Stories

Help those in your community feel loved this month – check out these volunteering opportunities!

The Healing Center helps toddlers through teens transform feeling “trapped, alone, and angry” to “seen, understood, and connected”. These free grief support groups are not possible without donations, and University District Kiwanis Club is proud to give $10,000 this year to support this critical work.

A dozen Kiwanis members and their guests attended The Healing Center’s “Gather for Good” event In September to support and celebrate their work connecting people of all ages who have experienced the death of a loved one, and providing community and support during their healing journey. 

The Healing Center served over 400 individuals last year

When Healing Center founder Kath McCormack’s husband died at the age of 33, they lived in the Bay Area and she attended support groups with her preschool aged-children. Kath felt that those groups saved her life. Two years later, she was unable to find similar support when the family moved to Seattle, so she collaborated with friends to form their own group and eventually founded The Healing Center as a non-profit organization in 2000.

Last year, The Healing Center served more than 400 clients in 18 different support groups designed to connect clients with others experiencing similar loss: adults and seniors who have lost a spouse or partner, young adults who have lost a parent, suicide survivors, adults caring for grieving children, and kids in grades pre-K, K-6 and 7-12. Groups are free to all attendees. 

Kim Kelly joins The Healing Center

Having lost her own mother at the age of 6, University District Kiwanis member Kim Kelly understands and appreciates the Center’s mission to support grieving families. Years ago, her work mentor at ad agency Borders Perrin suggested she join him as a volunteer at Children Grieve Too. Like Kim, he had lost his mother at a young age, and had seen the powerful impact in children’s grief groups when the adult facilitator had lost their own parent during childhood – kids would ask questions and open up more. While she had reservations about her ability to support a room of grieving kids, she was surprised that helping them process was helping her to process her own grief, and she invited her siblings to groups as guest. After 4 years, Children Grieve Too unfortunately lost their funding.

A few years later, the mother of her son’s preschool friend passed away from breast cancer.  She didn’t know the other parents well, but felt an urgent need to extend herself and find support resources for the family. An online search turned up The Healing Center, located nearby, so she stopped by and asked for materials. As she talked with Kath, the Center’s founder, she shared that she had volunteered with Children Grieve Too. Kath knew the founder of that organization and was the social worker for a family that Kim had helped while volunteering at Children Grieve Too! She invited Kim to join a facilitator training later that year. Two years later, she was invited to join the Board. Today, she has served as Board President for 5 years and is preparing to transition to a development role.

Kim says people are startled to learn that 1 in 20 kids in the U.S. will lose a parent before they turn 18. Outcomes are not good for kids with unprocessed grief – they have higher instances of substance abuse, addiction and mental health issues – that we can prevent by funding expanded grief support resources. 

Kiwanis Connection

Michael Myers, current president of University District Kiwanis Club, met Kim in 2006 when he and his two boys aged 3 and 7 came to The Healing Center for grief support services. Over the years, Kim and Michael crossed paths at local fundraisers where she met other club members and loved their energy. In 2019, Michael invited Kim to speak with the club about The Healing Center and how they might help support the work. She joined shortly afterward and now serves as a Board member and advisor to Key Club. University District Kiwanis has been a proud supporter of The Healing Center’s work in the years since.

Visit healingcenterseattle.org to learn how you can support and access the Healing Center’s programs, and share with people in your life who might benefit from a support group that reflects their experiences as they navigate grief and healing.  

“People who are grieving sometimes struggle after six months to a year when their family and friends are all so uncomfortable with their discomfort. They want them to feel better. They want them to move on. Grief just doesn’t work like that, so for people to find people that reflect their experience and understand them at a different level really helps them process their grief.”

~ Kim Kelly, Board President, The Healing Center

Share the holiday spirit this season by volunteering!

We’re proud to support Operation Nightwatch in their work to bring relief to Seattle’s homeless with food, assistance finding shelter, and support moving toward housing, treatment, employment or moving back with friends or family. Over 16,000 people are unhoused in King County each night and there are not enough emergency shelter beds for all who need them.

• Every night, volunteers prepare and serve a hot meal to 150 homeless guests starting at 9:00 pm after other programs have closed.
• The street outreach ministry connects with and provides basic supplies to unhoused people. When they’re able to help someone move into housing, they continue to offer support to ensure a successful transition. They help people replace ID, reconnect with family, seek treatment and secure jobs.
• They underwrite small furnished rooms with community kitchens for 24 low-income seniors, most of whom were homeless or close to it.
• They launched a women’s shelter this year and are now working to double capacity.

This work would not be possible without volunteer power.

