SKAGIT VALLEY HOSPITALITY HOUSE ASSOCIATION
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Mission Statement
The Skagit Friendship House, originally known as the Skagit Valley Hospitality House Association, opened 39 years ago as a one shelter home and kitchen to help feed and care for those in need. Today, our work as grown, allowing us to extend our outreach into the community and to help provide support to meet the needs of our mission statement, "To reflect the heart of God by feeding, sheltering, clothing, and healing to empower those in need.
About This Cause
The Skagit Valley Hospitality House Association dba Skagit Friendship House (SFH) opened 39 years ago. We are a 501c3 nonprofit who strives to provide high quality, compassionate housing to Skagit County’s unhoused population. The Skagit Friendship House operates two clean and sober emergency shelters: one specifically for women & children and a men's shelter. We also have three transitional homes: Oak House, Tenth St House, and Barbara’s House, in honor of a founding program leader and manager. All three transitional homes provide low-income, affordable, housing for program graduates, seniors, and those who are disabled with limited income. These transition homes are set up to help residents develop savings and build budgets to work and live in Skagit County. In addition to the housing assistance, we strive to help meet the basic needs of any member of the public. These services include: a clothing donation room, laundry facilities, showers, hygiene supplies, bus passes, sponsored by Skagit Transit, information and referral to other important resources in the community to help them. Dinner, at our commercial café, is always a hot meal, offered 365 days a year, and at no cost to the diners. It is located at; 108 Snoqualmie St., Mount Vernon, WA In 2022 we opened a low barrier shelter, Skagit First Step Center, focused on providing three meals each day, laundry, and shower facilities. They are also given access to resources and guidance toward the clean and sober path. This specialized facility is capable of housing 45 people in specially designed individual pallet homes, to include ADA pallet homes. In the months of December through March, this same shelter opens a Cold Weather Shelter, for those who are unhoused and in need of a place to sleep during the cold winter season, with an additional 28 cots and hot meals. They are also welcome to use the services listed above. The Skagit Friendship House has several meal programs, the café mentioned above and described in detail below, and our Lunch Van Program that provides bag lunches, distributed across from Carpet One and just east of Mr. T's Restaurant located in Mount Vernon, every day of the week. We have a fully developed commercial kitchen, the Skagit Friendship House Café, that provides training (know as the H2H program), three meals daily, seven days a week, and dinner is open to the public at no charge. We operate the only hot meal service in Skagit County. The Hunger to Hope Program (H2H) was started in April 2014, with community volunteer and financial support. Within H2H we launched our job training program, Hunger to Hope, in the Skagit Friendship House Café. The purpose of the program is to teach basic cooking and management skills to help residents and others who are disadvantaged, learn the necessary training for jobs in the food service industry. There is no charge for the training or the required uniform and training materials. In the beginning, H2H was offered only to Skagit Friendship House residents. In 2015, we formed a “Professional Advisory Group” of local food service professionals and educators, to advise the H2H program. Our Advisory Group recommended we expand our target audience for training to include those referred by partner organizations and agencies. Presently about half of our apprentices are or have been residents and half have been referred from outside the organization. Either way, the training and graduation rate has been very successful. The Professional Advisory Group continues to meet twice each year and has proven to be a tremendous asset to the program in terms of curriculum development, apprentice support and job placement. The H2H program is structured in classic apprenticeship fashion. Each participant has a set of skill sheets detailing the specific skills they must learn and demonstrate before our SFH Café Manager, Chef, and Instructor will validate their competence with his signature. The program is designed to be completed in 12 weeks with apprentices working approximately 25 hours each week, Tuesday through Friday. The Skagit Friendship House Café kitchen serves as their learning laboratory as apprentices assist in meal preparation, cleaning, dishwashing, inventory, and menu planning. Our current lead cook is an H2H graduate, who gained experience in restaurants and then was hired to help cook and grow our program! Apprentices are supported in obtaining a Washington State Food Handlers Card, certification is also provided in food safety, sanitation, and bloodborne pathogens, and completion of CPR and first aid training. Additional features of the program include field trips to participate in food service operations, the opportunity to learn green bean coffee roasting, skills in packaging coffee for sale, and the chance to practice their new skills at local community events including Project Homeless Connect and the Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market. Those that complete the training are celebrated with a “graduation”. Apprentices, their family members, Professional Advisory Group members, staff and Board Members are invited to enjoy a reception where the celebration includes the presentation of the H2H Certificate along with a memento of their learning and service to the homeless community. The program has been managed by the Hunger to Hope Program Coordinator, the position supported in part by your financial commitment in 2013 along with other generous contributions from the community into 2025. As we move forward in 2025, the goal for Hunger to Hope continues to provide food service training opportunities for homeless individuals seeking a path to a fresh start and others referred by our partner agencies and organizations including Goodwill Industries, Washington Vocational Services, and the Work First Program through Skagit Community Action. Each of these programs described above operates with the goal of helping our clients, our residents, and our students to create lives of self-sufficiency and abundance. Thank you for your time learning about our programs!