Key Communications

January 30, 2024

Here We Come 2024!

We Heart Seattle has carried the momentum of 2023 into the new year, clearing 27,900 pounds of trash in January alone.

This record breaking month included our routine litter picks throughout the city along with two large community-wide events – one in West Seattle where we partnered with A Cleaner Alki and one off of Dexter Avenue North close to the Fremont Bridge where we partnered with Rotary District 5030. The collaborative litter pick with the Rotarians was particularly challenging given the steep muddy slopes (which the city avoids) and layers upon layers of years-old embedded debris. Ultimately, about 55 volunteers hauled out approximately 10,000 pounds of garbage, with dedicated smaller WHS teams set to return for final clearing.

While the group on that muddy Saturday was full of gratitude, the team couldn’t escape the harsh truth that a few weeks prior, We Heart Seattle had made a grim discovery – the remains of an individual who tragically perished in the woods.

Kaj Pedersen, Rotary International District 5030, 2023 – 24 District Governor, who participated in the January 20th event, commented: “The sad reality of benign neglect when it comes to mental health and homelessness is the grim reality of people dying. The work We Heart Seattle undertakes helps to remind us of the importance of community and looking to make a difference, even for those who are no longer with us. At least this unfortunate individual will be treated with some belated dignity through the team’s discovery of their remains.”

We welcome opportunities to collaborate with community groups like Rotary District 5030 – this amplifies our impact, brings together resources, expertise, and a shared commitment to community betterment. Reach out if your church, employer, sports team, etc. would like to schedule a community litter pick. High schoolers in need of volunteer hours should also reach out!

WHS Nominated for Denny Park Award

We Heart Seattle and Andrea Suarez were both honored to receive multiple nominations for the Denny Park Award. Here is the full list of winners and nominees (including We Heart Seattle partner, Friends of MacLean Park [Cindie Moulton]). At the awards ceremony, Parks Superintendent AP Diaz (pictured below) chatted with the very spirited We Heart Seattle attendees. We intend to follow up to remind him that We Heart Seattle has cleaned 31 named parks, 20 landmarks and hosted litter picks in every zip code in Seattle!

Individualized Outreach

We Heart Seattle continues our individualized outreach efforts, having now assisted 202 people off the streets and offered 32 individuals work opportunities through Uplift Northwest, with countless others provided stipends and gift cards as part of our clean-up model. During the recent deadly cold weather, We Heart Seattle was out daily (and nightly) conducting wellness checks and guiding individuals to warming shelters. See the King 5 coverage of this important work HERE.

Helping individuals navigate recovery resources is increasingly part of our day-to-day outreach work, particularly clean and sober housing and transition-to-work programs for people exiting treatment. One of these individuals, whom we have had the honor of helping over the course of several months, recently shared his experience:

I wanted to take a minute and write about how Andrea Suarez and Timothy Emerson have helped me change my life… so they found me in a homeless encampment…it was really dirty and they brought in a dumpster. I helped load the dumpster…wheelbarrow after wheel barrow of trash. Andrea said she would help me with weekend jobs helping her crew and it gave me something to look forward to…I would remember her or Tim coming to my tent early Saturday mornings and waking me up to go help…before I knew it I was actually staying a little more sober to be available on Saturdays… then the day came I went to treatment for drugs and alcohol… I got out of treatment and went to a clean and sober house… I ended up helping out on Saturdays and Sundays again. Clean and sober… after 4 months I relapsed for a weekend. I admitted the relapse to probation and to the clean and sober house and got put out on the street…I called Tim and said “Hey man if I’m on the street it won’t be long before I go right back to where you found me.” He said “we can’t have that you’ve been working too hard to let this get you down.” He called me back an hour later and said “I got you into a new clean and sober house with good people…they assisted with funding and here I am now…working full time for the last 6 weeks…I have 73 days clean. I ended up becoming the house manager for the clean and sober house I moved into and I am still attending SUD treatments weekly, I go to NA meetings daily and I finished my probation complete…I was released yesterday…I also bought a little truck.

We were inspired by DJ sharing the above testimonial on social media. He also discussed his recovery in an interview with MYNorthwest, highlighting, in particular, the dangerous variations of methamphetamine currently on the streets. Here are some photos of DJ cleaning the very area he used to live in and working alongside We Heart Seattle volunteers.

