We first partnered with Treehouse—Seattle’s beloved organization providing foster children the resources they need to thrive—to support their pajama drive and make sure every child had cozy sleepwear. The efforts are huge with the locals, who collect so many PJs that there’s enough supply in the warehouse for an entire year.

As we grew to appreciate the needs of foster kids and how dedicated Treehouse is to meeting those needs, we awarded a $250,000 grant for distribution over five years. This money will assist foster kids in their schooling in the hopes that we’ll double the graduation rate by 2017.

Learn more

The Career Styling Session and YouthCare partnered together to help youth find their personal and professional styles. With classes to help these soon-to-be adults look and feel good at interviews, the program quickly became the talk of the town. Then, in 2015 YouthCare opened Basement Boutique and everyone has been loving the cute little downtown Seattle shop. To make sure the boutique is full of clothes, we have all gone through our closets and donated a car full of clothes every single month. Now these kids are graduating with confidence, and it’s truly rewarding to see them shine in the clothes we’ve provided for their future.

Learn more

The Spruce Street Inn is a safe home for young boys and girls at risk. Some have run away because they didn’t feel safe in their homes, another group home, or their foster parents’ home. They might’ve even escaped child trafficking or solicitation for prostitution. And while the home is a safe place, the interior common spaces and individual rooms needed a makeover. So we came in with a fresh coat of paint, and the impact was immediate. The part-time residents were really excited to see the transformation—and be able to call this new, clean and comfortable place home.

Learn more

YMCA has transitional homes around the city where the youth participates in programs that provide guidance, stability, and structure towards their independence. We recently went to make dinner for the West Seattle home, where all of the young women who live there have been sexually abused. The fact that these ladies allowed us to enter their home and their personal space is a testament to how strong they truly are. At this particular dinner, we all took away memories—the young women experienced their first interaction with outside guests, and we got a chance to see them smile, laugh, and trust strangers who would never judge them.

Learn more

When we learned how many children in greater Seattle would not get to experience the sheer delight and excitement of receiving toys for Christmas, we decided we had to make a change. We partnered with Rick’s Toys for Kids and awarded an annual grant of $20,000 over four years to purchase toys for disadvantaged local children every Christmas. We even signed on to shop and help deliver them, and were privileged to see all the smiles of happy, excited kids receiving brand new toys during the holiday season.

Learn more

Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission has been serving King County’s homeless population for more than eighty years. A few years ago, One Eighty employees started working with them to take their Search and Rescue program’s food delivery service from cold sandwiches to hot meals. Once a month, our employees come together and to prepare a nourishing meal for delivery directly to homeless individuals in some of the darkest, coldest corners of the city. Now an intern for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, Dru was formerly homeless himself and remembers a time when a simple slice of hot pizza and a friendly smile transformed his evening, and became a major milestone on his path to a better future.

Learn more