SEATTLE – When you step outside, you feel it. Right now, it’s dangerously cold outside, but at many shelters there’s not enough room inside, shelters like the Bread of Life Mission.

“We’re always full, we’re seeing longer lines, and we’re letting people stay a little longer each day, but there’s not enough beds in Seattle,” Kim Cook, President and CEO at Bread of Life Mission said. “It breaks my heart to turn people away.”

By the numbers:

Especially since the area has seen bitter cold temperatures the last few days and, according to the point-in-time count, more than 16,000 individuals experienced homelessness in King County on a single night in 2024.

“We really believe that people have an innate dignity, and it’s not okay for them to be out on the street,” Cook said.

Kim Cook, President and CEO at Bread of Life Mission

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She told FOX 13, they have up to 40 emergency beds in the chapel. Each person gets a shower and a warm meal, Cook said. They have another 110 beds for those who are part of their programs, but she wishes there was more they could do.

What’s next:

Which is why, on Wednesday, Bread of Life Mission partnered with 14 other rescue missions across the country for what’s being called ‘Conversations on a Bench.’ 

“I’m going to sit out on a bench out on the street for 24 hours and I’m just going to talk with people about homelessness,” Cook said.

The goal is to raise awareness of homelessness, addiction, and mental health and be livestreamed for 24 hours.

“I think no one person or government has the answer and if we don’t come together and have conversations around the issue, we’re never going to solve this,” Cook said. 

“I’m going to sit there for 24 hours and experience what it is to be out in the cold in Seattle, thankfully I have a bed to go home to after the event, but for many of the people we serve, they don’t have that.”

Part of the ‘Conversations on a Bench’ event will include Cook interviewing people from different organizations to really paint a picture of the homeless crisis here.

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