Tent City 4 is returning to Redmond this Saturday at Redwood Family Church. For 90 days, 85 homeless residents will set up outside the church at 11500 Redmond Woodinville Road Northeast.
In February, I visited some residents when Tent City 4 was located at St. Jude Parish in Redmond.
It was an eye-opening experience, and the words of one resident still echo in my mind.
“As we all know, once you get knocked down, you’ve still got to pick yourself up and keep going. It’s how life is,” he told me. “It’s made me stronger and more confident. I already did it once, I can just do it again.”
I learned at St. Jude that a lot of the residents have jobs, but since they’ve come upon tough times, they’ve sought out Tent City 4 — a self-operated and self-governed, democratic society — for a place to rest their head for the night.
When they’re not working, they watch TV in the common area and check their email on the shared computer. For those out of work, they scour the job listings on Internet sites, hoping for something to come through for them. Their kitchen contains food that is donated by community members, and of course there are the meals that the church often provides.
It’s a pretty intense place to visit, but I also experienced a sense of calm while visiting the residents. The residents had hope in their eyes and in their voices that things will go well for them.
Sponsored by 501(c)(3) organizations Seattle Housing and Resources Effort (SHARE) and Women’s Housing Equality and Enhancement League (WHEEL), Tent City 4 will move from Kirkland Congregational Church on Saturday.
Redwood’s lead pastor Todd Puckett said this will be the first time Tent City 4 comes to his church. He noted that some of the residents attend services there.
“We feel as a church, our goal is to love people in the name of Jesus. We see this as a great opportunity to help them out,” Puckett said.
Members of Skyline High School’s 4A championship football team of Sammamish will lend a hand with the move from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to it, it’s always good to help out. It makes you feel good about yourself,” said Spartan player Grant Evans. He added that it’s important to give back to people in the community.
Grant’s mom, Susan, said that Spartan coach Mat Taylor “encourages community service for team building and to help inspire the next generation of leaders to practice service to others regularly.”
Susan brought the Tent City 4 idea to the table since she works with International Smile Power, which provides dental outreach for Camp Unity and Tent City 4.
“What I love about this project is that they get to work side by side next to people who live a lot differently than they do,” she said.
She added that the Spartans are a pretty focused football team. They’ll definitely be giving it their all on Saturday.
Volunteers are welcome to help with this weekend’s move. Call the Tent City 4 front desk at (206) 618-3901 to get details on the move or to donate items.
