LYDIA PLACE | OFFICIAL MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | FEBRUARY 2021
CONTRIBUTOR CIRCLE
Attention Lydia Place Housing Heroes Monthly Contributors
You may update or change your credit card details via our Financial Manager, Judy Wayt at 360.671.7663 ext 2003 or by filling out an online donation form with your new credit card information here.
Thank you to the following Housing Heroes for committing to the work of Lydia Place by helping us end family homelessness with a monthly gift!
Afsheen Ali, Marissa Arbogast, Butch and Linda Arnold, Jeanne Baker, Tiffany Barnett, Matthew Barrow, Scott Barrow, Lindsey Bear, David James Beaumier, Judy M. Bell, Drew & Michael Betz, Katy Bonello, Brianna Brumbaugh, Michael and Mary Jane Brunt, Debbie Burgess, Rachel Lucy Cecka, Lisa Cerezo, Stephanie Charvat, Lisa N Chovil, Stephanie Christine, Karen & Richard Clark, Jennifer Cool, Mychel LeRae Cortese, Susan Costanzo, Sue Croft, Jayme and David Curley, Deb Currier, Shannon & Peter Day, Ana Luisa Dias, Cayla Dickens, Carey Ditton, Michelle Dohm, Danielle Elder, Kacia Emley, Pamela Eileen Englett, Graham Essex, Dixie Farthing, Jaime Alison Friedrich, Rachel Garcia, Kaitlyn Gerard, Sarah Jane Gielow, Deanna Marie Ginter, Jaylin Lee Godwin, Audrey Gravley and Bill McGinnis, Mindy and Alex Gravley, Lynn Giuliani, Greer W Hastings, Alycia Hawkins, Meredith Hayes, Roxanna Hayes, Lisa Heezen, Katie Herling, Natalie Hernandez, Stacy James, Alivia Jelinski & Matt Lesinski, Jennifer Johns, Amy Johnson, Hank Kastner, Misty Kemp, Bill Kern & Kay Caylor, Heather Dawn Lange, Tom Laughlin, Sonja Lee, Megan Liede, Kayla Litton, Abby Lollar, Nancy Long, RoseMarie Longmire, Becky Ludwig, Erin Lynch, Lynda Hinton Real Estate Inc, Katherine McDade, Kate McDonald, Megan C McGinty, Kathleen McQuaide, Heather Michel, Patti K Morgan, Marilyn Moullen, Tammie O'Dell, Traci Orr, Laura Ann Owens, Tierney Owens, Susan & Jeff Palmer, Deborah Parker, Pamela Parkhurst, Janne Potter, Ginina Pulcinella, Melanie S Pysden, Misty Kaye Rainwater, Beth Randall, Natalie Ransom and Ryan Wimberly, Steffany Raynes, Amanda Robins, Anna Rodriguez, Kathy and Marcus Rowe-Guthrie, Lyn Salazar, Suzannah & Tyler Schroeder, Allison Sculthorp, Bethany Smith, Jaretta Smith, Jessica Smith, Kathleen Smith, Jillene Snell, Delores Starcher, Sterling Rentals LLC, Lacey Stewart, Patricia McGuire Stigliani, Chara Stuart, Ryan Thramer, Pepper Tipton, Jeffery Tom, Peter Turner, Shawna Unger, Yvonne Vaughn, Trent John Vigor, Natalya Volchkova, Ruby Volker, Kerri Walker, Elizabeth Walukas, Sandra Weismeier, Chelsea Williams, Adrienne Wrightson, Tonya Yoder

Thank you the following neighbors who gave a one-time gift this month!
Babygreens Inc, Mary E Beamer, Blackbaud Giving Fund, The BP Foundation, Benjamin Burley, Judy Coglianese, Dawn Crum, James Dahlberg & Elsebet Lund, Amélie Despres, Timothy Dykstra, Brittany Ervin, Michelle Evans, Kirsty Fraser, Frontstream, Francie and Ken Gass, Jacob Gersick, Sally C Gibbs, Alex Gorman, Grace Lutheran, Michael Haberman, Diana Heiman, Molly Honcoop, Vicki Hood, Andrea Jordan, Patty E Keene, Laura Kritz, Kroger-Fred Meyer Fund, Marianna Lieberman, Brooke Masley, Mandy Mccoy, Amelia Midkiff, Merrie & Sean O'Meara, Ashleigh Poteat, RASMM 760, LLC, Joel & Suzanne Rautiola, Linda Read, Carol & Jeffrey Reppun, Resilience Fund of the Whatcom Community Foundation, Warren Sheay, Laura Shelton, Shirlee Bird Cafe, LLC, RoseMarie Slay, Matthew B Smiley, Elizabeth Snyder, Kara Van Metre, Samantha VanDeventer, Allison Vrbova, Sophia Whisnant, Myron & Paula Wlaznak

Lydia Place is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by the law. Scroll to the bottom of this email to learn how The CARES Act impacts your 2021 charitable giving.
We Launched a Mini-Series!
In How the Housing System Works, Executive Director, Emily O'Connor breaks down elements of Whatcom County's complex, and often confusing, housing system.

