The planned Mary’s Place

Amazon to Shelter Homeless in Seattle HQ

Amazon, the Giant Ecommerce company, recently announced that they would build a homeless shelter inside their nearly 50,000 square feet Seattle Headquarters.

They will create 65 rooms providing space for more than 200 homeless people every night on their 10,000 square feet area.

Mary's Place shelter for children, women and families in need.

Amazon, in partnership with Mary's Place,  is a nonprofit organization that temporarily converts unused buildings into shelters for families in need. Amazon will also give Mary's Place a permanent home in the six-story building inside the headquarters.

Mary's Place currently operates a shelter near the core of Amazon’s new downtown campus. It is a place where the average resident lives for 86 days.

Children at Mary’s Place

Homelessness is one of the biggest problems in Seattle. Did you know that King County and Seattle had the third-largest population of homeless people last year? A lot of people are homeless, because rents are very expensive, and only a few individuals can afford to pay.
 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that Mary’s Place does incredible and life-saving work every day for the families experiencing homelessness in the Seattle community.  He also stated that Amazon was lucky to have them as neighbors.

John Schoettler from Amazon and Marty Hartman from Mary's Place

CNN reported that the new Mary’s Place Shelter would open in early 2020. They will put up a resource center like the ones in North Seattle and White Center, which are also both a non-profit organization. The resource center has 40-plus local nonprofits and volunteers who work with the staff to help families to find employment and have permanent houses.

The generosity of Amazon

John Schoettler, Amazon’s Vice President for Global Real Estate and Facilities, said in an interview that their company would spend tens of millions of dollars on its design and construction.  He also said that the organization would pay for Mary's Place bills and utilities.
 

Marty Hartman, who is the Executive Director of Mary's Place, stated that they already got the keys. She showed off a golden, large key handed by Mr. Schoettler, placed inside an Amazon shipping box.

Amazon HQ at Seattle Washington.

Amazon’s gift is also prompting Mary’s Place to boost its staff. It currently employs about 160 across various shelters, including 66 full-time staffs, and has a possibility of getting doubled next year. Mr. Hartman also said that other donations would cover the staffing costs.

Thank you, Amazon. Your company is truly one of a kind.  Thank you for the new homes and thank you as well for helping the family deal with their emotional and physical challenges of homelessness.

“Home is a notion that only nations of the homeless fully appreciate and only the uprooted comprehend.”

- Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose