ACRS eNews – June 2026
Summer is in full swing at ACRS, where generosity and shared responsibility are coming to life through community gatherings, new partnerships, and the everyday work of helping neighbors find food, connection, support, and opportunity.
ACRS is proud to share our 2025 Annual Report,
The Ongoing Journey from Safe Harbor to Solid Ground, now available on our website. Beautifully designed and deeply moving, this year’s report highlights the breadth of ACRS’s work: from food security and behavioral health to aging services, employment, citizenship, youth development, recovery services, and advocacy. It also brings that work to life through the people at the heart of ACRS: community members rebuilding stability, elders finding connection, young people growing in confidence, and families moving forward with support.In 2025, ACRS reached 43,478 people through services and advocacy, supported 16,677 individuals through our programs, and provided services in more than 40 staff languages.
From safe harbor to solid ground, the report reflects what ACRS makes possible every day: a place to land in moments of crisis, and the support to move forward with dignity.
Read the annual report
When ACRS managers and supervisors gathered for a daylong leadership retreat, they brought more than titles and teams into the room. Together, they represented 1,108 years of experience in health and human services, including 831 years of service to ACRS alone.
That depth of experience is part of what makes ACRS so deeply rooted in community. Across programs, languages, cultures, and generations, ACRS leaders carry the trust, relationships, and cultural understanding that help our work meet people where they are.
The retreat created space to connect, reflect, and strengthen shared leadership as ACRS continues responding to the needs of our communities.
Led by ACRS case managers Polu Masaniai and Lahaina Tusi, the group brings together 15 to 25 Samoan elders three times a month for prayer, food, singing, dancing, games, and talanoa — open conversation rooted in trust.
Together, members share stories, learn from one another, and support each other through conversations about family, faith, health, and aging far from familiar homelands. For Father’s Day, the group honored fathers and father figures over a shared meal, celebrating the wisdom and love passed down through generations.
ACRS is deeply grateful to Alaska Airlines for helping make this culturally rooted wellness space possible, supporting a program where elders can find connection, dignity, and care.
Thank you to everyone who walked, donated, volunteered, cheered us on from afar, or shared our mission. At a time when many people ACRS serves are facing deep uncertainty, seeing our community come together brought real strength and joy.
Together, we’ve raised $279,000 toward our $375,000 goal to help provide culturally familiar groceries, fresh produce, rice, and warm meals to families across King County.
The campaign closes June 30. If you feel inspired to give again — or share Walk for Rice with family, friends, or coworkers — every additional dollar helps provide food and care for a neighbor in need.
Donate by June 30
This month, we’re thrilled to celebrate Justice Beitzel as ACRS’s June Volunteer of the Month!
Justice has been a longtime ACRS supporter, helping build key partnerships, promoting ACRS services in the community, and serving on our Development Committee. She also shared her own
ACRS story in an ACRS video, reflecting on her citizenship journey and how ACRS supported her along the way.Most recently, Justice went above and beyond at Walk for Rice, capturing beautiful photos and videos and helping tell the story of the day through ACRS’s
social media channels. Thank you, Justice, for bringing so much creativity, generosity, and heart to ACRS!To learn more about what volunteers helped make possible in 2025, check out our full
volunteer infographic. And if you’re inspired to serve, explore our current volunteer opportunities.
The Seahawks brought their teamwork from the field to the farm!
Sixteen volunteers from the Seattle Seahawks organization, including rookie players Andre Fuller and Uso Seumalo, joined ACRS Food Bank staff at the ACRS Seattle Community Farm for a morning of weeding, shoveling soil, clearing vines, and caring for the farm.
Their morning of service helped strengthen the farm, grow fresh produce for the ACRS Food Bank, and nourish neighbors across King County. Thank you, Seahawks, for showing up with heart, teamwork, and care for our community — on the field and off.
ACRS was excited to join the Seafair Festival Summer Kickoff at Pier 62, where ACRS CEO Kendee Yamaguchi joined King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and other local leaders, Seafair partners, and community organizations to celebrate the start of Seattle’s summer season.
This year was especially meaningful: for the first time, Walk for Rice was included in Seafair’s summer schedule, bringing this longtime community tradition into one of Seattle’s signature summer celebrations.
ACRS is honored to receive a 2026 AARP Community Challenge grant to expand digital literacy training for older adults in King County.
Selected as one of 750 organizations nationwide, ACRS is part of a national effort to support quick-action projects that help make communities more livable for people of all ages, especially adults age 50 and older.
With this $15,000 grant, ACRS will help older adults build practical technology skills to stay connected, access resources, navigate everyday tasks, and participate more fully in their communities. We are especially grateful to AARP Washington for helping make this opportunity possible.
ACRS is grateful to QFC Quality Food Centers for its generous $5,000 donation to support the ACRS Food Bank.
This gift comes at an important time, as families across King County continue to face high food costs and financial pressure. QFC’s support will help ACRS provide nutritious, culturally familiar foods to community members who need them most.
Thank you to QFC and all our partners for helping ensure families can access food that nourishes the body, honors culture, and brings dignity and care to the table.
Thank you to Premera Blue Cross and University of Washington Athletics for supporting ACRS through the REFRESHER Challenge, a May campaign encouraging UW student-athletes to build healthy habits and reduce mental health stigma.
Throughout the challenge, UW student-athletes helped spotlight the importance of everyday well-being — from rest and movement to connection, helping others, and mental health.
At the end of the challenge, Premera Blue Cross donated $1,000 to ACRS in partnership with UW student-athletes Jadyn Holdenreid and Bodi Ligons, who served as team captains representing ACRS.
