MOUNT VERNON – Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs presented two Washington state charities May 7 with nearly $500,000 received through the Washington state Combined Fund Drive’s December 2025 special disaster relief campaign. The campaign disbursed $993,612 overall to date for Washington charities after the historic atmospheric river event.
Community Action of Skagit County and the Whatcom Community Foundation respectively received $224,580 and $234,033 in donations for directly supporting flood relief efforts across Skagit and Whatcom counties.
“Time and time again, Washingtonians continue to answer the call when our neighbors need it most,” said Hobbs. “I remain inspired at the selflessness of our state workers, retirees, and community members in stepping up to help response and recovery efforts.”
The donations were pledged through payroll and one-time contributions from Washington state employees, credit card donations from Washington residents, and a $1 million contribution made by the Amazon Corporation’s Disaster Relief program to the CFD’s disaster relief center.
“Through the CFD, we were able to demonstrate the good that can be done in our community with public and private sector cooperation,” said Hobbs. “Amazon’s pledge was the largest single donation in the CFD’s 41-year history.”
Supplemented by donations pledged outside of the disaster relief center campaign, the following amounts were disbursed in May to donor-selected charities:
- Feed Needs in Shelton received $230,353
- The Salvation Army Northwest Division in Seattle received $228,354
- The American Red Cross and American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in Seattle received $73,626
- Soup Ladies in Buckley received $1,926
- The Vision House in Renton received $512
- The Rainier Senior Center in Rainier received $224.
“Traditionally, we have very small amounts of ‘critical needs’ funding to support our clients,” said Bill Henkel, Community Action of Skagit County’s executive director. “In the wake of the flood disaster, the magnitude of support has been instrumental in giving us the ability to provide deeper, more flexible, and targeted support to severely impacted families based on their specific needs.”
The disaster relief center, a special function of the CFD, directs interested donors to verified and registered crisis-relief charities during periods of natural or humanitarian disasters that exceed a region’s capacity to provide help. The disaster relief center does not endorse any specific charity but rather shares relevant and accurate information about the organizations to help inform donation decisions.
Visit our Flickr for photos of the check presentation.