Amazon to donate $8M to housing, homeless nonprofits

Amazon announced Tuesday it will donate millions to two organizations that provide housing and homelessness services in its two headquarter areas.

Seattle nonprofit Plymouth Housing will receive $5 million.  The Arlington Community Foundation in Virginia, which addresses critical issues in communities such as homelessness prevention and education, will receive a gift of $3 million.

Plymouth Housing provides permanent housing to the chronically homeless, paired with services for mental health, physical disabilities and addiction to help prevent people from returning to life on the streets.

Also Tuesday, Amazon started a match campaign for employees who donate to any of 20 selected nonprofit organizations addressing housing and homelessness in the company’s two headquarter regions.

Amazon will match donations one-to-one up to $5 million through Sept. 30.

To see a list of the nonprofits, follow this link.

Since 2016, Amazon has made donations to Mary’s Place and Farestart, including a family shelter for Mary’s Place inside an

building and a classroom and restaurant space for FareStart’s job training program for those who are homeless or living in poverty.

Amazon says the collective value of those donations, including annual rent, is more than

, with Mary’s Place receiving

in in-kind and cash donations over the next 10 years.

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