In gratitude for this congregation’s generous donations to Sacajawea since 2016, the organization invited Bill Johnston to attend Sacajawea’s annual meeting on June 22. Here are a few highlights:
- Tenants will move into the 13 units at Ain-dah-ing between July 4 and 18.
- Sacajawea staff will move into their new office in Ain-dah-ing on July 12.
- Tenants will move into the 12 units at 180 Ottawa Street North in September.
- All of the tenants at Ain-dah-ing and Ottawa Street will be adults experiencing homelessness.
- Those 25 units are being added to Sacajawea’s existing 47 units—18 single-family homes, six units at 272 Main West and 23 units at 18 West Avenue South.
- Those 47 units are occupied by 23 single-parent families, 3 two-parent families, 6 couples without children and 15 single adults. Twelve households receive their income from employment and the rest from various government or band programs.
- As it has grown, Sacajawea has also increased its staff. Sacajawea has recently added Office Support Worker Shayna Showell and Maintenance Worker Faith Johnson to the existing staff of Executive Director Melanie McAulay, Program Manager Miranda Rappazzo and Case Manager Lisa Pottruff. With staff handling most of the operations, Melanie is increasingly focused on new opportunities, including adding another 15 units in the old Pearl Company building on Stevens Street and 2 more on an adjacent site.
- Last December, Sacajawea created a strategic plan for the next three years that focuses on maintaining high quality administration, ensuring Sacajawea’s daily work is guided by cultural and traditional values, strengthening the organization’s capacity, and growing staff as the number of tenants increases. Hiring a second case manager is planned within a year.