At YouthCare, we are grateful for the support we receive from our steadfast community partners. As a way of honoring their essential contributions, we are excited to introduce our new annual Community Impact Honoree award. Last month, we were thrilled to announce our inaugural Community Impact Honoree as One Roof Foundation, Seattle Kraken, and Climate Pledge Arena.

“The Community Impact Honoree award recognizes those who are leading the way in action, advocacy, and community engagement to end youth homelessness. One Roof Foundation, the Seattle Kraken, and Climate Pledge Arena have stood out for their compassion and for their leadership in partnering with our team to end youth homelessness. We are thrilled to be able to show them just how much their support means to our youth.”

Degale Cooper, YouthCare CEO

One Roof Foundation, the Seattle Kraken, and Climate Pledge Arena support YouthCare by amplifying YouthCare’s message, supporting fundraising efforts, and creating youth job training, internships, and employment opportunities. Through these opportunities and more, they have been an inspiring moral support to our clients, mission, and staff – even featuring YouthCare’s work on the big screen during game days! See the video below for a look inside this impactful partnership.

Video by VIA Creatives

One exciting aspect of YouthCare’s partnership with the One Roof Foundation, Kraken, and Climate Pledge Arena is the annual YouthCare game night, which took place on October 27th. To kick off festivities, Chad Furstenwerth of Andersen Construction was recognized as this year’s Kraken Unity Fund Hero of the Deep. Nominated by our very own Jamie Rose, YouthCare’s Program Manager at YouthBuild, Chad was chosen for the award and was given $32,000 to donate to a nonprofit of his choice. Chad chose YouthCare and we couldn’t be more grateful to him, the Kraken, and Jamie Rose!

Chad and Degale pose with award check
Chad and Degale pose with award check

Next up Frank and Brisa, staff from our Casa program, got to ride the Zamboni down on the ice and our Casa clients in the audience went wild for them! Not to be outdone, the Kraken invited more staff down to participate in halftime games on the ice. Antonio, John, Melanie, and Lillian adventured down to brave the obstacle course full of cone-weaving, puck-hitting, and bean-bag throwing.

“This is something special and empowering that acknowledges the work we do. It can take a toll, but knowing that the work we’re doing is impacting our youth, and that everything we do is important to how successful our clients will be, it’s empowering to see that celebrated.”

Antonio Rodriguez, YouthCare staff

Full of fun and community, the evening’s game was a wonderful celebration of YouthCare’s partnership with One Roof Foundation, the Seattle Kraken, and Climate Pledge Arena. For our staff and clients, it was a chance to take some time out for fun and community while seeing the importance of their hard work lifted up in an inspiring way. We are so grateful for this impactful partnership, and we look forward to future game nights!