Our Story

Long before AngelPaks became a formal nonprofit corporation on January 1, 2015 our

team, individually and collectively, worked to improve the lives of at-risk adults and

children. These efforts focused primarily on preparing and serving community meals to

homeless indivduals and families in many locations in the Puget Sound area. Grady, our founder, worked as a volunteer for 8 years at Childhaven, a long established therapeutic chilcare center for abused and neglected children in Seattle. This involved every aspect of hanging out with 2 to 4 year olds; playing outdoors, planting and harvesting gardens, building blocks, story-telling, singing songs and sharing meals around tables with miniature size chairs.

The birth of the AngelPaks idea occurred in the course of planning, preparing and delivering meals for women and kids in the “Extreme Weather Women’s Shelters” on the Eastside. The focus was on dinners for between 30 and 40 people. During 2014 the numbers rose to well over 50 and it reached the point that the logistics to prepare and transport food to different church locations became very difficult. As we struggled to find a way to stay actively involved in this chosen ministry, we zeroed in on the various ways we had always provided special treats and goodies for the kids. The idea to focus exclusively on the kids, who ranged in age from toddlers to teenagers, was born. We would now be able to expand our services to a growing number of shelters in our community.

Snuggle Packs delivered to 3, 4 and 5 years olds at Childhaven

Thanksgiving Delivery to the Eastside Women's Shelter

We started by taking large tubs of toys, crafts, snacks, blankets and stuffed animals to the shelters and either handing them out ourselves or leaving this joyful task to the directors and supervisors of the shelter. Soon it became obvious that, while the kids loved the whole variety of “surprises” and “treasures,” they typically had no way to take ownership of them. There was always a significant lack of storage space and the kids could only take so much in their pockets. So the obvious next step was to provide backpacks for all of the kids and let them select whatever they chose from a variety of items.

We are at the present time working with several backpack manufacturers to determine how we can procure the best quality packs at the best volume discount. We are also working with emblem manufacturers so that the kids can personalize their packs with iron-on initials (no full names for safety reasons). We hope to be ready for delivery by the end of the summer for the year-round shelters and be a well-oiled machine by the time winter brings out the highest numbers of those seeking shelter.

It does “take a village to take care of our children” and we would love for you to be part of our AngelPaks Village in whatever way your heart calls you. Please give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you! grady@angelpaks.com

Heat Shirts and Beanie Caps were favorites for the teenagers