Expanding Our Giving

ECA is broadening our material support to Eastside nonprofits

ECA’s mission is to offer material and financial support to Eastside nonprofits that address housing, hunger, and mental health. This year, we focused on expanding material support—such as vouchers and donating specific items from our shop—to our community partners. This expansion means ECA can help a bigger range of organizations and reserve financial support—in the form of grant funds—for smaller organizations with greater need for exposure.

On June 1 we reopened our voucher program to 8 local organizations—Attain Housing, Camp Unity, Hopelink, Imagine Housing, LifeWire, New Bethlehem, St. Vincent de Paul of King County, and The Sophia Way. The voucher program allows nonprofit clients to personally chose 10 free items in the shop to address their needs. A recent visitor used her voucher to choose a pair of comfortable walking shoes and marveled at how wonderful they felt on her feet.

Another recent example is a food drive for ECA partner Hidden Manna Food Bank. ECA President, Shannon Young, was approach by teachers at her child’s school who needed a community service project. Two kindergarten classes gathered an SUV-full of non-perishable food donations to help feed local families this summer.

Other material support projects include collecting coffee mugs for The Sophia Way, offering donated medical supplies to Bridge Ministries, and passing on baby equipment to Eastside Baby Corner.

We are excited to keep exploring ways to honor our 40+ year tradition while striving to make the biggest impact possible with our support.