Supporting Residents Through an Impossible Time

By Alanna, Resident Services Coordinator, Bellwether Housing

Hi. I’m a Resident Services Coordinator with Bellwether. I work with residents to support them in a lot of different ways, including securing rental assistance; finding affordable childcare; enrollment assistance for benefits such as SNAP, Orca Lift, and Medicaid/Medicare; and so much more. We also work hard to build partnerships with local organizations that help us to bring new skills to residents and to help build community.

The other side of our work is helping our community through crisis. We were able to partner with the Fire Department and International Community Health Service to bring COVID vaccine clinics to our residents, especially our most vulnerable seniors.

I also help connect families with swim lessons. Swim lessons are one piece of the puzzle of saving lives and building stability for families in our region. At Bellwether Housing, we put many pieces together by coupling housing with services to provide a strong foundation for our residents to grow, stabilize, rebuild, and thrive.

The pandemic truly put a lens on how important our services are for residents. Many of our residents had to navigate job loss and lack of childcare, and for many who live paycheck to paycheck, this was a huge blow to how their household’s progress. With the connections we made with the city and the federal COVID relief funding, we were able to help residents pay their rent, secure food, and get them the resources needed to get through what some would consider an impossible time.

Being a Resident Services Coordinator I can say has been some of the most rewarding work I have ever had the pleasure of doing. It is not always easy to let people into your lives, but our residents do just that. They let us know about the vulnerable parts of their lives, they let us intervene when they need us, and they us be a small part of their story.

After many years serving our residents, it is bittersweet to say that I am in transition to becoming a full-time birth and postpartum doula; where I will also be partnering with non-profits to do community doula work. Although, if I never came to Bellwether, I would never have known what it truly means to serve your community. This work is so much more than just providing resources, we are here to listen when someone is struggling, we are here to be a smiling face when someone needs it, and we are here to create solutions.

Please donate to Bellwether so we can create new homes and support residents. Creating permanent affordable housing is the way for us to tackle the puzzle of our region’s affordable housing crisis. Every dollar donated is one piece that will help ensure that people live in great neighborhoods, near job centers, parks, and great schools. Every dollar will ensure folks like Rachell and Maya get to be involved in solving this big puzzle and shaping our community’s future.

I want to thank everyone for supporting the Bellwether mission.