By the Numbers

We continue to meticulously track our metrics and are pleased to share our results:

1,113,700 pounds of trash removed
202 people assisted off the streets
326 trash events
1000+ volunteers
32 individuals accepted work opportunities through Uplift Northwest
12,000+ person hours logged
Over 25,000 needles removed from parks and green spaces
Thousands of followers and supporters on social media. Join the conversation!

We have closed our 2023 financial books and are happy to share where we landed in terms of donations and expenditures. As you can see, our grassroots effort continues with a significant amount of our funding coming from individual contributions.

We Heart Seattle was again awarded the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency – the highest level of recognition offered by Candid (formerly GuideStar) for an organization’s standards of transparency and accountability. Want to take a deep dive into our public financials? You can find our IRS filings here, with our 2023 IRS 990 form expected in Q2.

What’s Next?

We populate our calendar with litter picks on a rolling basis, often responding to community requests and prioritized needs. But go ahead and mark your calendars for an annual Valentine’s Day litter pick (location TBD) and a multi-day Earth Day series of events (April 19, 21, and 22).

On March 23rd, we plan to ditch our work boots and head to the historic Sandpoint Naval Air Station “Hangar 30” in Seattle’s Magnuson Park for the annual Big Taste. Choose what you want to taste from over 100 wines, beers, ciders, spirits, and nonalcoholic options from the Pacific Northwest. Event benefits go to We Heart Seattle along with Outdoors for All and the University Sunrise Rotary Fund. Get your tickets!

We are happy to report that five of the nine City Council members have joined We Heart Seattle volunteers in the field– in 2024, we are aiming for 100% engagement!

And last but certainly not least, remember that November 5th is election day! We will be active again with voter education and citizen engagement efforts. Let us know if you need a Voting is Your Super Power t-shirt (modeled below by WHS four-legged supporter Lupo), and if you’ve moved, don’t forget to update your voter registration.

April 15, 2022

Huge Milestones Reached with Big Plans Ahead

We Heart Seattle (WHS) 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, all thanks to our 300+ volunteers and dedicated second-chance work team. Our proven model of trash removal and individualized outreach, coupled with community engagement has also resulted in the restoration AND maintenance of 30 parks across the city.

How It Started and Where We’ve Come

Who would have dreamed that WHS founder and Executive Director Andrea Suarez’s decision in the fall of 2020 to start picking up trash in her Belltown neighborhood would spark a city-wide grassroots movement – one that would grow into an innovative, nimble, boots-on-the-ground organization making a visible and measurable impact on our wonderful city. Along the way, WHS is:

disrupting entrenched, ineffective systems,
saying “no more” to excuses, and
paving the way for citizen-led solutions to Seattle’s humanitarian and environmental crisis.

We Heart Seattle’s Impact is Grabbing Attention

We Heart Seattle’s unique model of civic engagement has attracted global attention. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and special correspondent for Getty Images John Moore recently joined the We Heart Seattle team in the field for several days. Moore’s stunning images (featured in The Guardian and Geek Wire) illustrate the degradation of our public green spaces but also showcase the power of our dedicated team.

Kevin Dahlgren’s New Leadership Role

We Heart Seattle is thrilled to announce Kevin Dahlgren is assuming the role of President of the organization, bringing 27 years of expertise in homelessness, social services/public health, and substance abuse counseling to our city. The remarkable documentary on Kevin’s success in helping bring Gresham, Oregon to functional zero for homeless is linked below along with Andrea and Kevin’s recent discussions with Mike Solan, national law enforcement expert and President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, on his Hold the Line podcast.

What’s Next?

Amidst the often-polarizing discourse in the city and across King County, We Heart Seattle remains laser-focused on its mission of making Seattle safer and more beautiful for all. And to sustain and scale that work, WHS needs to make a significant investment in its infrastructure.

Trusty BBQ tongs are our tools of the trade but to continue and increase our impact, WHS needs to build its infrastructure by adding an operations manager, additional drivers, volunteer coordinators, and dedicated case managers. We must also fund our basic needs stipend (gift card) program that empowers those living unhoused to join our clean-up efforts. Finally, WHS must fund our second-chance work team – individuals we hire through Uplift Northwest (formerly the Millionaire Club) to participate in our daily boots-on-the-ground team, many of whom have lived experience and welcome the experience with We Heart Seattle as a means of making their way back into the working environment.

None of this would be possible without YOU – 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.

Our heartfelt thanks for your unwavering support. Onward from here!

Andrea Suarez
Executive Director