Roots Worth Tending

Draft for review. Already known, no need to report: the logo isn't in yet, the yellow note further down is a reminder to me, and nothing on this site can take payment. Worth reporting: anything that looks broken or cut off, and anything that makes this feel less than trustworthy.

Roots Worth Tending

Everett, Washington

Fresh socks are basically gold.

At a Seattle bus stop, a man next to me wrung out his socks, put them in his bag, and pulled on a dry pair. We said nothing. But I learned something that day, and it stayed with me.

That winter I put together 24 backpacks for people living outside in Everett — practical warmth, hygiene, and a few things that just make a day easier. Bought one item at a time, with everyone's help, and handed out in a church parking lot in November.

This winter it's 96.

Roots Worth Tending — community support that builds autonomy. We invest in roots — capacity, dignity — until life's hard moments don't block people from helping.

Running now

One campaign is open at a time. When it closes, it moves to the record below and the next one opens.

Open for funding

Winter bags, 2026

Ninety-six identical bags of cold-weather and foot-care supplies, assembled and handed out before the wet months. Bought in bulk cases, funded one item at a time.

Bags
96
Items listed
7
Raised
$0.00
See the manifest and fund an item

Built for dignity first

Every item has to earn its place twice — once for being useful, and once for how it lands when someone opens the bag.

  1. The wipes are unscented

    All of them. A bag shouldn't announce itself across a room, and nobody should be identifiable by what they were given.

  2. A discreet zip bag and a disposal bag

    Managing a body outdoors shouldn't require an audience. These two cost almost nothing and they change what a day feels like.

  3. Menstrual supplies past the token three pads

    The first list carried three. It got upgraded mid-drive to a full-cycle set, because half a solution isn't one.

  4. A pen, a notepad, and a printed resource sheet

    Supplies for a person with plans, appointments and phone numbers to keep — not just a body to keep warm.

  5. Everything is new

    Bought in sealed cases, nothing handed down, nothing anyone else finished with first.

The point was never the socks. It's that somebody opens a bag and can tell it was packed by a person who thought about them — which is not a common experience when you're living outside.

How it works

Last winter the promise was that I'd post screenshots of every purchase and a running total. This page is that promise, built properly — the numbers update themselves and nobody has to take my word for it.

  1. Every item is priced in public before it's asked for

    Find the supplier, check the case is actually in stock and purchasable, publish the case size, the unit price and the link. The arithmetic sits on the page so you can redo it.

  2. People fund the item they care about, in any amount

    Items are bought as whole cases, so an item is either funded or it isn't. You can cover the whole thing or five dollars of it. Progress is live — your contribution shows up in the number the moment it lands.

  3. Funded items get bought, in list order, and closed out

    Once an item reaches its price it stops taking money and gets ordered. The list is worked from the top down. If a contribution overshoots the last few dollars of an item, it moves to the next unfunded item — or you can ask for it back. You choose which at checkout.

  4. The finished campaign stays up

    Closed campaigns keep their page, with what was bought and what it cost. The record is the point — it's how you tell whether the last one actually happened.

What we've done

Two winters of supply drives, and a benefit auction along the way.

The Backpack Project

Winter 2025 · delivered

The first drive. A forty-five item list, one item per bag unless noted — two pairs of water-resistant socks, a rain poncho, a beanie, a mylar blanket, hygiene, first aid, food, a flashlight, a notepad and a printed local resource sheet. The target was to have everything ordered by November 10th. It was ordered inside a week.

The finished bags were handed out on November 14th in the back parking lot of Vision Church Full Circle Ministry on California Street.

Backpacks
24
Items per bag
45
Ordering time
<1 wk

Needs from you: total raised, and confirmation the count was 24 — I read that off your line about extras beyond 24 rolling into the next run.

Local Bids & Brews

June 2026 · completed

A benefit auction at Haywire Brewing Co., raising money for Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County. Lots were solicited from local businesses and makers. A separate effort from the supply drives — the same idea about getting a town involved in itself.

Raised
$2,515
Venue
Haywire
Beneficiary
DV Services

Winter bags

2026 · open

Ninety-six bags — four times the first run. Same method, published further: every item sourced, priced and posted before it's funded, with progress anyone can watch.

Things worth knowing

Roots Worth Tending is not a registered 501(c)(3). It's a small volunteer effort, not an incorporated charity. Contributions are not tax-deductible, and you shouldn't claim them as such.

Nobody here is paid. There's no office and no overhead — a contribution buys the thing it was given for, at the price shown, from the supplier named.

That's also why the prices are all linked. You don't have to trust the arithmetic; you can check it in about thirty seconds, and if a supplier's price has moved since a page was built, the link will show you that too.