These eager students live in CCC’s alcohol and drug-free housing with their parent(s) who are working to rebuild their lives.  The majority of these parents are working or attending school in order to attain stronger employment. They are barely making ends meet but long to give their children equal footing when the school year starts. With proper clothing and supplies, these children have an equal chance at success.

We were stunned to learn that the average family will spend $606 per child to get their child ready for the school year! Our families surely cannot afford such luxuries.  Central City Concern gladly accepts donations via our secure website as well as in-kind items delivered to our administrative office, 223 NW Sixth Avenue & Everett.  Gift cards, especially to stores that carry both supplies and clothing, are very welcome and also can be directed to our administrative office. Thank you for considering helping a needy student this fall!

Nearly 40 Central City Concern staff and clients gathered on a rainy, chilly Sunday afternoon for the 8th annual NAMI Northwest Walk. NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness – is a nonprofit organization providing self-help, support and advocacy for consumers, families, and friends of people with mental illness. Central City Concern has participated in the fundraising walk yearly. The event raised more than $150,000 for NAMI.

Shauna Hahn, a staffer in Central City Concern’s 12^th Avenue Recovery Center has participated in the walk since 2006. “The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill began with a much smaller grassroots group called AMI or the Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “Ami” is also the French word for friend. There is so much accomplished by this rhetoric. There is more affection, more equality, and more devotion. If we believe that dignity is found where there is a meaningful life, why wouldn’t we engage in the pursuit of this dignity for our friends?”

Photo at right: CCC walkers were treated to root beer floats, courtesy of Standard TV & Appliance, at the end of the afternoon.

Photo above:

Walkers get ready for the event to begin.