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Mary's Place launches 'No Child Sleeps Outside' campaign

SEATTLE — A local non-profit is determined to get homeless families off Seattle streets.  Mary's Place launched a crowd funding effort for "No Child Sleeps Outside" on Wednesday.

Mary's Place helps homeless families throughout King County and helps homeless families transition out of homelessness and into permanent housing.

"You can save a child's life tonight. You can bring a family inside tonight." said Marty Hartman of Mary's Place.

"Most families will only be homeless one time in their whole life. This is the season of their homelessness and we want to keep it as short as possible."

The goal is to raise $500,000 to take homeless families off Seattle streets and into a warm safe shelter.  Visit the crowdfunding site here.

Mary's Place says over 550 families sleep outside in Seattle every night, many of them are single mothers with children.  The money raised will be used to open additional crisis-response shelter and find additional beds to give families and children a safe place to live this winter.

At Mary's Place, a homeless family begins its journey out of homelessness and into permanent housing.
Unlike other shelters, homeless families get to stay together at Mary's Place.

"We went through a huge list of shelters, they couldn't accommodate us," said Steven Corona about finding shelter for his family.

He said Mary's Place was different, "It took less than 15 minutes for them to get our information and say 'come on down, we have room for you'."

Staying together was crucial for his wife,  Kaileen Gogue, and their two young children. 

"All parents want the best for their kids- food, clothing, to make sure you don't fail them. So you do everything you can to support them," said Kaileen Gogue.

Mary's Place helps with child care and career counseling so parents can find employment.

Jami Martin found Mary's Place about 10 days ago, she has to little girls. "Just think about a kid sleeping outside. Can you imagine telling your 6 year-old that they have no place to sleep?"

Families already finding help and hope at Mary's Place hope the community will donate so more families can find safety and security.

Last year Mary's Place was able to raise $325,000 for local homeless families, they exceeded their crowdfunding goal of $250,000.

The campaign launched Wednesday already has support from local businesses and has raised more than $100, 000 toward the $500,000 goal.

One of those donors is Dick's Drive-In Restaurants.

"If we give Seattle the opportunity to come together to make a difference I know we will," said Saul Spady, of Dick's Drive-In.

Marty Hartman, executive director of Mary's Place, is eager to see the community step up to save homeless children.

"We have an incredible community that loves us and an incredible community that wants to help. So just being able to give people a way to contribute, to change lives, there's no greater gift."