Homeless in Seattle
(Original)

Claire Carlson
(Age 18, USA)

Seattle, Washington is the 10th most expensive city in the United States to live in. This is due to the fact that many major corporations, such as Starbucks, Boeing, and Microsoft, have established their headquarters here, which brings in more money. Along with a higher average salary comes a higher average real estate value. Currently the average home in Seattle costs well over $400,000, leaving many low-income families in the dust. I feel that as a society, if we have the opportunity to help those less fortunate it is our responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity, even if all we have to give is very little.

Imagine finding a penny on the ground. Now imagine that that penny could provide a warm bed or affordable health care for someone in need. This is the concept I spent a lot of time thinking about last summer. My dad is a graphic designer who does a lot of work designing websites. The two of us started brainstorming ideas to create a website that would facilitate the exchange of one penny per day from a collection of people’s bank accounts to the Penny-A-Day fund. In one month, if 100 Seattleites signed up to give one penny a day to help homelessness in Seattle, we would raise about $30, which could buy about 15 much-needed pairs of socks. Now lets say ten thousand of the six hundred thousand Seattleites signed up for Penny-A-Day, in one month we would have raised $3,000. That could buy about one thousand five hundred homeless people in Seattle a new pair of socks!

Currently there are about eight thousand homeless people in Seattle; meaning one out of every seventy-five people will not have a bed to sleep in tonight. Seattle has the ability to and drive to eliminate poverty; it just needs an easy outlet to do so. Penny-A-Day will give people the option to donate a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, or even a dollar per day over the course of anywhere between a month to a year. Such a small amount of money as one cent often goes unnoticed in a coin purse or change pocket. I feel that this concept would appeal to many people because their effort is so simple yet the reward is so great.

I would like to keep the amount per day small, never exceeding a dollar. This way Penny-A-Day could still draw people in based on the fact that their effort is so small, why not help? Also, it gives a better sense that all of Seattle is working as a team, rather than a single person donating $1,000 per day, making the rest of the donors seem obsolete.

There are a couple different options for how to use the money. First, the money could be donated to existing shelters and programs to help poverty in Seattle. I would like the money to go towards a cause that will progress the community, not just fund it to remain how it is. Habitat for Humanity, Real Change, and Solid Ground are organizations that help the homeless get back on their feet and I feel they have much to offer. Every year the money could be donated to a different organization.

The second option would be to set a goal and raise money in hopes of reaching that goal. Over the course of a year, with ten thousand members donating one penny per day, we would have raised $36,000. That could be enough for a down payment on a house for recovering homeless families. Eventually Penny-A-Day could hand over some of the planning aspects of this project to homeless people looking for a way to get involved. This is a way to provide sustainability to the homeless environment in Seattle.

So what have I been waiting for all year? Well, with further research, I’ve figured out just how expensive it is to start a non-profit organization. The license, registration fees, and the domain names for the website. The list goes on. Altogether the bill comes out to be about six or seven hundred dollars aside from the free-lance work for the site.