By Sarah Brenden
Covington Reporter

Hoping to break ground in the summer, Vine Maple Place is raising money to help build its new 15,000-square-foot facility, the Family Hope Center.

“The services are customized for each family to give them the tools they need to avoid homelessness in their future,” the release stated.

So far more than $3 million has been raised in initial fundraising efforts from gifts and pledges, Executive Director Michelle Frets said.

The Family Hope Center will be built on the .77 acre plot of land behind where Vine Maple Place is located, Frets said.

The goal is, she said, to open the doors to the new facility a year after breaking ground.

From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 13 at Tahoma High School, Vine Maple Place has scheduled a community celebration to raise money for the Family Hope Center.

Last year, Frets said Vine Maple Place helped 141 families, which equaled roughly 410 individuals.

Since 2000, Vine Maple Place has been helping single parents and their children who are facing homelessness.

And in 2012, they started helping those who may not be homeless yet but those who are also in danger of becoming homeless.

Located in Maple Valley, Vine Maple Place provides single parents with financial literacy training, employment and livable-wage development, housing case management, counseling and life skills development. Vine Maple Place also provides child and youth services, according to its website.

Aside from the training, Vine Maple Place has a number of duplexes where single families can stay for 30 to 60 days while they look for work and a place to stay.

Even after the families move out of the temporary housing on site, Vine Maple Place helps assist with rent, Frets said.

She added Vine Maple Place has a good relationship with a number of landlords around the area to help transition these families into their new housing.

The new Family Hope Center will be a resource center and will not include additional housing units for families.

Frets said the facility will provide the families with services to get back on their feet.

Vine Maple Place covers a 9-mile radius, Frets said.

A majority, roughly 40 percent, come from the Maple Valley and Covington area.

Twenty percent of families are from Kent, 15 percent from the Fairwood/Renton area and the remaining reach out to Vine Maple Place from Auburn, Hobart and Ravensdale.

The goal is to help end family homelessness, according to their website.

“We can solve this problem,” Frets said.

She added that in order for families to move forward, they have to feel safe.

Vine Maple Place works with families to help them grow and reunite as a unit, she added.

They work with families to “break the generational cycle,” she said.

Vine Maple Place is a last resort, she said, it is the last place people go.

They work with families who do not have their own support networks to turn to, and 92 percent of the families Vine Maple Place works with are still housed and working, Frets said.

Community members are welcome to donate online, Frets said, at vinemapleplace.org or during the community celebration in March.

Vine Maple Place is at 22815 SE 216th Way, Maple Valley.

The phone number is 425-432-2119.