WEATHER: Checking in with West Seattle’s emergency shelter

| Triangle | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

12:14 PM: In case you wondered too, as did a few readers, West Seattle’s only weather-emergency shelter, at WS Veteran Center in The Triangle, is indeed in operation right now. We spoke this morning with shelter operator Keith Hughes, who said he expects to keep the shelter open until Christmas morning, by which time the temperature should be headed into the 50s. As for whether the donation-and-volunteer-powered shelter has any current needs with which the community could assist, Keith says no – they’ve received enough recent donations that they’re stocked up.

12:54 PM: While Keith didn’t mention it, we’ve just learned that there is some financial need for shelter operations, and one of the shelter volunteers has started a crowdfunding campaign for expenses including a big utility bill – you can donate here.

K December 21, 2022 (1:13 pm)

Come on, West Seattle, let’s rally and get this man some funding for a worthy cause. I don’t “need” most of the stuff in my Amazon cart…. I’ll donate that money to Keith instead.

sb2780 December 21, 2022 (1:49 pm)

Donated! Glad this shelter is in place for vulnerable people in our community when the daytime temps are below freezing.

WS Res December 21, 2022 (1:53 pm)

The Burien shelter has some needs for food and volunteers, if you can’t help Keith with finances. Thanks Keith, and thanks everyone for supporting the WS shelter.

junctionres December 21, 2022 (3:07 pm)

Donated! Thank you so much for taking care of our community, Keith.

Support December 21, 2022 (3:08 pm)

Send an email to our local reps as well:Lisa Herbold – lisa.herbold@seattle.gov City Council – council@seattle.gov Dow Constantine – kcexec@kingcounty.gov“Can you please help Keith Hughes get connected to the people in our local government that will give him financial support for the huge kindness he is doing for our community. And please forward to anyone that I’m not thinking of that could help get him support.”And send them the link to this blog post and the donation page.

EO December 21, 2022 (4:18 pm)

You can also donate directly to the Veterans Center through the link above – you won’t get asked to support GoFundMe but you will get a receipt for tax purposes (so you can donate a little extra to the shelter!).

fRanks1000wsb December 21, 2022 (4:20 pm)

Donated! And lets put some collective pressure on Seattle City Light to extend their hardship program to community run shelters… Keith shouldn’t be paying a $3,000 heating bill out of his own pocket.

K December 21, 2022 (6:10 pm)

Agreed! We have a great community that is often willing to give, but Keith shouldn’t have to rely on GoFundMe’s or pay out of his own pocket…especially when he gives so freely in so many ways. I think we can get something done if enough people pursue it!

Olivier Prock December 21, 2022 (6:07 pm)

Olivier Here,You could donate to the 501c3, but there are two, one for the American Legion Hall and one for the Shelter. Keith doesn’t know how to access the funds that button goes to and is not sure if that link even works. He also doesn’t have time to send out receipts.The gofundme is an emergency stop gap to keep the heat on. Ideally someone can provide further help to get the other link to work for Keith… by his own admission, he’s not tech savvy…

Gina December 22, 2022 (11:33 am)

Hi Olivier—the 501c3 donation link appears to be a DonorBox account. One of its services should be to send a tax receipt automatically to any donors that give via that link. The DonorBox website should have info about how to access or recover the account associated with this donation link. https://donorbox.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360002194972-My-Org-Account

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