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On a recent sunny afternoon, members of the Employees Community Fund of Boeing (ECF) Puget Sound Chapter donned hard hats and safety vests to witness the generosity of Boeing Employees taking shape in the form of a new building in Bellevue, WA. Congregations for the Homeless (CFH) is building the first permanent 24/7 service center and shelter for men experiencing homelessness in East King County. The building project is supported, in part, by a $500,000 ECF Puget Sound capital grant.

“It was wonderful to see the new service center under construction and the generosity of the Boeing community coming to life in that building,” said John Fueger, President of the ECF Puget Sound Chapter.

The goal for the new service center is to create a path from homelessness to stable living. It will serve residents and daily visitors with employment and housing navigation, medical and dental care coordination, and other important support services. The center is a project years in the making.

“We are so grateful to the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound,” said Kerry Dirk, the Philanthropy Director behind the building project.  “We visited the site to do a beam signing. The excitement as we walked through the site was immense – many of these people have been dreaming of this for years and “At Last!” was a common theme written on the beam.”

Congregations for the Homeless is one of 45 Washington nonprofits that received support through ECF Puget Sound’s most recent grant cycle, which happens twice a year. In all, grants in the first half of this year totaled more than $3.5 million dollars.

Left to right: ECF Puget Sound’s Julie Dimeo (grantmaker), Katrina White (Treasurer) and John Fueger (President) tour the future community dining area at the Congregations for the Homeless service center under construction in Bellevue.

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One of the latest recipients is Evergreen Recovery Centers, who received a $500,000 capital grant to support construction of a residential treatment facility for low-income pregnant and parenting women in Everett, WA. The program also serves young families on Medicaid with children in local foster care and works to help the families stabilize so they can be reunited.

“We are humbled and excited to have this support to expand from our first Boeing project site to now building a specialized mom’s program,” said Linda Grant, CEO of Evergreen Recovery Centers. “This longstanding support means a LOT to Evergreen’s staff and Board of Directors.  We have served more than 35,000 individuals at that campus already – enabled by the donations of Boeing Employees - and we will now be adding hundreds more each year to not only achieve recovery from behavioral health challenges, but also to be the best moms possible.”

Evergreen Recovery Centers residential treatment facility under construction in Everett, WA

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ECF Puget Sound also donated more than $37,000 to the non-profit organization, Dawson Place in Everett. Their child Advocacy Center serves children who are victims of sexual assault, physical abuse, neglect and more. Dawson Place will use the funds to buy a van to increase public outreach to their critical services.

“Thank you for your support of this project, and for the past projects that ECF Boeing Puget Sound has funded,” said Matt McLaughlin, Director of Development at Dawson Place. “You make our Child Advocacy Center a better experience for the kids and families who come to us for help, and you strengthen our cause to give EVERY child abuse victim safety, justice, and healing.”

Those are just three of the 45 nonprofits most recently benefitting from Boeing employee giving.

The Employees Community Fund of Boeing is one of the largest employee-owned and managed funds of its kind in the world. In the Puget Sound, approximately 7,000 Boeing employees contribute to our local Employees Community Fund chapter.

“We’re grateful to everyone who donates through ECF. Your contributions are directly benefiting those in need,” said ECF’s John Fueger. “And while we made a huge impact so far this year, we want to ensure that all our employees know about ECF and the work being done in the Puget Sound region and Washington state.”