SEATTLE — Attached to one of Amazon’s downtown Seattle office buildings, in the heart of the tech giant’s headquarters campus, a new homeless shelter built by the company is now open and servicing people in need.
The Mary’s Place Family Center in The Regrade is an 8-floor, 63,000-square-foot facility with the capacity to serve 200 people per night and more than 1,000 family members per year. Mary’s Place, the non-profit that operates several shelters, and Amazon said that the shelter, which began accepting families in March, has been a critical option for those experiencing homelessness during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Photos: Washington’s largest family homeless shelter is in Amazon’s Seattle HQ
“This new shelter, opening when it did, has been our saving grace,” Marty Hartman, executive director of Mary’s Place, said in a news release. “It was our neighbors at Amazon who recognized what we needed before we ever realized it, and this space ensures we don’t have to return families to homelessness during this unprecedented and trying time.”