Andrea Suarez, right, founder of volunteer trash cleanup group We Heart Seattle, hugs Danielle in MacLean Park near Seattle’s Northeast Queen Anne Greenbelt on July 18, 2021. Danielle had been living in the park until Suarez helped her find housing. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
We Heart Seattle is an action-based, boots-on-the-ground movement that organizes trash cleanups in our public spaces and supports those in need. We recently reached significant milestones – 500,000+ pounds of trash removed from the city’s parks and public spaces and 100+ individuals helped off the streets. That’s 250 tons of trash along with more than 20,000 needles removed!
Thousands of people are fighting to survive outside often in cold, wet weather at a time when thousands of clean, warm, and hygienic indoor spaces are available in King County. Tragically, many people suffering in unhealthy, unsanitary conditions are dying. We Heart Seattle’s proven model of trash removal and individualized outreach, coupled with community engagement, has resulted in the restoration and maintenance of 30 parks across the city.
All of these accomplishments are thanks to our 300+ volunteers and dedicated second-chance work team. None of this would be possible without our generous donors and tireless volunteers. Together we are reinventing how to approach longstanding and seemingly insurmountable problems while disrupting the inertia that has long gripped our city. Join us!
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 12: In an aerial view, people collect garbage from a homeless encampment on March 12, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. The non profit We Heart Seattle staged the trash cleanup, using volunteers as well as homeless residents of the camp, which they paid with gift cards. The city government is currently working to remove such encampments from shared spaces throughout Seattle. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 12: Kevin Dahlgren comforts Andrea Suarez after her car was burglarized on March 12, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. Suarez’s non-profit, We Heart Seattle, was staging a trash clean-up at a homeless encampment when the incident happened. ber Andrew Lewis, the COVID-19 pandemic put undue pressure on the city’s shelter system and delayed funds for new housing, leading to an increase in homelessness. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 13: Andrea Suarez tries to talk a homeless man, 24, out of injecting methamphetamine on March 13, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. Widespread drug addiction is endemic in Seattle’s large homeless community, which the city is currently trying to move out from shared public spaces like sidewalks and parks. Suarez is the executive director of the non-profit We Heart Seattle, which stages trash cleanups, often at Seattle’s many homeless encampments. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 12: Kevin Dahlgren, a community health services advisor, assists a homeless woman who had been sleeping on a bench on March 12, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. Dahlgren gave the woman a ride to a homeless shelter. According to a recent report commissioned by Seattle Councilmember Andrew Lewis, the COVID-19 pandemic put undue pressure on the city’s shelter system and delayed funds for new housing, leading to an increase in homelessness. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Everyone is Welcome
Everyone is welcome here in what is a nonpartisan, constructive and positive coalition producing change Seattle desperately needs. Together we will cultivate a sense of community pride and ownership.