You can catch up on Episodes 1-3 on our social media channels via YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
We're Hiring!
We are looking for some amazing humans to join our dynamic team and to be apart of our vision of a compassionate community where everyone has a home and the opportunity to thrive.

In order to continue social distancing practices, we've established new hiring procedures to ensure future applicants and our team stay safe and healthy during the application process.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Event: Virtual Art For Housing
Saturday, May 8th | 6-7PM
As part of May's Mental Health Awareness Month, we invite you to join us virtually on Saturday, May 8th for our annual Art for Housing art auction and fundraiser benefiting Lydia Place programs and services.

This event kicks off our month-long campaign to help raise awareness about the impact homelessness has on a person's mental health and why advocating for more high-quality, affordable, and low-barrier mental health services is a crucial part of the journey towards long-term housing stability.

Tickets go on sale Monday, March 15th!

If you'd like to support this year's virtual art auction by becoming a 2021 Art for Housing event sponsor or by donating a piece of art, you can do so via our event website!
Please contact us at events@lydiaplace.org for all event-related questions and inquiries.
Community Advocate: Veritas Massage

Show some love to those around you AND your community by giving the gift of healing, wellness, and peace from Veritas Massage! 
As a Community Advocate for Lydia Place families, Veritas is offering 1% of their gross profit this quarter in a new give-back initiative called the Community Love Project! So in taking a minute to give the gift of self-care and/or invest in your own wellness in the coming months, you have an opportunity to simultaneously support hundreds of families in need.  
Check out their numerous treatment and massage options available at https://www.veritasmassage.com. Thank you for your work and an impactful commitment to creating a safe, healthy, and loving community Veritas! 

COMMUNITY CARES
Community Cares: Baby Greens

Thank you, Baby Greens! Your efforts to lift our community and offer 20% of your sales to support Lydia Place families generated over $300 for our programs and services. We couldn’t be more grateful, keep up the great work and bringing some much-needed plant therapy to homes near and far.
Community Cares: Bellingham Yoga Collective

The Bellingham Yoga Collective has us dreaming of the longer days and warmer temperatures to come with their Spring Equinox Retreat this March! Sign up today and give what you can for their in-studio and zoom sessions. Your intentional practice can benefit hundreds of Lydia Place families in need. 

All proceeds will go to Lydia Place.

For more information on the Spring Equinox Retreat please visit www.bellinghamyogacollective.com

Community Cares: Hearts for Housing

This February our community joined hearts and raised over $200,000 to support families experiencing homelessness in Whatcom County!

This is an incredible accomplishment, one that will allow Lydia Place to continue to respond to our most vulnerable neighbors in need and continue to advocate tenaciously for a more equitable Whatcom County.

From all of us at Lydia Place, thank you for making this work possible.
Along with our guests, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to our Hearts for Housing sponsors, our dedicated Lydia Place volunteers, board, and staff for the countless hours each and every one of you put in over the past few months to make this event a success. We simply could not have done this without you.
Read more about our out-of-this-world event!

(L-R) Random Acts Founder and Community Advocate, Misha Collins and Lydia Place Executive Director, Emily O'Connor co-host virtual Hearts [...]

Read more
lydiaplace.org
DONATION PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Thank You and Goodbye to Little Bugs   

This year and this pandemic have challenged local businesses in ways we could have never imagined. One of our key donation partnership locations, Little Bugs Children’s Consignment, was hit exceptionally hard during COVID-19 and had to announce their need to close this last week. So on behalf of Lydia Place, we want to extend a HUGE and heartfelt thank you to the Little Bugs team and all the amazing donors who were able to offer thousands of children’s items on behalf of Lydia Place to support this impactful partnership! Thank you for your service! 


Keep an eye out for updates on our donation partnership locations here https://lydiaplace.org/support
DONATE NEW/GENTLY USED ITEMS
Looking to donate your new or gently used items to Lydia Place? You can read about which items we are currently accepting and where to drop them off on our website at www.lydiaplace.org/support or by downloading our handy donation guide below.

