Until April 2020, household finances were stable, if sometimes paycheck-to-paycheck, for Brandy Jackson.
But that month, the elementary school instructional assistant came down with COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic before vaccines were available. Her case was moderately severe and kept her from her job at Seattle Public Schools for an extended stretch, but she had already depleted her paid sick time after a bout of illness that stretched from the previous November to January.
BELLEVUE — For years, whenever A.L. would plop down on the couch, at least one of her family’s five cats would come running, jumping up to stretch out next to her. Snuggling provided comfort in a volatile — and at times violent — home life. Though A.L. wanted to leave, she couldn’t fathom leaving her cats behind.
Tequila Jones is no stranger to hardship.
Her childhood memories were lost to a house fire. Injuries ended her college basketball career. She lost three brothers to gun violence. She’s battled depression and racism.
Akin helps kids by helping the adults who love them
Maria Arroyo’s deft fingers dance around the industrial sewing machine, each stitch fashioning a better life for her family.
A patch on a varsity jacket here, a few inches off a pair of jeans there, every garment represents independence, self-sufficiency and healing for the single mom of four.
WOODINVILLE — Like many 19-month-olds, Spencer Levitt dazzles.
Her toothy smile grows wide and her blue eyes twinkle as her dad nuzzles her head. One of her favorite places is in her mother’s arms. And her 4-year-old brother is her favorite person in the world.
Roina Areta-Uitualagi was at a barbershop with her two sons and then-6-month-old daughter Sylvia in Kent when a woman came up to her and asked how old her daughter was.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kae Hutchison felt the need to “dig in and help the community” when she came across The Seattle Times’ Fund for Those in Need. She’d donated to educational institutions in the past but wanted to directly support organizations in the Seattle area.
After three years of driving Linda Dee to her medical appointments across Seattle, Susan Cady has her system down: She dons a face mask, arrives at the medical clinic with enough time for check-in and keeps a blanket in the trunk in case her passenger gets cold.
When Shirley Mendez was 14, she moved in with a “complete stranger.”
It was her mother, who had left their hometown of Amatitlán, Guatemala, when Mendez was just a toddler, leaving her in the care of her grandmother.
Seattle nonprofit helps immigrants, refugees in King County
As a child of Mien refugees who fled from Laos to Thailand to escape persecution during the Laotian civil war, Keuan Saechao, 41, said she and her sister never had a chance to get an education.