Health

Our Goals
United Way of Thurston County aims to increase the health, wellness and safety of Thurston County residents.

Our Strategies
We fund Health programs that increase access to medical, dental and mental health and prevention services and also reduce hunger and food insecurity. Our funded programs are providing access to food and hygiene items through food banks and feeding programs, access to mental health services, support for seniors and access to health services for those with HIV/AIDS and other health resources. 

How You Can Help
Last year our donors helped provide 434,000 meals for hungry people in Thurston county and helped educate 1,539 mothers on nutrition and safety. Your donation to United Way of Thurston County’s Community Care fund helps us to continue funding these valuable programs. Please donate and help us continue this good work.

Investments in Health: $180,100 in 2012-14

Catholic Community Services: Volunteer Chore Services
Volunteer Chore Services is an organization of dedicated volunteers. These volunteers assist low-income elderly and disabled adults to remain independent in their homes. They do this by providing assistance with home maintenance, domestic assistance and transportation to essential services. Volunteers go into the clients’ homes and perform household chores that have become too difficult for the clients to manage, along with providing needed transportation to medical appointments and services.

Community Action Council: Monarch Children’s Justice & Advocacy
Monarch brings a multi-disciplinary approach to the prevention, investigation, and treatment of child abuse, criminal child neglect, and child fatalities. Monarch is a place where trauma stops and where children feel safe enough to get the help they need to end abuse, and begins the road to healing. This multi-agency intervention strives to create and maintain avenues for healing, stabilization, and self-sufficiency.

Community Youth Services: Haven House and Rosie’s Place
Haven House is an emergency shelter that supports the physical and emotional health, safety, and security of runaway and homeless youth. It is a co-educational, crisis residential center for youth 12-17 and open 24 hours 7 days a week. Geared for short-term placements in a homelike and comfortable environment, the Haven House program works to assist youth in returning to their homes, or when that is not an option, to find other suitable housing. Residents can remain at Haven House for up to thirty days.

Rosie's Place is a drop-in resource and day center for homeless youth in crisis. Youth are provided with food, clothing, survival supplies, shower vouchers, hygiene products, counseling, and emotional support. They meet with case managers to develop employment and educational goals. In addition, Rosie's Place staff work collaboratively with numerous community partners to address a wide range of mental, behavioral, and sexual health issues. Services include child abuse prevention counseling, aggression control and anger management, sexual violence education and treatment, STD screening, substance abuse treatment, and management of co-existing disorders.

GRuB: Kitchen Garden Project
The Kitchen Garden Project increases the health of low-income residents by reducing hunger and food insecurity and increasing nutrition. Since families are able to grow their own food, this decreases dependency on the food bank and other programs. The program involves building free gardens for families living below 185% of the poverty level. These gardens provide ongoing recreation and wellness for families as they increase their dignity by being self-sufficient and increase their overall health through the activity, family bonding, and superior nutrition.

Hands On Children’s Museum: Support Group Program
Through the Support Group Program women and children living with domestic violence have the opportunity to build community, and to learn and heal while giving their children a safe, fun and educational experience. This opportunity helps children do better in school and reduces behavior issues that often occur in children who experience violence in the home. The program represents a model partnership between community organizations because it encourages women experiencing domestic violence to seek the support services they need in the Museum’s non-stigmatized setting, while also providing their children with free access to engaging and safe education-based childcare. Here, participants build lasting community connections that enable them to build a bridge to a better life.

Olympia Free Clinic
The Olympia Free Clinic exists so that low-income, uninsured people in Thurston County have access to cost-effective, quality, acute health care and the linkages to appropriate community resources.

Union Gospel Mission: Maintaining the Safety Net
The Olympia Union Gospel Mission is an evangelical Christian rescue mission, serving the greater Olympia area to share the good news of life in Jesus Christ by meeting the physical, mental and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis. The Mission addresses the physical needs of low income residents of Thurston County for health care through three primary services: emergent dental care, primary medical care for chronic diseases, and vision examinations and glasses. The Mission owns the facilities and provides support staff while all professional services are provided by 125 volunteer health care professionals

Senior Services for South Sound: Meals on Wheels and STARS Adult Day Care
The Meals on Wheels Senior Nutrition Program provides home-bound seniors with nutritious hot and frozen meals, milk, and bread 5-7 days a week. Seniors who are unable to eat solid food receive high protein liquid meal supplements. Isolated seniors also receive emergency supplies of shelf stable groceries. Seniors are 60 years or older and unable to leave home without considerable assistance. Nearly all are at high nutritional risk and at or below the poverty level.

STARS Adult Day Program offers supervised therapeutic activities in a group setting to seniors with Alzheimer’s, developmental disabilities, or physical disabilities along with their caregivers. The program has grown over 27 years to serve over 250 participants annually. Extended hours respite care is also offered for family caregivers to allow employed family caregivers to remain in the workforce. Specialized caregiver training is also provided.

Thurston County Food Bank: Food Bank Cooperative
The Thurston County Food Bank Collaborative includes the food banks in Olympia, Rochester and Yelm. Collectively they provide nutritious food to hungry families. Services include three day emergency food bags, commodities surplus foods distribution, food voucher referrals, and Basic Food Program application assistance. The target population is low-income families without the resources to purchase the food they need. Services are tailored to meet the needs of the homeless population, those with culturally specific food needs, any special dietary needs (diabetics, vegetarians) and the needs of women with children, particularly new mothers.

Back to top