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Improving Lives in the Northwest with Donated Goods
The little boy timidly picked at the set of children’s blocks, carefully inspecting each piece, then taking a single, colorful square in his hand.“I told him, ‘You can take the whole box,’” recalled Olivia Ledezma. The
5-year-old lit up like the star atop the Christmas tree at the Royal City Child Development Center. “The whole box?” he asked, incredulously. The whole box, she replied.
“He just jumped for joy, he was so excited. I’ll never forget his reaction,” said Olivia, who is director of the Washington State Migrant Council in Central Washington’s Royal City. Her agency partnered with World Vision Seattle-Tacoma to share the joy of Christmas with residents of this rural, agricultural community last year.
Without that holiday distribution, Olivia said, many families who make their living providing seasonal farm labor would have faced a Christmas without much cheer. In the bleak winter months when there is no agricultural work, many families suffer. Housing and food costs quickly eat up meager incomes, and gifts are out of reach and out of the question. She knows too many families who live this hard life.
Thanks to The Storehouse of World Vision, toys, baby clothes, baby blankets, and clothing for children and adults were distributed just in time for the holiday, spreading not just Christmas cheer, but the love of Jesus as well.
Fundamentals for Families and Partners
World Vision and its partners in the Seattle-Tacoma area are working to break the cycle of poverty by attacking its root causes, but until families can become self-sufficient, they deserve a helping hand—and that’s where The Storehouse comes in. The Storehouse is a division of World Vision that provides new, high-quality donated goods to ministry and community partners, who then distribute them to families in need. Products come from scores of manufacturers and retailers across the country, which donate overstocked and surplus items for the tax relief as well as the reward of seeing their products put to good use.
These items also are vital tools for World Vision programs developed to help children and families reach their God-given potential. Vision Youth’s tutoring (KidREACH) and teen mentoring programs make practical use of school supplies and clothing. Donated books and school and office supplies also fill the Kids in Need Resource Center, where teachers in schools that serve low-income neighborhoods have the opportunity to regularly stock up on needed provisions and learning tools.
Local partners, such as Rainier Avenue Church in South Seattle, work with World Vision to serve others, and also benefit from what The Storehouse has to offer. Pastor Paul Olver and his staff had been limping along for years on tired, run-down office furniture and struggling to keep up with technology.
“Your gifts have brought energy and excitement to our ministry as well as increased functionality and efficiency . . . In addition, we thank you for the computers, as it has been difficult to function with the computer in our front office down.
“I am encouraged by your commitment to serving God and by knowing of another committed partner to living out the Great Commission,” wrote Pastor Paul.
Getting Goods to Those Who Need Them
The Storehouse occupies 20,000 square feet of donated Renton warehouse space that in 2001 was filled with approximately $3 million worth of donated merchandise. One full-time employee and 100 volunteers distributed those life-changing gifts to 380 ministry partners around the state. In 2001, 51,434 people—34,473 of them children—benefited from those items.
Although World Vision in the Seattle and Tacoma area receives a wonderful bounty of donated goods, your partnership is needed to make sure they go where they are most needed. Costs associated with these gifts include transportation, storage, and staffing.
How You Can Help
- $1,000 will finance the delivery of three shipments of donated goods to a community in need.
- $5,000 can be leveraged to provide $50,000 worth of goods for distribution to children and families in need.
- $27,000 will buy a truck to transport life-enhancing gifts to The Storehouse and to other distribution sites.
When you partner with World Vision you become an ambassador of hope for struggling children and families in the Pacific Northwest. Thank you for considering such a gift.
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