Published May 2003

Cocoon House a haven
for homeless teen-agers

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

In Cocoon House, Snohomish County’s homeless teen-agers have a resource of their very own, whether they need a bed to sleep in, someone to turn to or a stable environment to start their life anew.

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Cocoon House, which is in the midst of a campaign to raise $3.6 million to expand services, has raised $1.4 million, said Executive Director Lee Trevithick, shown here with Development Director Petrina Lin outside Cocoon House’s transitional-housing facility.

The nonprofit agency, which began in 1991 as an eight-bed emergency shelter in Everett, has grown to include a 20-bed transitional housing facility; Teen Advocates, a program to connect homeless teens with youth services; and Project SAFE, a program aimed at helping parents who are experiencing difficulty with their teens.

Together, it’s a continuum of services providing support and guidance for troubled teens and their families — services that are increasingly in demand, said Executive Director Lee Trevithick.

In 2001, Cocoon House’s emergency shelter was used by 168 teens for a total of 1,824 bed-nights, a 26 percent increase from the year before. And the transitional housing pro-gram provided 5,179 bed-nights to 60 youths aged 14 to 17, offering mental health, drug and alcohol counseling; case management; and life-skills training.

But over the past couple of years, 150 teens have been turned away due to lack of space, an “unconscionable” act that helped catalyze Cocoon House to action, Trevithick said.

Last year, Cocoon House initiated the Building Dreams capital campaign, an effort to raise $3.6 million to buy two additional shelters to be located in east and north Snohomish County, renovate existing facilities, upgrade technology systems, develop new programs and expand the organization’s endowment fund to help sustain future operations.

Fund raising began in earnest in late summer, Development Director Petrina Lin said, and already $1.4 million has been raised, thanks to donations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which pledged $750,000; Washington Mutual Foundation and EverTrust Bank ($50,000 each); Fluke Foundation ($30,000); D. V. and Ida J. McEachern Charitable Trust ($40,000); Elizabeth A. Lynn Foundation ($5,000); Catherine Holmes Wilkins Foundation ($5,000); and South Everett Mukilteo Rotary Club ($5,000).

The campaign could reach its goal in the next 12 to 18 months, Lin said.

“I think we’ve just been pretty overwhelmed at the generosity,” Trevithick said. “In such tough economic times, it’s a vote of confidence in the services the agency provides and that these are kids that are salvageable.”

For more information, call 425-259-3342, send e-mail to capital.campaign@cocoonhouse.org or go online to www.cocoonhouse.org.

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