Friendship Place Selected by Amazon to Receive Matched Employee Contributions
Offer follows successful $1 million match campaign partnership to end and prevent homelessness for DC area families
Washington, DC, June 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
Friendship Place, a leader in developing innovative solutions to homelessness across the Washington region, has been selected by Amazon to receive matching contributions from Amazon employees throughout the country. Friendship Place, based in Washington, DC, is among 20 organizations participating in the $5 million employee match campaign, which runs through September 30, 2019.
“We are grateful to Amazon for this incredible opportunity to bring resources to support our work to end homelessness,” said Jean-Michel Giraud, President & CEO of Friendship Place. “Amazon employees have been engaged in our work both as volunteers and as donors. This is a creative and meaningful way to extend that relationship.”
The offer builds on Amazon’s continuing commitment to getting critically vulnerable people in our community off the streets and into supportive housing. In 2017, Friendship Place and Amazon announced their first partnership, in which Amazon offered to match up to $1 million in donations to the organization. Friendship Place met the match challenge and utilized the resource to end or prevent homelessness for 67 families encompassing 127 children and 91 adults. The average cost to secure housing for each family was $15,000.
In the following year, Amazon presented Friendship Place with an additional $300,000 to serve more families.
“We thank Amazon, and congratulate the other 19 organizations included in the match on their work to empower people in need to rebuild their lives,” said Giraud.
To read more about Amazon’s match, see here.
About Friendship Place
Friendship Place is a leader in the Washington, DC area in developing solutions to homelessness that have demonstrable results and a lasting impact. Using innovative, customized, person-focused programs, Friendship Place empowers participants to rebuild their lives, find homes, get jobs and reconnect with friends, family, and the community, permanently.
In 2018, Friendship Place led the way in ending and preventing homelessness in the DC region by securing housing for 1,640 individuals, including 572 children in families and 355 veterans. Across all of its programs, in 2018, Friendship Place served more than 3,700 individuals.
