‘There are a lot of hurting people in the community,’ but one house is providing hope

“From 2000 to 2007, there was a gradual increase in the level of people in need in the county. But in 2008 (as the Great Recession unfolded) our need to serve people doubled,” she says. “It has never gone back (to pre-2008 levels). The housing (price) situation is horrendous and eats up everything (with the costs of rent, utilities and food). There are a lot of hurting people in the community,” says Woolsey, who earned a degree in human services from Western Washington University.