guests.
15. We are working with partner agencies at the Community Care Center to minimize the congregation of high-risk populations by asking all non-medical providers to stay home or provide service consultations by phone.​
16. We are actively lobbying the State and Local governments to increase allocation of resources to create a clear and culturally relevant plan for increased hygiene access and quarantine for people who are living in shelters, encampments, and sleeping on sidewalks and in doorways.
17. We are suspending group meetings and conducting them online whenever possible. We will be cancelling this month's Program Council and the Homeless Services monthly volunteer training. ​
    

Please let us know if you have any questions:
office@interfaith-works.org
We are sending love and strength to you and your families during this difficult time.

Meg Martin will become Executive Director of the Olympia-based Interfaith Works organization starting Jan. 1, 2020. Martin, who currently oversees the organization’s Homeless Services programs for unhoused people through the Nightly Shelter, Community Care Center and Navigation Team programs, joined Interfaith Works in 2013. She helped to transform one of Interfaith Works longest standing programs – the seasonal rotating women’s shelter -- into the full breadth of safety net services offered today.  
​
She takes over at a time when the organization is preparing to grow considerably by building a 24/7 shelter facility below 65 apartments that will provide permanent supportive housing. This exciting development is in partnership with the City of Olympia, Thurston County, the State of Washington, and the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute. Construction is expected to begin in 2020.

“Meg is an exceptional and visionary leader,” said Board President Catherine Carmel. “We are confident in her abilities to lead our organization through this exciting transition.”
Martin is a Certified Peer Counselor and a Social Worker. She earned her Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Washington, Tacoma in 2013. Building from decades of dedicated volunteerism from the faith communities, she founded the Interfaith Works Emergency Overnight Shelter program in 2014 with two other dedicated street outreach workers - Cassie Burke and Jefferson Doyle. Under her innovative leadership the Homeless Services program has grown significantly and positioned Interfaith Works as a trusted leader in our community response to the national crisis of homelessness. 

“I am honored to have the opportunity to build from the rich history of so many who have gone before me and who have taught me so much,” Martin said. “I am excited to continue deepening and broadening relationships throughout all parts of our community – faith traditions of all kinds, business, service groups, tribal partnerships, service provider and community-based organizations, neighborhood associations, governmental partnerships and more. I love this community so much, and can’t wait to serve in this new capacity.”
Interfaith Works is a non-profit, social justice coalition made up of over 30 diverse faith traditions. The organization brings the human and financial resources of faith communities together with business and government agencies to benefit those in need. Interfaith Works will not discriminate on the basis of ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, race, physical ability, religion or religious belief, a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a refusal to actively participate in a religious practice.

​Media contact: Carolyn Cox, Board Member, 360-252-0415

HOT OF THE PRESSES! Check out the Thurston County 5 Year Homeless Crisis Response Plan