On January 12, 2025, Bishop LaBelle will formally bless the new Emergency Women’s Shelter on the Saint Mark’s Cathedral campus, which will open the following week, serving up to twenty women nightly. Renovations to the space are nearly finished, providing not only beds to sleep in, but showers, laundry, and lockers (to store their belongings). There will also be a small clinical room for the women to receive medical and mental health care services.
The shelter is a partnership with Operation Nightwatch—street ministry in Seattle in which cathedral members also serve as volunteers—and will be called Donna Jean’s Place at Saint Mark’s, named for the wife of the founder of Nightwatch,
Your help is needed now! It is now time to furnish the shelter in ways that will be welcoming to the women we will serve in Christ’s name. Please consider making a cash contribution before year-end so that we can purchase the needed items, which include:
- 20 twin sets of bed linens, blankets, and comforters
- 20 pillows
- 20 mattress covers
- 20 towel sets (washcloth, bath towel)—yes, the women will have showers!
- 2 shower mats
- 2 shower curtains
- 25 shower caddies
- Microwave (to heat food for those arriving late)
- Cell phone charging station
Additionally, if you’d like to provide the following items, please drop these at the church office before January 10:
- Hygiene items
- deodorant
- Shampoo/conditioner (including products for Black hair)
- toothbrush/paste
- Body soap
- Razors
- Moisturizer
- Easy-to-care-for plants
Lastly, it costs about $1000 per month per person to operate this shelter, so if you’d like to make a donation in support of the ongoing operational expense, we would welcome that also.
To give, go to saintmarks.org/give and select New Emergency Women's Shelter from the list of options. You can also give using Venmo @saintmarkscathedralseattle or by mailing a check to the cathedral (put emergency shelter in the memo line). Contact Erik Donner in the church office for assistance.
In it all, know that your support means that these women will have a safe, warm place to sleep each night, and we have the opportunity to “seek and serve Christ” in them.
Blessings and peace,
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