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Myeisha Chester doesn’t always have the money to pay for the food, school supplies or winter clothing her three daughters, 13, 10 and 8, need to live and make it to school every day.

So when Chester, a working, single mother, couldn’t afford those essentials and others, she turned to the Right Now Needs Fund, which has been providing emergency financial assistance to families inside the Seattle Public Schools for the past eight years. 

鈥淭here are times we don’t have tissue paper and the school would give us gift cards, asking us if we needed help,鈥� Chester said, noting food stamps don鈥檛 cover such necessities. 鈥淚 appreciate it a lot. If they didn鈥檛 help me out, I would be going without some stuff or borrowing from friends and family.鈥�

The Right Now Needs Fund is run by the an independent, local group that works to advance educational justice and racial equity for Seattle students. Since 1995, it鈥檚 invested $200 million in the city鈥檚 public schools.

The Fund, which started with a $2 million donation from Amazon, has delivered aid thousands of times throughout the years, helping families in the district鈥檚 104 schools with everything from hygiene kits to rental assistance, its director said. It鈥檚 also boosted attendance. 

Children living in poverty are to be chronically absent 鈥� defined as missing 10% or more of school days a year. Washington state had the in the country, according to a 2022-23 analysis by the Associated Press and Stanford University educational economist Thomas Dee.

Tracey Thompson, a social worker at West Seattle Elementary, said the Right Now Needs Fund has been instrumental in keeping kids in school because it provides what they鈥檙e lacking. 

鈥淭hey live up to their name,鈥� Thompson said of the effort. 鈥淚f there’s a need, it gets handled immediately.鈥�

Some children, she said, ask for assistance. Other times, school staff might observe an unmet need, and the situation is confirmed by a quick call home. 

Thompson recently helped provide footwear to two students with holes in their shoes and ensured another child had food to eat over a long break. 

In another instance, the Fund, which draws support from philanthropic partners and individual donors, helped a mother with Stage 4 cancer living in a motel with her children as she struggled to provide them with meals.

鈥淚t makes me feel good to know that if a family is experiencing food insecurity, I can meet that need today, not tomorrow,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don’t have to wait two days down the road. That’s a huge bridge builder.鈥�

Zeynab Abdulgadir, the Fund鈥檚 director, said it provided food aid and transportation during the COVID shutdowns 鈥� including rideshare trips. And now it helps with everything from deodorant to sanitary pads and combs. 

鈥淎nything a student needs to just groom and feel confident in the classroom is so important 鈥� especially in middle and high school,鈥� Abdulgadir said.

Food insecurity moves to the forefront

The Fund distributed about $1 million annually until this year when that amount fell to $800,000 because of budgetary cutbacks. At the same time, more families are facing financial struggles with the subsidies and making it harder to qualify for federal food assistance. In 2022, in Washington state relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. 

SNAP benefits were temporarily suspended during last fall鈥檚 federal shutdown. The program has been further eroded by cascading cuts that will roll out over the course of several years. Participation fell nationwide between July and December 2025, with nearly 29,000 fewer recipients in Washington state alone, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  

At the same time, , driven partly by the war with Iran. Housing costs have also soared across the country and state 鈥� particularly in sought-after Seattle: in The Emerald City rose from $1,906 in 2021 to $2,501 in 2026, a $595 monthly increase. 

Seattle has tried to tackle some of these stressors. Minimum wage there jumped for most people to more than this year 鈥� far higher than the national state average of 鈥� and up from between in 2018. 

But the city鈥檚 poverty rate climbed, too, moving from , below the national rate of around . 

Andre M. Perry, senior fellow and director of the Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institution, said housing, higher education, health care and childcare have long stretched families beyond their limits. People of color have an even harder time managing these costs. And while programs like the Right Now Needs Fund are helpful, they can鈥檛 address the root issues. 

鈥淲e are not going to nonprofit our way out of these problems,鈥� Perry said. 鈥淚 certainly don鈥檛 dismiss programs that provide families with the relief they need: We want people to be able to afford essentials. But every day that we promote a relief program is another day that we don鈥檛 address these structural problems. Of course, we can do both.鈥� 

One structural solution, the , was boosted during COVID to help families with kids and was a lifeline for many. It but the pandemic-era increase ended the same year it began in 2021. 

鈥楢 very low barrier鈥�

Abdulgadir, the Fund鈥檚 director, notes it works primarily with schools鈥� family support staff 鈥� often its counselors, social workers or principals 鈥� who submit a one-page request so that money can be issued. If, for example, a family needed help with rent, they would show staff their lease and the Fund would write a check to the landlord. 

鈥淚t’s a very low barrier,鈥� Abdulgadir said. 鈥淲e don’t ask for any documentation, any income status. I think that’s what makes us really unique. We’re just quick. Families don鈥檛 have to go through a bunch of hoops.鈥�

The Fund allocates money based on each school鈥檚 population and the number of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. The money can be shifted to high-needs campuses if it is not being used at another site.

The allotments vary widely. Abdulgadir recalled one family that needed $4,000 in car repairs to transport their child to and from school. In another case, $17 worth of hair gel gave a child the self-assurance to come to class. 

鈥淲e are the first line of support for these schools, and you know, when these students do get their basic and immediate needs met, they are more likely to do better in school 鈥� and actually just get to school in the first place,鈥� Abdulgadir said. 

Soon, it will help with caps and gowns as students prepare for graduation, she said. 

Chelsea Dziedzic, principal at Lowell Elementary School, said the Fund has been instrumental in supporting student academic growth and fostering a sense of belonging on her campus. 

More than 70% of her students are classified as low income and 17% experienced homelessness in the 2025-26 school year. Much of the $13,000 her school received from the Fund during that time period has gone to pay families鈥� rent, Dziedzic said. Several students were spared eviction because of the assistance. 

鈥淲e could always use more, but because there’s fewer resources for rental assistance, Right Now Needs has been a real lifesaver for us,鈥� the principal said. 鈥淲e’ve been able to support families with getting prescription refills 鈥� so kids could get antibiotics and things like that just in time.鈥�

Other families have used the assistance to pay off utility bills so their power wouldn鈥檛 be turned off, Dziedzic said. 

For Chester, the single mother of three, it meant her girls could come to school without interruption. 

鈥淓ven when they are sick, they still don鈥檛 want to miss it,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey enjoy school a lot.鈥�

Disclosure: The Gates Foundations provides financial support to the Right Now Needs Fund and to 社区黑料.

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