The Center of Hope provides a day center and night shelter for homeless women and children along with support services to help the women find permanent housing. It is a model program run by REACH (Renton Ecumenical Council of Churches). My husband Dan volunteers regularly at the overnight shelter, and he is very impressed with the organization and the quality of services provided. Last week we visited the day center, where the women have a safe place to have meals, wash clothes and provide for their family’s needs.

For all nonprofits today, and I’m familiar with several, money is tight. A non-profit employee is always at the mercy of available finances; staff layoff is first and volunteers take up the slack. The priority is always to maintain services, and sometimes difficult, painful personnel decisions must be made.

I am not sure why Linda Smith felt the need to publicly accuse REACH of treating her unfairly at a recent city council meeting. It would be a shame for the Center of Hope to lose the support of many hard-working volunteers and the financial support from individual and institutional donors because of complaints made publicly by one former employee.

We are proud of the Center of Hope, the City of Renton and the churches of REACH who have forged a most unusual collaboration to help homeless women and children, one that is a model for other communities. Renton has a number of such collaborations which other cities envy. I trust we will continue to support such innovative programs that benefit our citizens.

Laura Clawson,
Renton