Major Donor Profile: Erika Harnett

Erika Harnett, Member and donor

Q: When did you first get involved in HPIC, and why?

I grew up in the neighborhood, living just a block from HPIC. My first memories of HPIC are walking down to it, with my parents, so they could vote. HPIC was the neighborhood polling location in the 1970s and 1980s. While they voted for actual candidates, I practiced voting, by casting my vote for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, using a sample ballot. 

A photo of HPIC donor and member Erika Harnett

Q: What inspired you to make a major donation to HPIC?

HPIC is very much part of the neighborhood, and of the neighborhood. It is very unique these days, being a neighborhood meeting place, for diverse activities and diverse people. I like that it was, and will be again, a place where people come to see local bands perform, take a yoga class, or rent, at an affordable price, for a family gathering.

Q: What’s one way you’d like to inspire others in the community to get involved with HPIC?

Your neighborhood is what you make of it. HPIC is a place, and a community, where people can build a supportive, collaborative, and resilient neighborhood.

Q: What’s one event you’d love to see happen once HPIC’s building is rebuilt?

My father enjoyed making wine, and loved the wine tasting event. I look forward to attending the first wine tasting event in the new building.

Q: What’s one event you’d love to see happen once HPIC’s building is rebuilt?

I hope people understand what a gem HPIC is. I am so appreciative of the people who came together to revive, and keep HPIC alive, and who are working so hard to ensure HPIC has another 100 years into the future.

Thank you, Erika! We are deeply grateful or your support. We hope your story serves as inspiration for others in our neighborhood to join the HPIC community. 

Funding for the demo from Seattle Department of neighborhoods

Funding for the demo from Seattle Department of neighborhoods

We are gratified to report that HPIC has been awarded a $50,000 grant through the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Community Partnership Fund. It was a very competitive application process and we are honored to have been selected. The grant is toward funding the building demolition, and also site preparation to make the property safe for community events in the interim after the damaged building has been removed and before construction on the new building begins.

The Department of Neighborhoods has been supportive of HPIC through a series of challenges, starting with the pandemic, when we were granted about $27k to renovate the space while the building was closed. But then the fire happened – before we could reopen – and also before we had spent the bulk of the grant money (thanks to our amazing skilled volunteers). Department of Neighborhoods, with the help of our project manager Juan Martinez, allowed us to repurpose the grant for community engagement activities, to help us stay relevant in the community. That grant funded the 2022 Reset Fest, off-site Corner Bars and more. The Department of Neighborhoods is a vital resource in helping HPIC stay connected to our community.

The New Generation of the HPIC Board

The New Generation of the HPIC Board

We are proud and honored to introduce these advocates of community in our neighborhood who have joined the team to rebuild HPIC. They bring vital new energy and vision to the rebuild, and to the future of HPIC.

New HPIC Board members are sworn in

From left to right: Ellen Powers, Amy Durgin, Nick Montrond, Adrien Demelier, Alex Wheeler, Silva Ianev and Rachel Chernin. Leading the ceremony is Martha Mallett, right foreground, long-time HPIC board member who kept HPIC alive by reaching out to the neighborhood at another challenging time in its history, in the early 2000’s.

Current board members who remain: Rhonda Smith, President; Shannon Harris, Julie Schickling, Kay Kirkpatrick, Billy Stauffer and Nickie Jostol.

Together, with so many of our neighbors and supporters through the years and into the future, we will bring back our community gathering place.

We are thankful for the many years of dedicated service given by departing board members Gretchen Heiden, Billy Markham and Shawn Mazza.