Philanthropy

Many of us have walked along the street and have had to step around a prone body. We have no way of knowing if the person is alive or dead. Some of us look away. Others cannot look away. We care and want to help, but we don’t know what to do. The volunteers who participate in the outreach group called Sacred Encounters know what to do. Sacred Encounters serves those who are experiencing homelessness. Their mission ascribes to an act of faith: everyone deserves to be loved, even the most unlovable among us. 

In Maple Valley, Washington, a leafy suburban city southeast of Seattle, nine churches began working together at the beginning of this century when they detected a growing problem in their community: family homelessness.