Seattle must be the auction and benefit luncheon capital of the world. It seems to me that there is one almost every week, someplace, somewhere, casting out the net for support of a good cause. Building Changes joined this Seattle tradition some five years ago - and this year hit its stride as a gracious and polished host. The keynote speaker was actor and humanitarian Danny Glover. He was held up in Hollywood on production, so Glover arrived on the day of the event in typical Seattle rain, his mood perhaps matching the weather: a bit dreary. Though his start needed a Starbucks triple kick, Glover rose to the occasion with aplomb - leaving us with a vital notion, especially as it pertains to homelessness: We are the architects of our own rescue. Personally, after years of working on the design of my own spiritual inner home, I found this notion compelling. Building Changes is not an architect of rescue per se, but it is an architect of change, and as Glover astutely pointed out, systemic change.  

No quick fixes.

No building more shelters.

No housing first and services second.

Building Changes works to change the very nature of the lives homeless people face so that they can, in fact, BECOME the architects of their own rescue. I like that. We're on to something here at Building Changes, and over 500 guests in a brightly arrayed Convention Center room realized that as well. The Boeing Corporation and its funding arms also embraced systemic change as their representatives accepted the awards Building Changes gave them. Boeing gets it. They, like Building Changes, are committed to the long haul - to creating lasting solutions for the problems our state faces with some 20,000 homeless people on any given night.

Another highlight for me was the deeply moving poem by Julia K. Dinsmore, My Name is Not "Those People." Magically, during a structured yet interactive 75 minutes on a spring afternoon, withdrawing into this poem at my table drew me to the lives of those facing homelessness. I live with an income of $621 with $169 in food stamps for three kids. Rent is $585.... That leaves $36 dollars a month to live on. I am such a genius at surviving, I could balance the state budget in an hour. I am not the problem, but the solution.  And ... my name is not "Those People." Building Changes commissioned a video presentation of this poem (included as a program insert), as read by Danny Glover and imagined by Terrence Brown (a Building Changes Board member and videographer). The presentation also utilized photographs by Lynn Blodgett, from Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless. The end result was a creation that was no less than a miniature masterpiece of timing, words, media wizardry, and theater.

Art.

Art says so much about so many things... even something as beguiling and disturbing as homelessness.

One luncheon cannot ever be expected to raise all the funding needed to end homelessness. What it can do, however, is raise awareness, bring new people to the table of understanding, engage hearts as well as pocketbooks, invite reflection and nurture wisdom. Building change through investing in the architecture of service-enriched housing will not only ultimately rescue thousands of people - it will provide the tools these people need to nurture personal epiphanies. To become their own architects of change.

To be the solution.

Jim (at right) with one of his luncheon guests, Laird Patterson