The Runaround Has a Face

During an eviction crisis, Rosie called 211 — the number everyone tells you to call. She was referred from place to place, only to find limited assistance or none at all. She eventually connected with the Housing Justice Project, who stepped up to help. But the housing management refused to accept the payment. They gave her family exactly 30 days to leave. No flexibility. No compassion. No negotiation. And a threat of bad references if they weren't out in time.

She did everything right. The system still failed her.

That experience is not unique to Rosie. It happens every single day to people across Washington State who are doing everything they are supposed to do and still hitting walls.

When the System Fails the Most Vulnerable

The deepest wound came when Rosie spent months begging for help with her living situation — reaching out to every resource she could find. Instead of receiving support, she found herself in a CPS nightmare that tore her family apart. Her two youngest children, ages six months and two years, were removed from her care.

She got them back in about six months.

But the scars remain. Rosie and her children now live with PTSD as a direct result of a system that was supposed to protect them — and instead punished a mother for asking for help.

She does not tell this story for sympathy. She tells it because it is the story of thousands of families who are failed by systems that respond to crisis with investigation instead of support. And because she refuses to let it be only a wound. She is turning it into a foundation.

She Rebuilt. And Then She Built Something New.

Rosie has rebuilt her life more times than she can count. And every time she rebuilt, she carried with her a clearer vision of what should exist — what should have been there every time she reached out and found nothing.

She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church and the Church of Gnome. A proud member of the Satanic Temple — an organization she joined in 2020 when she feared losing access to life-saving healthcare as a woman. A feminist. Bisexual. A Native American woman. A writer. A photographer. A mother.

She ran for the Seattle School Board and the Kent City Council — because she believes that change happens at every level, and she is willing to show up at all of them.

She is a Parent Ambassador Alumni 2022 and a proud member of Phi Theta Kappa. She has served on an Early Childhood Head Start Policy Council. She has trained in policy and advocacy and has spent years championing change from the inside of the systems that once failed her.

She built Common Ground Community Table because she knows — from the inside — what people need when they are in crisis. Not another referral. Not another closed door. A table where they can finally sit down, be seen, and get real help.

She Rebuilt. And Then She Built Something New.

Rosie has rebuilt her life more times than she can count. And every time she rebuilt, she carried with her a clearer vision of what should exist — what should have been there every time she reached out and found nothing.

She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church and the Church of Gnome. A proud member of the Satanic Temple — an organization she joined in 2020 when she feared losing access to life-saving healthcare as a woman. A feminist. Bisexual. A Native American woman. A writer. A photographer. A mother.

She ran for the Seattle School Board and the Kent City Council — because she believes that change happens at every level, and she is willing to show up at all of them.

She is a Parent Ambassador Alumni 2022 and a proud member of Phi Theta Kappa. She has served on an Early Childhood Head Start Policy Council. She has trained in policy and advocacy and has spent years championing change from the inside of the systems that once failed her.

She built Common Ground Community Table because she knows — from the inside — what people need when they are in crisis. Not another referral. Not another closed door. A table where they can finally sit down, be seen, and get real help.