Single mother Cassie was homeless and in fear for the safety of herself and her young children when she found Issaquah Community Services.

Cassie had escaped an abusive partner in South King County and was looking for a place she and her three children, 13, 11 and 4, could be out of harm’s way.

Issaquah Community Services came to Cassie’s rescue and helped her to get settled in a new home, far away from the man she was escaping.

“As a single mother with kids, my life has been founded on these agencies,” Cassie said of ICS and the other nonprofits that helped her in her time of need.

Cassie is currently studying criminal justice at Bellevue College and living off of the money she receives in grants. However, over the autumn Cassie had a medical problem that caused her to miss school and, as a result, lose her grant money. Cassie didn’t want to leave the Eastside and take her kids out of the region’s excellent schools, but she could see no way to pay for the extraordinarily high cost of living here.

But with the help of ICS, Cassie was able to stay and is now looking forward to starting the new quarter at Bellevue College in January.

“If it wasn’t for this agency … I would be homeless,” Cassie said.

Further problems arose when Cassie was pulled over for a routine traffic ticket in a nearby suburb. The police officer typed Cassie’s full name and address into his computer, not realizing that by entering her into the system, he was making her location available to the public — which could potentially include Cassie’s ex.

Now Cassie had to relocate so that her whereabouts would once again be a secret. Issaquah Community Services was once again there to help with the costs associated with moving so that she and her children could be safe.

“I am indebted to them,” Cassie said.

Merry Christmas Issaquah/Sammamish: How to help

Issaquah Community Services is a nonprofit organization serving individuals and families in Issaquah and Sammamish since 1973. Their annual fundraiser, The Merry Christmas Issaquah/Sammamish Fund, continues through the holiday season. This is the organization’s largest source of funds that go 100 percent back into the community to help your neighbors.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Issaquah Community Services by sending donations to Issaquah Community Services, P.O. Box 669, Issaquah, WA 98027.

You can also donate via PayPal at www.issaquahcommunityservices.org.

The names of the donors (but not amounts) are published in the Reporter (unless donors request anonymity).

Call Issaquah Community Services at 425-837-3125 for more information.

DONORS

Goal: $100,000

As of Dec. 20: $40,776

Fred Butler, Madge S. Winter, David and Patricia Adam, Gail Givan, Helene Moran Eberts, Shirley L. Foley, Janet Wall in memory of Ruth Morgan, Anonymous, Rob Ranf, Richard and Barbara Cheatham, Ronald and Shirley Koger, Suzanne Duncan, Connie Harris, Larry Franks, Katie Edwards, Gretchen Galer, Gerri Steele, Ann Crabtree, Phyllis Franklin, Ann Stieglitz, Judith Albrecht, April Lundell, Peggy Timmins, Sally Ann Dillon, Marianne Anderson, Melinda Hearsey, Ruth Long, Janet Thompson, Cindi Levenson, Marie Frauenheim, Leo Finnegan, Joan Hudiburg, Nancy Nersveen in memory of Robert Nersveen, Issaquah Highlands Connections, Helen and Lee Bergsma in memory of Joanne Bergsma Engle, Eastside Home Association, Robert and Wilma Taylor, Margaret and Dick Jacobs, Anonymous, Wren and Leigh Hudgins, Karen Lutz in memory of Bob Balsley, St Joseph Catholic Church Jesse Tree, David Short, Anonymous, Anonymous