Announcements from the May 2025 meeting
- Urgent and longer-term needs:
- Renewal Food Bank expressed an urgent need for diapers to distribute. KidVantage (formerly Eastside Baby Corner) is struggling to provide them to those in need.
- The Sophia Way is having another Black Haircare Products drive in June. See their website for details on how to make in-kind donations.
- Upcoming events:
- Hopelink Farm Fresh Feast, Thursday, May 29th, 2025, @ 5:00pm, https://fundraise.hopelink.org/event/farm-fresh-feast-2025/e650674
- ARCH and Imagine Housing, “The Power of Faith-Owned Land for Affordable Housing,” June 2, 3-5 pm, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, 2650 148th Ave SE, Bellevue 98007. Register here.
- First Congregational Church in Bellevue will have a Pride Service on Sunday, June 9. “Sing, dance, speak, draw, submit photos, and connect with us to learn more.”
- Invitations:
- Issaquah Meals Program, every Monday to Friday, 5-6 pm, 180 E Sunset Way. Hot meals, no questions asked.
- Meet Your Muslim Neighbors, Weekly Open House, every Sunday 4-5 pm, Islamic Center of Eastside, 14700 Main Street, Bellevue 98007
- Tammy Waddell welcomes everyone and their congregations and organizations to participate in Nourishing Networks, a powerful community tool for sharing food and other essentials, “working together to feed each other.”
- Check the FAN website (fanwa.org) for options for action in the state legislature and in Congress.
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MAY 2025 PROGRAM
MAIN PRESENTATION: Developing Affordable Housing on the Eastside
A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH). ARCH is a partnership of the County and East King County Cities working to preserve and increase housing for low and moderate-income households in the region. Presentation by Sophie Glass, Government Affairs, Policy, and Communications Manager. Joined by Lindsay Masters, Executive Director.
SPOTLIGHT: Anything Helps. Anything Helps is on a mission to create and clear paths to stability for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Presenters: Mike Mathias, Executive Director; Mark Garrett, Board Chairman.
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MISSION STATEMENT
Members of Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council (“EISCC”) believe we are guided by the moving of God’s spirit in our community to work together in a spirit of caring and celebration. We honor and respect each other’s religious heritages, welcome and pray for each other, and share information about pressing community needs.
EISCC members represent dozens of Eastside congregations and meet monthly on the second Tuesdays at noon at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 4228 Factoria Blvd SE, Bellevue WA 98006. map and directions, with lunch provided. Currently meeting in person and via Zoom.
We provide a forum to educate, advocate, initiate, coordinate, and support through task forces and other means, to work for the common good, and to address human needs and improve the quality of life of the citizens living in the eastside communities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Renton, and Redmond.
Linda Hillesheim, EISCC board member, represents the eastside faith community on the board of Eastside Human Services Forum.
EISCC sponsors one sub-agency – Congregations for Kids, which provides school supplies for children in Bellevue schools. Three prior EISCC sub-agencies now operate independently: Congregations for the Homeless, and The Sophia way support homeless men, women and children on the eastside and also operate the Eastside Winter Shelters for men, and for women and children. Recently independent sub-agency Backpack Meals For Kids now aligned with Backpack Brigade. provides supplemental nutrition for Bellevue school children.
EISCC sponsors the Eastside Emergency Services Fund administered through Hopelink.
EISCC is an IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity, EIN 94-3036001.