More on Tent City 3

By Patty Price

I feel like we live a very sheltered life, here in Shoreline, here in my own home. After getting acquainted with Tent City 3, all kinds of doors of information have opened and I am a bit overwhelmed.

Tent City 3 was opened in 2000, as a self-managed camp giving a temporary home to up to 100 people and operating mainly in the City of Seattle.

Tent City is part of Share/Wheel, a non-profit housing organization which is made up of two parts:

• SHARE (founded 1990): (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort) and is an organization of homeless and formerly homeless men and women working together to survive and solve homelessness.

• WHEEL (founded 1993): (Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League) is an organizing effort of homeless and formerly homeless women. I would suggest you go to their website and read. You will find all the information you could ever want.

The old Shoreline-LFP Enterprise published some excellent stories on Tent City 3. I recommend "Support Continues for Tent City 3" by Amy Daybert, published February 11, 2009, about Calvin Presbyterian and community support for Tent City. In the article "Former Tent City Resident Giving Back" by Amy Daybert, published February 3, 2009, former Tent City resident Glen Hair talks about his life after homelessness - his business, his home, and his civic involvement in the Lions Club.

"I want people to see that (Tent City residents) do go on and accomplish things like community service," Hair said. "Not everyone who leaves Tent City is forced to leave. Some leave so they can start giving back to their community. My life's not perfect right now but I am still trying to do what I can."