Amazon finds spot for homeless kids

Seriously ill can turn to state-of-art shelter

SEATTLE — After becoming homeless, Connie Wade realized she’d be missing something critical to care for her daughter.

She and Emilyanne, 12, couldn’t camp in a car or on the streets because they need to plug in a machine that helps the girl breathe easier. Emilyanne has Down syndrome, and her breathing is interrupted every six minutes without a CPAP device.

A typical open-space homeless shelter promised them a spot by an electrical outlet, but Wade felt they’d be too vulnerable.

Then they got an offer from Mary’s Place, a family homeless shelter that recently opened a facility inside a new building on Amazon’s Seattle campus. Believed to be the first homeless shelter built inside a corporate building in the U.S., the nonprofit’s Popsicle Place shelter program helps homeless children with life-threatening health conditions.

“Without Popsicle Place, these kids would die,” said Marty Hartman, executive director of Mary’s Place.

Amazon’s state-of-the-art, eight-story building allowed the unique program to triple its capacity. The $100 million commitment to the shelter is the tech giant’s single largest philanthropic contribution to its hometown.

Critics also say Amazon’s explosive growth over the past decade helped fuel a growing homelessness crisis in Seattle. The online retailer faced backlash two years ago after getting city leaders to rescind a tax on large companies that would have funded homeless services. That year, CEO Jeff Bezos — the world’s richest man — announced that his long-awaited, private charitable fund would tackle homelessness.

The City Council is on the cusp of approving a new payroll tax that again would collect money from big businesses to address homelessness, affordable housing and other priorities, including the pandemic.

John Schoettler, Amazon’s real estate chief who spearheaded the partnership with Mary’s Place, said the company isn’t totally opposed to taxes and called its new shelter “an initial step.” Amazon asked the nonprofit to help design the building because it has the space permanently, he said.

“Every inch of it was designed for the families they were going to serve,” Schoettler said.

Ted S. Warren The Associated Press Emilyanne Wade, 12, left, and her doll, Sophia, find care from Tricia Nora, a pediatric nurse practitioner, at Mary’s Place, a homeless shelter at Amazon’s Seattle campus.