Matching grant doubles help available for Thurston County’s homeless children

Get a good night’s sleep, eat breakfast, come to school prepared with your homework done.

Success in school can be tough enough without those basics. And the 1,500 students in Thurston County, according to the 2014 homeless census, who don’t have a home find being successful much harder.

The Family Support Center is changing that, family by family, by providing money to help move into stable housing. And a matching grant proposal means their efforts could go twice as far.

Help Us Move In Inc. (HUMI) has created a $50,000 Homeless No More matching grant to boost the Family Support Center. As much as $100,000 could be available to help Thurston County children and their families get into a home. All donations received before Oct. 31 will be matched 100 percent up to $50,000. So far, the effort has raised more than $8,000, which leaves about $42,000 to go to maximize the grant.

For 14 years the Family Support Center has partnered with First Methodist Church of Olympia and HUMI to help 800 children and their parents enter homes.

“Deposits and move-in costs are (among) the hardest things to get through services,” HUMI executive director Sarah Scherer said. The group provides families with as much as $500 to help cover move-in costs, and can also authorize additional funds if something comes up — such as a car repair — that threatens to make the family homeless.

The Family Support Center has provided services in Olympia since 1992 and is the coordinated entry point for homeless families with children, according to a news release. The support center funds Pear Blossom Place, which has provided shelter for more than 175 children in the past year.

“This is a great opportunity to double the impact of every contribution,” Schelli Slaughter, executive director of the Family Support Center, said in a news release.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 8:36 AM with the headline "Matching grant doubles help available for Thurston County’s homeless children."