Redmond-based Together Center reports huge increase in people seeking help
Published 2:41 pm Friday, September 17, 2010
Together Center, formerly known as Family Resource Center in Redmond, has reported that more than 67,000 people were served at the center last year, an increase of 25,000 people seeking help over the previous year. Of those, 6,823 were residents of Redmond.
Where a year ago, 42,000 people tapped services at the 18 health, housing and human service agencies that operate from Together Center, that number jumped by 60 percent in the center’s recent tally of client use.
“This big leap in activity jibes with the anecdotal experience of our agencies,” said Together Center’s executive director Pam Mauk, “as well as our own. We have noted the heavy use of the campus by people in stress. Even in one small area, the use of our free lobby phones, where we counted about 750 people using these the previous year, we passed that number in July.”
One of the first nonprofit multi-tenant centers in the nation, Together Center was designed first and foremost to lower barriers to finding help.
East King County residents once needed to travel from Bothell to Renton or beyond to find help at individual locations. People now find comprehensive assistance at one location in downtown Redmond. Services include food, shelter, medical and dental care, child care assistance, youth and family counseling and more.
Together Center adds up the numbers of the specific, documented clients tracked at each of its agencies to reach the sum of the total number served on campus. The center expects that some people are counted at more than one agency.
A client of Hopelink’s food bank and also HealthPoint’s medical clinic, for an example, are counted by both agencies.
The regional nature of the center is also made clear by the tally. People come for services at the center from as far south as Covington, north to Bothell and Shoreline and east to Snoqualmie Valley.
While the residences of over half of clients served were not tracked, of those whose residence was collected, the following is known: 2,886 people were helped from Bellevue; 1,534 from Bothell; 1,940 from either Carnation, Duvall, Snoqualmie or North Bend; 1,186 from Issaquah; 5,949 from Kirkland; 83 from Newcastle; 6,823 from Redmond; 617 from Renton; 762 from Sammamish; 745 from Snohomish County; 826 from Woodinville and many more people from points near and far.
All are invited to Together Center’s 20th anniversary celebration from 3-6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24 (program at 4 p.m.) at its campus at 16225 NE 87th, Suite A-5, Redmond. For more information, call (425) 869-6699 or visit www.togethercenter.org.
