Were all in this together. Lets do this thing.
We’re all in this together. Let’s do this thing. Getty Images

Friends and neighbors! Last week we announced that we would match our reader contributions in digital ad credit for three local organizations to assist in their outreach during this strange and difficult time. Your generous contributions from last week have been paid forward to Northwest Harvest, El Centro de la Raza and SCIDpda to help them get their important messaging out.

This week, from April 6 to April 12, we will pay your kindness forward to three other organizations:

  • Bloodworks Northwest
  • YouthCare
  • Neighborhood Farmers Markets Association

    Please consider making a monthly or one-time contribution to help sustain our mission of keeping access free for everyone. We are putting your dollars to immediate use to keep you informed, entertained, distracted and not feel so socially-distanced from the city and each other.

    Find out more about how those organizations are supporting their communities during this crisis below:

    COVID-19’s emergence in our city and region has upended our daily lives and brought vast uncertainty and peril to our public health system. It’s so easy to feel like we’re at the virus’s whim, that there’s nothing we can do to help. That’s not true; you can donate blood. Leaders and public health officials agree – donating blood is a safe and essential action you can take during stay-home orders to support your community in this moment when it needs you the most. Patients need people to make donating blood a habit that will keep our community blood supply strong.

    Even during the coronavirus crisis, local hospitals are still treating patients for cancer, trauma, and transplants. Severely-ill COVID 19 patients need blood too.

    We’ve recently shifted to welcoming walk-ins to scheduled appointments only at our Donor Centers for safe social distancing and ensure a controlled experience at our centers for all donors and staff. There is no risk of contracting coronavirus from the donation process. Appointments and information for donors about coronavirus is available at bloodworksnw.org.

    Thanks to an unprecedented community support in the last several weeks, our blood supply is strong, for now. But blood is perishable – it’s just like the milk on your shelf. It’s important for people to pre-book a donation appointment in May and June to support the transfusion needs that are coming. So please, join the front lines in the fight against COVID-19 and pre-book your next few donations now. Arm-in-arm together, we can ensure our community gets through this crisis. So let’s do it.

    Never donated before? Check out this article by The Stranger’s own Nathalie Graham to find out what it’s like!

    Find out more about Bloodworks Northwest’s COVID-19 response here.

    YouthCare serves some of our community’s most vulnerable young people. We cannot shut down—even in dire times. Now, more than ever, young people experiencing homelessness need safety, shelter, food, and loving care. Right now, our priorities are twofold:

  • Providing essential, life-saving services to homeless youth. This includes providing 24/7 shelter, meals, and support to young people and operating an urgent food pantry.
    Mitigating the risk of exposure for young people, staff, and our community
  • No doubt, the fear is real. There are more questions than there are answers and plans keep shifting. Young people are anxious and already holding so much disruption in their lives. We are cautious about the costs and stamina it will take to get through this. At the same time, we are resolute. We will not quit on young people. Every member of the YouthCare team holds a passion for our mission and for the potential of every young person. They are doing heroic work on the frontlines every day in these uncertain times. But they can’t do it alone. Your support is vital in helping us care for homeless youth amidst this crisis.

    • Find out more about YouthCare’s COVID-19 response here.

    View this post on Instagram

    Farmers Rawley and Rebecca established Early Bird Farm in 2013. Operating in the Puyallup valley, they are conscious of the role they play preserving farmable land in an area that has undergone tremendous development in recent years. Their farm is an agroecology; “Our chickens rotate around the pasture in mobile coops, fertilizing the fields for the vegetables we grow. Many of these vegetables rely on our honeybees for pollination, and our berries, fruit trees, and flowers ensure that the bees have plenty of nectar all season long.” As responsible stewards of their farm ecosystem, Rebecca and Rawley take great care of their soil. Using cover crops and crop rotation management, they ensure the soil remains rich with nutrients. To top it all off, their barn is adorned with solar panels, so even their tools and equipment have a minimal environmental impact. You can typically find these incredible environmental stewards Sundays at the Capitol Hill Farmers Market starting in late March. Help support Early Bird Farm by signing up for a CSA share, or purchasing their eggs from Marlene’s Markets in Tacoma or Federal Way. – Check out the link in our bio to find a living list of market businesses and how you can directly support them! You’ll also find a link to our Good Farmer Fund, there to help farmers get back on their feet when markets return, and many other resources. – #WeGotThisWA #InThisTogether #WeLoveOurCommunity #YouGuysRock #WeveGotThis #NowMoreThanEver #SupportYourLocalFarmer #ShopLocal #SupportSmallBusinesses @earlybirdfarm

    A post shared by Neighborhood Farmers Markets (@seattlefarmersmkts) on

    Neighborhood Farmers Markets is committed to supporting and strengthening Washington’s small, sustainable family farms by operating seven farm and food only markets. While farmers markets are often social spaces, it is important not to confuse this as the primary purpose. We provide critical food access points within the city of Seattle, and with that, farmers markets are designated as an essential business. NFM is committed to re-opening safe, permitted farmers markets and implementing strict distancing, sanitation, and health measures at these community food access points.

    We have been working tirelessly with all levels at the city (SDOT, Health Dept, OED, etc), state (DOH, WSDA) and with other partners and stakeholders to address every logistical challenge and concern regarding operating safe farmers markets at this time. Farmers markets as you know them will be vastly different while we all work diligently to limit the spread of COVID in our community.
    Neighborhood Farmers Markets has also launched a fundraising campaign for The Good Farmer Fund, our existing grant program for farmers in times of crisis. We will be accepting applications and awarding multiple rounds of resiliency grants to farmers and vendors throughout the month of April in relation to lost sales and altered business plans because of market closures.

    Find out more about Neighborhood Farmers Markets COVID-19 response here.