Last summer, Jan’s husband Adam was diagnosed with a heart condition that put his name on more medical bills than they thought possible. Money ran tight.

By the fall, their rent was past due for the third month in a row. “We knew what would happen if we couldn’t pay it this time—we’d be living in our car,” Jan said.

Their 9-year-old son Alex saw it too. “One day when it was raining, my dad kept telling me to finish my homework. But it was hard to concentrate. I knew they were talking about having to leave our house.”

Jan saw a poster at her kids’ school that changed everything. It said help was waiting for her at Neighborhood House, one of United Way of King County’s partners in homelessness prevention via keeping families stable.

A counselor there set Jan and Adam up on a payment plan for their medical bills. She also worked with their property manager to get rent covered for the next few months. As their savings replenished, so did their ability to manage Adam’s health.

It was a scary time for us. No parent wants to give their kids a memory of homelessness. Thanks to United Way’s strength in this community, we didn’t get to that point.

Each month, 3,000 people become newly homeless in the greater Seattle/King County area, like Jan and Adam almost did. But the crucial support they received from United Way and Neighborhood House—YOU can make that possible.

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