GLA Day Center

With nearly 12,000 visits in 2024, the GLA Day Center hosts between 300 and 400 individuals accessing hygiene, food and other amenities each month, and gives our unsheltered community a place where they feel welcomed, safe, and have their basic needs met. The Day Center also allows our Enhanced Client Services team a dedicated space to build trust and rapport with our clients as we help them on the path to Permanent Supportive Housing and is a vital meeting location for many other King County homeless service providers to meet their clients in a warm and welcoming environment.

The emphasis at the Day Center is on radical hospitality – the practice of putting extraordinary effort into making people feel welcome. There are few places in our community where unsheltered neighbors feel wanted, so at the Day Center we go the extra mile to make our guests feel completely welcome. Our guests come to us first thing in the morning, just as they are. They can be soaking wet, freezing cold, or having gotten no sleep the night before. This wears on the body and spirit, so we work hard to let these neighbors know they are seen and wanted, which means everything from remembering how someone likes their coffee, making cupcakes for a guest’s birthday, and when we answer the door, it is always with a smile and a welcoming “good morning, friend.”

In a peaceful, custom-built facility with a home-like coffee shop and kitchen, guests are able to relax and “just be,” whether by relaxing with a hot cup of coffee, communing with friends in comfy chairs, or just enjoying the serenity from the chaos of life on the street. We typically serve over 50 individuals each day, principally from Lake City, Northgate, and other nearby areas, and currently with Tent City 4 nearby, the Day Center has never been busier! Often the only place clients can get a shower, use a phone, or receive mail, or reliably meet their friends and service providers, the Day Center is a touchstone for many in the community.