A Better Place

Light a Fire 2018: Honoring Seattle's Best and Brightest Nonprofits and Volunteers

In the following pages, you’ll meet some of the city's most inspiring individuals and nonprofits. They light the fires that encourage others to follow. They make Seattle—and the world—a better place.

05/22/2018 By Seattle Met Staff

Light a Fire 2018: Most With the Least

At Facing Homelessness, Home Is Where the Hope Is

Rex Hohlbein left a successful career as an architect to educate local residents on the struggles of the region’s homeless population.

05/22/2018 By James Ross Gardner

Light a Fire 2018: Lifetime Achievement

King County Sexual Assault Resource Center’s Mary Ellen Stone Has Always Fought for Survivors

To Stone, getting involved in KCSARC was a no-brainer: “I’m going to make our world better for my nieces and my grandnieces.”

05/22/2018 By Hayat Norimine

Light a Fire 2018: Extraordinary Board Member

Rachel Prusynski Is a Catastrophe Survivor with a Mission

One minute she was visiting a college friend who worked for a children’s charity in Port-au-Prince; the next she was semiconscious, buried under rubble.

05/22/2018 By Allison Williams

Light a Fire 2018: Extraordinary Executive Director

Kimerly Rorschach Helps Keep SAM Out of the Red and Into the Infinity Mirrors

Rorschach brought a new vision to the museum at a critical point in time.

05/22/2018 By Stefan Milne

Light a Fire 2018: Game-Changing Action

How Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Stopped a One-Way Ticket to a Death Sentence

“There’s always been this overwhelming need...but then you have the Trump administration upping the ante.”

05/22/2018 By Hayat Norimine

Light a Fire 2018: Extraordinary Volunteer

Ted Neill Is Wise in the Ways of Recovery

Neill found his place at Recovery Cafe in 2015: "At closing time he stacks chairs and mops floors so staff can leave—he remembers nonprofit burnout."

05/22/2018 By Allison Williams

Light a Fire 2018: Emerging Leader

Meet Wing Luke’s People Connector, Christina Shimizu

“I’ve developed a language to learn about my identity—and about my heritage and the history of my family and community here.”

05/22/2018 By James Ross Gardner

Feature

Darren Berg on the Run: Inside the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in Washington State History

He owned yachts and sped around the country in Lear jets—spoils from the more than $100 million he bilked from investors—before he was convicted and sent away to serve an 18-year sentence in federal prison. Then, late last year, Darren Berg disappeared.

03/19/2018 By Ciara O'Rourke

Feature

Ricardo Rios Is an American Dreamer

In 1991, his parents carried him across the U.S. border at four months old. Now, as he awaits a permanent solution, Ricardo Rios fears expulsion from the only country he’s ever known.

02/15/2018 By Hayat Norimine

Fossil Fuels

Seattle Activist Who Shut Off Keystone Pipeline Sentenced to One Year in Prison

Michael Foster traveled to North Dakota in October 2016 to protest the pipeline by turning off one of the valves.

02/06/2018 By Hayat Norimine

Feature

Rape Survivors in Washington State Run Against a Ticking Clock

Most people sexually assaulted in Washington state have just three years to pursue criminal charges against their assailant. A bill to remove the statute of limitations would change that. Until then, survivors who seek justice are racing against time.

01/17/2018 By Hayat Norimine

Feature

How 'Real Change' Changes Lives

Some 300 people take to the Seattle streets and suburbs to sell Real Change, the weekly homelessness, poverty, and social justice newspaper. They endure wet weather, indifference, and rejection—lots of rejection. Here’s why they still press on.

11/20/2017 By Brooke Jarvis

Profile

Michael Foster Is Defiant

The Seattle climate activist who turned off the North Dakota Keystone Pipeline gave up his livelihood, his family, and quite possibly—after the upcoming trial—his next two decades of freedom. What drives someone to risk it all?

06/05/2017 By Kathryn Robinson Photography by Mike Kane

Housing and Homelessness

7 Big Takeaways from This Year's Homeless Count

The 116-page report outlined a number of important statistics that can inform the conversation around homelessness.

06/01/2017 By Hayat Norimine

Feature

The Secret Life of Urban Crows

…and why Seattle may be the Corvid Capital of the World.

05/17/2017 By James Ross Gardner

Feature

While in Custody: The Fight to Stop Jail Deaths in Washington State

When an inmate dies in Washington state, the question of who is to blame often goes unaddressed. Meet the families, and their lawyers, who want answers.

03/20/2017 By Ciara O'Rourke Photography by Mike Kane