OL Reign Legends: Mary’s Place – Dominique Alex, Tina Browne, Arlene Hampton, Yasmin Mishra, Affia Simon, Marta Asfaw, Dr. Jen Johnson and Miriam Clithero

The Legends Campaign, a partnership between OL Reign and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Prior to the October 10 match against the Chicago Red Stars, OL Reign recognized the women leaders behind Mary’s Place front line staff for the impactful work they are doing in the community.

Arlene Hampton, Senior Site Director at Mary’s Place was inspired to get involved with Mary’s Place because she saw a need in the community.

“Like the others being honored and our amazing frontline staff, I believe that everyone deserves a safe home. The need in our community is so great. I was drawn to Mary's Place for the opportunity to make a difference and be a part of the solution. Working with families and children, seeing their joy and relief when they are in their own homes, is incredibly rewarding,” said Hampton.

Mary’s Place was founded in 1999 as a day center for women experiencing homelessness and over time began to expand. With a grant from the Boeing Employee's Community Fund and the passion of a dedicated board and staff, Mary’s Place Women’s Day Center opened its doors. The women developed the structure and daily schedule that remains in effect today: two meals a day, hygiene facilities, showers, laundry, medical care, support groups, and ample resources for housing, employment and benefits.

Around 2010, the impact of the recession was still being felt and Mary’s Place decided to step and do more, heartbroken by having to turn away families at the end of the day. They turned to the faith community for help and together opened their first crisis response night shelter for women and children. With a rotation of 20 congregations participating, there was a place where a woman with children could find a safe place to sleep at night.

Soon after, Mary’s Place opened their first emergency family shelter in a building awaiting development at 4th and Bell, providing night shelter for 48 women and children. They went on to use several other vacant buildings before the first Mary's Place Family Center opened in North Seattle in a former bank building on loan from the City of Seattle in 2015.

In the spring of 2016, Mary's Place partnered with Amazon to turn an old Travelodge hotel on property they owned into a shelter for just over 200 family members, giving the organization a total of 400 beds each night. When that building was demolished to make way for a new headquarters building, Amazon converted a former Days Inn hotel they owned into a new shelter to replace it. This location was temporary, and Amazon announced they would build a permanent shelter for Mary’s Place into their new headquarters location that opened in early 2020.

Mary’s Place continues to grow. They have helped thousands of women and families move out of homelessness into more stable situations. Now across five emergency family shelters in King County, Mary’s Place keeps families together, inside, and safe when they have no place else to go, providing resources, housing and employment services, community, and hope. Each day, their team works with families to address barriers and empower parents to build family stability, secure housing, and prepare for employment. Mary’s Place provides safe, inclusive shelter and services that support women, children and families on their journey out of homelessness while working to address inequities caused by systemic racism, as seen in the inequities of health care, and systemic oppression that limits economic opportunity and sustains the wealth gap.

“Mary's Place believes that no child should sleep outside. Across five emergency family shelter locations in King County and a drop-in Women’s Day Center in downtown Seattle, we provide shelter and services for women, families and children who are experiencing homelessness,” said Hampton

She continued, “With the eviction moratorium looming, we know that hundreds of families will face eviction and are preparing to help them stay in their homes. If they lose their homes, our mobile outreach team meets families where they are with flexible funding to help them move quickly back into housing, or come into safe, shelter together.

The work that Mary’s Place does is made possible by the community that supports them. There are several ways to get involved with Mary’s Place, both as a volunteer and a to make a financial contribution.

Hampton explained, “Our Rapid Response Fund provides the flexible funding and resources to help families keep or find housing. You can donate at marysplaceseattle.org/ways-to-give. We have both virtual and in-person volunteer opportunities to help families with job and housing applications, practice English skills, help kids with homework, organize donations, and help with food service to name a few. You can see all the opportunities and sign up to volunteer at marysplaceseatte.org/volunteer. Right now we are getting ready for the holidays and our Giving Tree Tag program is a way for your group or company to help make the holidays bright for our families! Check out the options there at marysplaceseattle.org/givingtreetags.”

As an organization that works to support a diverse group of people, with women front and center, Hampton thinks it is incredibly important for teams like OL Reign to continue to use the platform they have to fight for change.

“It’s so important for our kids to see women in positions of leadership speaking out! We’re so proud of the amazing members of the OL Reign team and stand by them, Sinead and Mana, and all the NWSL players in their demands for accountability and change. We’re inspired by their courage and strength,” said Hampton.

“We are so honored to be here with OL Reign to represent the Mary's Place front line staff who are there every day, providing help and hope for these families, risking their own health and safety. We are so grateful to them and the work they do and are excited to have this opportunity to honor and thank them,” concluded Hampton.