“Volunteers keep us on track, deliver the food, make up the menu and fix the meals. Volunteers visit the seniors, go out on the street, hand out the sandwiches, and listen to the stories. Volunteers collect the socks, and other volunteers hand them out. Operation Nightwatch is an amazing kaleidoscope of volunteers working to make life better for homeless people and senior residents. Volunteering at Nightwatch will change you in ways you cannot imagine.”

~ Operation Nightwatch

University Kiwanis member Reverend Rick Reynolds was an active part of Operation Nightwatch for over 40 years, starting as an outreach volunteer in 1981 and later serving as the second Executive Director in the organization’s history before his retirement in 2022. Learn how you can support this important work at https://www.seattlenightwatch.org/

This fall, we awarded $4,500 in scholarships to members of the University of Washington Circle K International (UW CKI), a student-led volunteer service club we help support. Congratulations to this year’s winners Hannah Powell, Hana Chollar, Lila Bray and Joephery Rafael!

These awards are provided through the Bernard/Orr scholarship program that University District Kiwanis established in 1984 to provide tuition assistance for UW School of Business students and was later re-purposed in 1991 after we began sponsoring the Circle K club at the UW.

Recipients must be members of UW CKI for at least four months, be enrolled as a UW student in the fall quarter, have a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher, demonstrate financial need, actively participate in Circle K meetings, service and fundraising projects, and demonstrate leadership or leadership potential.

In addition to meeting the above criteria, this year’s recipients are all serving as CKI officers. To learn more about the UW CKI, visit their website or follow them on Instagram!

Did you know that volunteering reduces stress and helps you feel positive and relaxed? Check out these opportunities to do some good for yourself, and for others this month!

We had a great time last month at the University District Food Bank dinner and auction together with four members of the UW Circle K club!

More than 400 people attended this fun event for a critically important cause, raising nearly $500,000 to help feed families and individuals in NE Seattle. About 25% of the food bank’s customers are unhoused and 20% are children. Due to the rising cost of food, the food bank is 80% busier than it was two years ago. This means it also costs more to meet that demand…nearly $1.5 million this year.

In 1982, a local minister held meetings with the community, churches, social service agencies, civic groups and local businesses to meet a growing need for food bank services. University District Kiwanis was one of the first financial supporters and the food bank opened its doors on May 4, 1983 with a donated home refrigerator and $100 monthly budget to buy food to supplement donations. By 1986, it was the fifth busiest food bank in Seattle. Today, they serve over 250,000 individuals annually through satellite pantries, home delivery, weekend food packs for school-age kids, connections to community resources and a rooftop farm.

Learn how you can help support the food bank at https://www.udistrictfoodbank.org

We’re grateful to our newest member Jessica Hespelt from Seattle CHADD Chapter (and 2016 Kiwanis Key Club Advisor of the Year!) for joining our September membership meeting to share the work Seattle CHADD is doing to support children and adults with ADHD.

Seattle CHADD is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing resources, education, and advocacy for individuals of all ages with ADHD. Their mission is to create a supportive community where individuals with ADHD can thrive and reach their full potential.

They currently host 3-4 meetings each month and are raising funds to launch the first Spanish-speaking ADHD support group in the U.S. You can watch webinar recordings with ADHD experts, join the mailing list and view the schedule for upcoming support meetings at https://seattlechadd.com/

We’re thankful to Lisa O’Dell from REST (Real Escape from the Sex Trade) for sharing at our October meeting about the work REST is doing to support victims of human trafficking in our area.

Over 2,000 women, men, and children are exploited in King County, and over half are experiencing homelessness or in unstable housing. Last year, nearly 650 people reached out to REST for services, hoping to find their path out of the sex trade. REST helps survivors to increase their safety and move toward healing, stability, and economic independence through a variety of support services including emergency housing, mental health and substance use services, housing assistance, outreach and advocacy.

We were so moved by this challenging work and attended the “Night of REST” fundraiser event the following week. You can get involved by inviting Lisa to speak with your group, attending an information session or donating to help expand capacity. Learn more at https://iwantrest.com

In September, our Board gathered for its annual retreat. The purpose of this meeting is to create space outside of regular monthly meetings to look ahead to the coming fiscal year – revisiting our mission statement to ensure it continues to accurately reflect our intentions, reviewing our accomplishments and opportunities for improvement and aligning on a plan to continue providing financial support to various non-profit organizations in the coming year. Lunch after was open to the general membership. We’re grateful to be part of a team which is caring, constructive and committed to making a positive impact in our community and world. Thank you Kim for hosting this event!