Social Service Champions: Karen Tynes

Karen Tynes holds her NUHSA award

For the past decade, Karen has been active with St. Dunstan’s Church to bring people, resources and organizations together to mount a compassionate response to people's’ needs, particularly those living homeless. 

She is instrumental in the Congregation’s efforts to host a Tuesday evening Meal, which both feeds people at the Church and delivers meals to three tent encampments, and her leadership inspired the Church to host tent encampments (Tent City 3 and Camp United We Stand) six times.

She created and manages the Care Teams program, and both this year and last, Karen was one of the first to volunteer for the Shoreline Severe Weather Shelter. 

Karen was such a champion within her congregation that she led the effort to have St. Dunstan’s be the host this year. 

Karen’s work has resulted in expanded access to shelter, food and safety, and she brings a special combination of wisdom, generosity and compassion to all her work. 

In describing one of her earliest memories of volunteering at a shelter for women and children, she remembered a college professor who lost everything due to disease. 

She said, “That was my introduction to how thin the margin was between the homeless and myself…So when you say ‘homeless’ to me, I think of that dear lady.”

In December 2020, Karen was named the 2020 Westside Human Services Champion by NUHSA, who provided this article.

http://www.sdchp.org/

https://nuhsa.org/