Amazon headquarters opens homeless shelter

Amazon has built a homeless shelter on its Seattle campus. It will be run by Mary’s Place, a nonprofit organization that helps women or families with children who do not have a home to stand on their feet. About opening your blog on Instagram announced Jeff Bezos.

The shelter will be the largest in the state of Washington and will be able to serve 200 families in an area of ​​6 thousand square meters. In an eight-story glass building, each homeless family has its own separate room, and pets can be brought there. The kitchen of the new Mary’s Place space is designed for 600 thousand dishes a year. And the hygienic buildings are equipped with bathrooms, although most shelters in the US still have only showers.

Two floors are now reserved only for patients. There is also a clinic on site. Amazon promised to pay for the rental of premises and utilities of the shelter, “for the next 10 years – or until it is necessary.” These costs may amount to $ 2 million per od. In total, Amazon allocated $ 100 million for the construction and improvement of the shelter.

Mary’s Place will provide doctors, lawyers to its residents, help restore documents and create a resume. According to Marty Hartman, executive director of the organization, they plan to attract Amazon employees and invite them to volunteer – to give children coding lessons, read books, arrange birthdays for them, help adults in finding work or just chatting.

Mary’s Place opened two decades ago as a day center for single homeless women. She now has 10 shelters, not counting the new from Amazon. The organization is known for remodeling old buildings — a bank, sheriff’s office, or restaurant — and turning them into temporary housing for the homeless.

The shelter began placing families back in early March, at a critical time when coronavirus development began. The company says that they provided for everything, and separate rooms and public spaces are designed with social distance in mind, which will help prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Amazon Vice President John Shutler said in statement company blog:

We have been waiting for the opening of this homeless center at the heart of Seattle’s Amazon campus. When we started the construction of this complex, we could not even imagine that it would be so relevant, and that we would open it during a global pandemic.

Seattle is the third most homeless city in the United States after Los Angeles and New York. It is estimated that about 12,500 people live on the streets here.

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