The Seattle area is a thriving tech hub with lots of people working remotely. Many are young and working out of their apartment or occasionally in a coffee shop. That’s changed work life for a large portion of the population in profound ways. “The thing I miss about...
Nick (Xunan) Li remembers as a young child wandering through a large field of peanuts on his grandfather’s farm in China. He loved the feel of the place - something he thinks of often now that he’s volunteering at the Seattle Community Farm. The farm in Seattle’s...
Sharon Salyer is our latest placement at North Helpline, a nonprofit that provides basic needs including food, housing and utility assistance. Sharon, a retired award-winning journalist who spent more than three decades at The Herald of Everett, is helping the agency...
Sumeet Pamma is one of those people powering change. He comes from an agricultural family that emigrated from Punjab, India, and when they landed in California in 1978 his parents resumed farming in their new country. "It's in our blood that we are farmers,” says...
Zheng Zhou has been volunteering with Companis while working on his Master of Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University. Zheng moved from Beijing, China for the master’s program and sought out Companis as a way to connect to the community and get hands-on...
It was a busy summer for Companis. In addition to a steady stream of volunteer professionals contacting us and conversations with nonprofits about positions that need to be filled, we also celebrated some of our partners who feed our neighbors. The “Companis Spotlight...
Gary Davis, Executive Director, Companis: “If we’re not fed and have good nutrition, there’s very little we can do. The people who are inspired to step up and feed their neighbors never ask for the spotlight. But we are sending them love because what they do is so...
Though Gretchen Frankenstein is happily employed full-time, she asked us if we thought there might be a way for her to share her skills as a grant researcher and writer with a Companis partner agency. Indeed, we quickly said, "yes!" Gretchen's day work is with the...
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in full force and people’s lives were upended, food insecurity spiked and many families didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. Food banks like the Tukwila Pantry saw a huge increase in people lining up for groceries....