SNOHOMISH — Melissa MacDonald is on the lookout for people in need.
She’s the head of Advocacy Change Thrive (ACT), a social enterprise program which helps guide people into housing, employment and recovery services.
ACT began last year. MacDonald said she’s helped about one dozen people so far from across the county. She helps who she finds.
Their stories are “a lot of starting over,” MacDonald said. One homeless man she got off the streets and helped find him a job. She helped another person relocate to Hawai’i.
Her tools are to help people apply for state housing programs to help get them stabilized.
Her next move is forming a nonprofit called Rise With Resilience to act as ACT’s fundraiser arm. ACT is a social enterprise which isn’t allowed to fundraise for itself, MacDonald said.
The money this organization collects would fill gaps to help people’s needs, MacDonald said. It may mean money to cover a client’s first, last and deposit to get someone a place to live. It could mean funding for a client’s medical tests as part of a recovery program.
As of last week, Rise With Resilience was still in the process of being recognized as an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit at the federal level. The IRS is working on the application, she said. MacDonald hopes to grow the program statewide.
The launch will be July 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Haywire Brewing, 738 Rainier St., Snohomish.
To help with Rise With Resilience organization, call 206-705-3165 or email RWResilience@gmail.com To reach ACT, call 360-348-7476.
