Hal Miller has been camping in Discovery Park for nearly a week.
Miller, 60, was made homeless after the Greenwood explosion damaged his apartment building in addition to leveling three businesses on Greenwood Avenue, which stood just across the alleyway. Repair permits for the building, which housed 13 residents and Gorditos Healthy Mexican Food, were delayed more than three months. The building's owner, Shannon Hall, told The Stranger in a previous interview that the building would reopen in August.
After reading our story, DuPont, Wash. resident Crystal Leatherman set up a GoFundMe page to raise $4,000 to pay for an extended hotel until his building reopens next month.
Miller says he called numerous Seattle homeless shelters and local churches, but was still unable to find a place to stay. Rather than sleep on the streets, he decided to camp out in Discovery Park until he could figure something out, but currently, he says he is out of options. Miller is unable to work because of problems with his eyesight, so his only income is a monthly $660 disability check.
When we spoke to Leatherman, she said she was aware of how severely restrictive it is to live off of disability. Leatherman and her husband took in her sister, who has a physical disability and is unable to work, when she couldn't make ends meet with her meager income alone.
"I put my sister in [Hal's] situation," she said.
Having grown up "on the cusp of poverty" as a child in New Mexico, Leatherman said Miller's situation felt familiar to her. "That [experience], to me, is one of the most terrifying things," she said.
According to Leatherman, before moving to Washington, she had never seen such a dire homelessness crisis. Earlier this year, volunteers counted more than 4,500 homeless people living in King County. About 3,000 of them live in the Seattle area.
Leatherman says she knows that her fundraiser doesn't address the county-wide homelessness crisis. But she hopes that the money can help at least one person.
So far, the GoFundMe campaign, which is aiming to raise $4,000, hasn't received any donations. You can donate to the campaign here.
This post has been updated since publication.