Ongoing donation needs are also listed on Amazon!

At Lydia Place, we value our community and that means we shop local whenever possible. Due to our inability to accept most donations in-person, we've had to find alternative ways to continue to provide essential items to our families in need. One of the ways we're doing that is through Amazon Wishlists in order to limit person-to-person contact as much as possible.

These lists can also be used as a reference if you wish to shop locally. We just ask that if you aren't purchasing items from Amazon that they are mailed directly to Lydia Place. If you'd like to discuss on-going donation needs or delivery please contact us at joellepw@lydiaplace.org.

Don't forget you can support Lydia Place with each purchase you make on Amazon!
AmazonSmile in the Shopping App

You can now support your favorite charity through the Amazon app on your iPhone and Android Phones. By turning on the AmazonSmile feature, Amazon will donate 0.5% of all eligible purchases to Lydia Place every time you shop- no additional cost to you.

As of November 2020, AmazonSmile shoppers have generated $1,137.24 for Lydia Place programs and services!
WOMEN'S HISTORY & SOCIAL WORK MONTH
National Women's History Alliance's 2021 theme is
Valiant Women: Refusing to be Silenced
(An extended observation of last year's 19th Amendment centennial celebration)
Paving the Way
Women's History Milestones: A Timeline

Women's history is full of trailblazers in the fight for equality in the United States. From Abigail Adams imploring her husband to "remember the ladies" when envisioning a government for the American colonies, to suffragists like Susan B.

Read more
www.history.com
Accomplishments of Women of Color Need to Be a...

The fight for suffrage encompassed a much wider range of women than we might have studied in history class...

Read more
www.smithsonianmag.com
Women's History Month: A Book Every Day

In honor of Women's History Month, each day Social Justice Books is featuring a children's book we recommend to highlight grassroots women's history in the United States.

Read more
socialjusticebooks.org
Fighting for the Future
U.S. voting rights activist Stacey Abrams nominated for...

OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. voting rights activist and Democratic Party politician Stacey Abrams has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her work to promote nonviolent change via the ballot box, a Norwegian lawmaker said on Monday....

Read more
www.reuters.com
We should all be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |...

March 8th is International Women's Day. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie a renowned Nigerian novelist, named in the top 100 most influential people was bo...

Read more
www.youtube.com
2.5 Million Women Left the Work Force During the...

Harris Sees a ‘National Emergency.’ "In one year the pandemic has put decades of the progress we have collectively made for women workers at risk." WASHINGTON-Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday...

Read more
www.nytimes.com
National Association of Social Worker's 2021 theme is
Social Workers are Essential
Paving the Way
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Hull House, Chicago. Postcard by V. O. Hammon Pub. Co. #1877 (c. 1910) Public Domain, via Wikipedia
Jane Addams a.k.a The Mother of Social Work was a pioneering American social worker known for her progressive humanitarian efforts in the early 20th century. Her desire to improve the lives of others and her successes in advancing civic responsibility is part of her legacy. She is most known for founding the settlement house, Hull House, with her friend Ellen Starr. The home was the first of its kind in the U.S., providing educational programming, health services, libraries, and other resources to serve the underprivileged in the industrial districts of Chicago.

Most notable achievements include:
  • The first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1909.
  • The first honorary degree ever awarded to a woman by Yale University in 1910.
  • The First American woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
  • The First woman president of the National Conference of Social Work.
  • Hull House had grown to 13 buildings, and at its height, Hull House was visited each week by around two thousand people.

In addition to her social work, Addams is also known for being an advocate for peace and women’s rights. In January 1915, she became chair of the Women’s Peace Party, an American organization, and four months later became president of the International Congress of Women. On December 10, 1931, Addams became the first American woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Source: About Jane Addams. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2021, from https://www.hullhousemuseum.org/about-jane-addams

Advocacy Opportunity
This month we're bringing you two COVID-19 action opportunities you can participate in as little as 2-5 minutes each.

#1

#2
The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance is a powerful statewide coalition of diverse organizations and individuals working together to build and protect safe, healthy, affordable homes for everyone in Washington.

How the CARES Act Impacts Charitable Giving for 2021

New Deduction Available: Non-itemizer taxpayers can write off up to $300 per tax return (up to $600 for married couples filing jointly) in charitable cash contributions for 2021. This is available only to people who take the standard deduction, not for people who can itemize their deductions on Schedule A. It is an “above the line” deduction from income that will reduce a donor’s adjusted gross income (AGI), and thereby reduce taxable income.

This information is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results.