Warm Hearts to Directly Benefit Northwest Homeless Families
Warm Homes Designed as a Preventative Measure to Address the Cycle of Homelessness through Long-term Sustainable Housing
Columbia Bank announced the official launch of its fourth annual Warm Hearts Winter Drive to benefit families and individuals struggling with homelessness in the Pacific Northwest.
Columbia President and Chief Executive Officer Hadley Robbins commented, “Columbia Bank recognizes how the homelessness crisis impacts the entire Northwest, so we sought to implement a direct way for our employees and customers to help. In December 2015, we launched our first annual Warm Hearts Winter Drive to benefit homeless shelters in local communities across our footprint in the Northwest. The program rallied local communities to make cash donations and provide new warm winter wear for adults and children. Since its inception, more than half a million dollars and more than 25,000 warm winter items have been donated.”
This season, Columbia plans to raise $250,000 and more than 10,000 items of warm winter wear to support more than 50 local homeless shelters and aid organizations throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
“This year we will further our support of struggling families and individuals through a new, sister campaign called Warm Homes,” Robbins continued. “This one-time grant making initiative is designed to help people experiencing homelessness find opportunities for sustainable housing and break the cycle of poverty. $50,000 one-time grants are being made to four outstanding partner organizations – Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, Share, Shared Housing Services and Mary’s Place – that facilitate long-term housing solutions for those in need within our markets. We are deeply committed to helping reduce the numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the Northwest, particularly during the coldest and rainiest winter months.”
Columbia is donating $200,000 in one-time grants to support Warm Homes.
How to Help
Employees at all of Columbia Bank’s 150 branches are actively engaged in securing cash donations and new warm clothing from clients and community members. 100 percent of the clothing and funds collected during the Warm Hearts Winter Drive are donated directly to shelters and relief organizations in the communities where the collections originated. Among the list of over 60 benefiting organizations are the Portland Rescue Mission, Mary’s Place, Tacoma Rescue Mission, Eugene Mission and Bonner Homeless Transition in Idaho.
The Warm Hearts Winter Drive accepts cash donations in addition to new winter apparel. Donations can be submitted online at WarmHeartsWinterDrive.com, and both cash and new warm winter attire can be donated at every Columbia Bank branch across the Northwest. For more information on the list of benefiting organizations in each county, or to make a cash donation, please visit WarmHeartsWinterDrive.com.
Those interested in supporting the Warm Hearts campaign may contact 1-877-272-3678 for more information.
About Columbia
Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, Columbia Banking System, Inc. is the holding company of Columbia Bank, a Washington state-chartered full-service commercial bank with locations throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. For the 12th consecutive year, the bank was named in 2018 as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Washington’s Best Workplaces.” Columbia ranked 11th on the 2018 Forbes list of best banks. More information about Columbia can be found on its website at www.columbiabank.com.
