Tent City 4 Open House

Wednesday, June 26, 3-5 p.m. at the Seattle Mennonite Church, 3212 NE 125th Street

Tent City 4 (TC4) is settling in at their new home in the Lake City neighborhood. They have been located just a few miles north of UUC for about one month, and several from UUC have already been involved: helping at the move-in; offering tents, tarps and other donations; or delivering baked goods and meals. Thanks to all!

TC4 invites us to visit at the upcoming Community Open House. Dr. Tony Sparks, a professor at San Francisco State University, and author of Tent City, Seattle: Refusing Homelessness and Making a Home, will be talking about his book and about his experience living at Tent City 3. You can also learn more from Dr. Sparks about his experience with Tent City 3 in this recent interview with The Stranger.

TC4 is located west of the intersection of 35th Avenue NE & NE 125th Street. There a small church parking lot behind TC4, and parking is also available on neighborhood streets. 

Help Tent City 3 Move

Saturday, June 29

Tent City 3 (TC3) will end their stay near the Mount Baker light rail station soon. On June 29 they will pull up stakes, and load up pallets and tents so they can move to their next home. St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, on Capitol Hill, welcomes TC3 back for the 17th time. Once again, the TC3 community welcomes (and needs) help, loading up at the current site, and then unloading and setting up at St. Mark's. Your help at either end is much appreciated!

• From 8 a.m. until about 12 noon – Join other volunteers from UUC at 2720 South Hanford, just off MLK near the Mount Baker light rail station. Take the light rail or park on nearby neighborhood streets behind TC3 camp.

• From about 10 a.m. through the afternoon – Join volunteers at St. Mark's, 1245 10th Avenue East. The camp will be set up in the back parking lot, and there is plenty of parking for volunteers who drive. 

Arrive any time and stay for however much time you have available. It is a good idea to bring work gloves, if you have them, and wear comfortable closed-toe shoes. For those able, you can help with loading and unloading pallets and camp supplies. Some of the move tasks involve heavy lifting, but lighter work is also available. You do not need to sign up in advance to assist with the move. Many hands make light work.

Since TC3 has to move everything, this is not a good time to bring any supplies to donate, other than baked goods or snacks to enjoy during the busy move day. They do appreciate donations of other supplies, but please wait until they get settled in at St. Mark's to deliver those.

Tent Cities

If you are not familiar with Seattle's Tent Cities, you can learn more about them on the SHARE/WHEEL website.

If you have any questions about UUC involvement with Tent Cities, please contact Pam Smith Mentz.

~ UUC Homelessness Ministries Research Team

(Successor to the Tent City 3 Team, working with Rev. Beth to research opportunities for UUC to continue/expand our work around homelessness)