Mary's Place family shelter has opened in Washington State

Mary's Place

With over 63,000 sq ft of usable space to sleep up to 200 moms, dads, and children each night, Mary’s Place is the largest family shelter in Washington State.

The center is located in The Regrade at 7th Avenue and Blanchard Street, within an office building at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.

Amazon has been known to make generous donations to Mary’s Place and FareStart, a collective value of more than $130 million, with Mary’s Place alone receiving $100 million in in-kind and cash donations over the next 10 years. Last June, the company also launched an employee match campaign to encourage employees to donate to 20 select non-profits.

Amazon’s plan for the family shelter includes covering all of their rent and utility costs for the next ten years and providing housing in the center of their Downtown Seattle campus.

“At Mary’s Place Family Center in The Regrade, our kids are able to safely finish school, our employees watch children for extended hours to support working parents who lost access to childcare, and moms and dads are able to search for new jobs on new laptops,” said Marty Hartman, executive director of Mary’s Place, in a press release.

“This new shelter, opening when it did, has been our saving grace. It was our neighbors at Amazon who recognized what we needed before we ever realized it, and this space ensures we don’t have to return families to homelessness during this unprecedented and trying time. I always knew this shelter would be a beacon of light in the community, and the critical support we’ve received from our neighbors at Amazon and beyond has been life-saving ever since this pandemic began.”

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The eight-floor shelter began welcoming families in March and includes four floors designated for sleeping as well as 30 Popsicle Place rooms for families with “medically fragile children.” The shelter is also safely supporting Babies Best Start, a Mary’s Place program for expecting and new moms and their babies.