$6,810 raised by 35 donors
100% complete
$5,000 Goal
Kingston Cares is a volunteer-led, community-centered organization committed to alleviating food and housing insecurity in North Kitsap. Our incredible network of hardworking volunteers and organizational partners are the heart of Kingston Cares, allowing us to run with very little overhead-
your donor dollars go directly to funding impactful programs.
Severe Weather Shelter
Our first program, now hosted at the Village Green in Kingston, provides temporary overnight shelter, bedding, towels for showers and a hot dinner during inclement weather. Our trained network of 107 volunteers work around the clock to ensure all of our neighbors have access to a warm and safe space. With the Poulsbo Severe Weather Shelter recently closing, this 2024-2025 Winter is our busiest season to date, with 30 activation nights (so far) and more guests than ever before.
Food4Kids
Hundreds of Kingston Cares volunteers shop, pack and deliver balanced, easy-to-prepare meals to students across the North Kitsap School District in food insecure households during school breaks when they lose access to meals at school. Our meal boxes are filled with shelf stable groceries and fresh produce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the history of this program, we’ve been able to deliver meal boxes for every family who has requested support, and F4K has provided over 100,000 meals to kids and teens across our region.
Kingston Cares Community Meal
We partner with other local organizations to co-host a free (donation optional) meal at the Village Green on the Second Friday of every month at 5pm. Our hybrid model allows for guests to dine-in for social time and connection, or grab a to-go box, typically serving 120-180 meals each month.
Little Free Pantry
Located in downtown Kingston, our Little Free Pantry is available 24/7 and stocked weekly with non-perishable and healthy foods. Committed to a no-waste model, our Little Free Pantry receives overflow items from our Food4Kids program, as well as donated and purchased items that offer supplemental meal support when food banks aren’t an accessible option.
Upcoming Affordable Housing Developments
Kingston Cares is passionate about safeguarding and expanding affordable housing opportunities in North Kitsap. We meet monthly with the Kingston Affordable Housing Working Group to discuss advocacy for existing affordable housing and strategize future affordable developments. Recently, Kingston Cares received a significant donation that allowed us to purchase a single family home on a large lot adjacent to the Village Green. We are currently partnering with Kitsap nonprofit Homes of Compassion to rent this home to women and children in need of transitional housing while we are in the pre-development phase to transform the property into several units of permanent affordable housing.
Our story began in the toolshed of the community garden near what is now the Village Green in Kingston. One of our founding members, Jane Mack, was visiting the pea-patch with a friend when they noticed bedding and clothing belonging to a young couple who had moved into the toolshed for warmth and safe shelter. They were only two of many youths living in the woods surrounding the community garden without a permanent place to call home.
Highlighting the lack of affordable housing and accessible shelter for youth in our community, Jane heard a call to mobilize. Since that day over a decade ago, we’ve been rallying passionate community members to Care as an Action - creating a working circle of creative and hardworking volunteers to meet the immediate needs of our local children, young adults, seniors and any neighbor who is food or housing insecure.
This work would not be possible without the ongoing collaboration with numerous other local organizations including North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Greater Kingston Kiwanis, Kingston North Kitsap Rotary, Village Green, Coffee Oasis, United Way, Kitsap County, Kitsap Community Foundation and the sovereign nations of the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Suquamish, on whose ancestral lands we live and work throughout.
We invite you to join us on this rewarding journey
as a volunteer, collaborator or donor
growing our Circle of Care.
Your donation makes a huge impact on our local organization. As a volunteer-led nonprofit with very little administrative overhead, your donation goes directly to providing us with the power to care for our neighbors in the following ways:
>>> balanced, easy-to-prepare meal boxes delivered to hungry North Kitsap students during Spring, Summer and Winter break. We always include protein, fresh produce, healthy snacks, milk, 100% juice, and tasty, low-sugar options for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
>>> money support for our community partners who volunteer to cook our monthly Community Meal, so the cost of providing 120-180 meals is not a hindrance to participation
>>> nonperishable, nutritious food and hygiene items for our Little Free Pantry located in downtown Kingston, so our neighbors have access to food 24/7
>>> Severe Weather essentials such as cots, bedding, towels, socks, underwear and snacks for our guests. It’s important for us to provide clean, cozy bedding for our cots and fresh towels for guests to shower. Volunteers do all of the laundry at their own expense and in their own home!
>>> $10 breakfast vouchers. Our Severe Weather Shelter guests leave the Village Green by 6:30am, when the only place open in Kingston is McDonalds. These breakfast vouchers enable our guests to eat a hot breakfast and sit in a place to stay warm while it is still dark and cold outside after our Severe Weather Shelter closes.
If you don't have the means to donate, but are moved to be part of our amazing team, we hope you sign up with us as a volunteer through our website. While the needs might be big, no gift of time or money is too small. Thank you for being part of our Great Give!
Organization name
Kingston Cares
Tax id (EIN)
37-1792405
Categories
Basic Needs, Human Services, Youth Development
Geography Served
Poulsbo/North Kitsap
Annual Revenue
$100,000 - $499,999
BIPOC Serving
African American/Black, Asian or Asian American, Hispanic, Latino or Latinx, Native American or American Indian, Multiracial
Address
PO BOX 876