(Photo taken this morning by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)

When it started to rain last week it seemed like Seattle had remembered the reputation it’s supposed to uphold. I heard from Josh that his gutters had overflowed and that his basement was flooded with a few inches of water, so Lexie, Aaron and I got to help him mop the floors for a little bit. It didn’t take much before all we could do was wait to see if cleaning the gutters had fixed the problem. Since nothing was really damaged the flooding was mostly an inconvenience and a reminder to clear the downspouts more often.

Later on that day we heard that Nickelsville was dealing with a little bit of flooding as well. Nickelsville was the tent city in south Seattle where we served a hot breakfast to 120 people for our service day in September, so we wished them the best in our hearts and privately wished that homelessness wasn’t something that people experienced. When we saw the pictures of tents floating away and residents standing in knee-high waters in what used to be their living areas and we heard that most of them had woken up that morning with a foot of water in their tent, we knew that silent prayers weren’t going to be enough this time.

On Tuesday afternoon, Pastor Randy ambushed me in the middle of studying for the final I had in two hours to say something along the lines of “We’re going to offer shelter to 75 people from Nickelsville in the Gym this week. Go ahead and figure all that out and let me know how it goes.” While surprising, I was excited to tackle what felt like an emergency relief project and I felt like I was in my element as we drafted the plan for how the big move would work. Five of us that met that night for two hours in the intern office (that had been converted into a war-room) and we were each willing to make the sacrifices over our Thanksgiving break in order to make this effort a reality; the challenge and the opportunity had motivated us into action.

Wednesday morning, about six hours before we expected the first refugee to arrive the next afternoon we got word that Nickelsville, while exceedingly grateful for our offer, no longer had a need to relocate. The news coverage they had gotten on Tuesday prompted several local businesses to donate enough sump pumps to the camp so that they could bail out the water, enabling them to construct the barriers and levies that would keep the water out.

We felt a collective sigh of relief at the news, knowing that we no longer had to do security patrols, supervise working parties, and deal with the neighbors that would certainly bristle at the prospect of 75 homeless people moving into their backyard. We didn’t expect that we would all feel a sense of loss at the missed opportunity, though; the opportunity for us to immediately and tangibly help 75 people with temporary shelter; the opportunity for us to meet our neighbors and to tell them our story, and get their assistance; the opportunity for us to work with the community at large in mobilizing and supplying the great exodus from Nickelsville to Phinney Ridge; the opportunity to join with Mosaic church as we displaced them from their regular space. It’s not very often that we have the chance to connect with so many people as we rally together for a cause.

Even though we never ended up having Nickelodeons (the term Nickelsville residents use to describe themselves) in our gym last week, as we go forward we’re going to build plans to be prepared for the next event. Our reach into the neighborhood will provide the means with which we can successfully carry out an operation like this, and be a light to those in need. The close call last week tempered my understanding of why we need to be connected to those around us.

I want to thank everyone who donated supplies to Nickelsville!!! We have a very generous congregation and I’ve gotten wonderful “thanks” from the leaders at Nickelsville.

Kirby White

Community Concierge