Donations keep doors open at Elizabeth Gregory Home

After a Bainbridge Island woman came into some money, she decided some of it should go to charity and she waited for a worthy cause. When she read about the Elizabeth Gregory Home, she found it.

The University District transitional-housing program was short on money, and if $30,000 couldn't be found quickly for rent and payroll, eight formerly homeless women would be back on the street.

The Elizabeth Gregory Home gives women a safe, dignified place to stay for two years while they find jobs, education and permanent housing. A daytime drop-in center provides free food, clothing and case management to about 150 women each month.

The Bainbridge Island woman, who asked to remain anonymous, remembered the years she spent struggling to make ends meet when she was a single mother with two children.

A story in last Friday's Seattle Times about the Elizabeth Gregory Home's dire financial situation resonated with her because of her own experience.

"There were some pretty tight times," she said. "I can understand how some people can live just one paycheck from disaster. It really struck a chord with me."

She wrote a check for $30,000 and mailed it to the Elizabeth Gregory Home.

She wasn't the only one.

Another anonymous donor sent a $30,000 cashier's check in an envelope without a return address. A woman walked into the drop-in center with a $10,000 check. People sent $25, $500, $1,000.

One week and $130,000 later, the women can stay. They got the news Tuesday.

"Some of them cried a little bit, just big smiles all over the room," said Ed Cozart, program director. "They finally got a good night's sleep."

The home's funding shortfall came at a time when charitable groups across the country are suffering. Would-be donors are feeling the sting of the economy and are giving less, nonprofits report.

The women had already started looking for other places to live, but prospects were dim. The landlord had started showing the property. Executive Director Kimberly Jackson had closed the drop-in center on weekends and was making arrangements to shut its doors for good.

Jackson now plans to rehire four staff members she laid off last month and reopen the drop-in center on weekends.

The $130,000 is roughly one-third of the nonprofit's annual budget and will keep the program running through December. She hopes grants and three upcoming fundraisers will support the nonprofit after that.

"The response has just been overwhelming, beyond anything I could have foreseen or imagined," Jackson said. "To say that we're appreciative doesn't even begin to describe the thankfulness we feel or the joy the women expressed when they were told they could stay in their home."

On Thursday, Jackson sorted through a tall pile of letters that arrived with the donations.

"I looked around my family room and my own yard — reminding me of my many comforts and blessings," one Olympia woman wrote in a card with her donation. "Every bird deserves a safe, clean nest."

Jackson talked to one man who stayed in shelters as a boy when he and his mother fled domestic violence. He told her the cause was close to his heart and offered to round up contributions from his friends.

One Seattle woman sent $100 and some Metro bus tickets.

Another woman said she wished she could donate more, but she was on disability pay, her husband was unemployed and they were battling debt.

"Still, you clearly need what little we can give more than we do," she wrote. "No matter what happens to the shelter, please tell the women that they have made it this far. They will survive all future obstacles, even if it does not feel that way right now."

She gave $25.

"Talk about restoring your faith in humanity," Jackson said. "It's just incredible."

Noelene Clark: 206-464-2321 or nclark@seattletimes.com