Beck's Place to benefit from chow down fundraiser

In just over a year, Melanie Ryan has helped transform lives through her Monroe-based nonprofit, Beck’s Place, a unique organization that strives to honor and preserve the connection between humans and their pets as it cares for community members in need.

Now, she’s teaming up with Monroe’s Chef Adam Hoffman for the first Evening at Adam’s Beck’s Place fundraiser dinner auction, which takes place 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, at Adam’s Northwest Bistro & Brewery in downtown Monroe.

In addition to a custom buffet-style meal prepared by Hoffman and his staff, the event will include testimony from Beck’s Place clients, live music by local musician Paul Jenkins and an auction featuring weekend getaways and offers from local businesses, including Jump, Rattle & Roll, Big Dog’s Hot Dog Joint and MyOwnly Boarding Kennel. Tickets are $25 each.

Hoffman is donating his time, food and facility so that all proceeds from the event can be used to support Beck’s Place.

Beck’s Place provides support services to people and their pets, working with low-income and homeless individuals and families to help them better care for themselves and their animals. The nonprofit seeks to deliver services through five core programs, providing pet food, basic needs supplies, continued home-based care, veterinary services and foster boarding.

Pet food can be delivered straight to a family in need’s door, Ryan said. She’ll deliver services to homeless clients on the streets or sometimes at Take the Next Step, another Monroe nonprofit.

“We are able to provide full-service care with a field model, meaning we don’t have a storefront,” Ryan said. “We do everything in the field.”

And it’s more than just providing services, said Ryan, who operates Beck’s Place while maintaining a full-time career in finance. It’s about building meaningful connections.

“The services are what we provide. What we do, is we establish connections, and we start with that connection people have with their pets,” Ryan said. “We honor the importance of that and we build on that so that we build connections.”

Ryan started operating Beck’s Place last year, after identifying a key need. She familiarized herself with issues facing low-income and homeless individuals, and examined resources in order to identify disparities between what people needed and what was available.

“What became very clear was that there was a significant gap in services when people had pets,” Ryan said.  

She conceptualized Beck’s Place as a way to bridge that gap, and as a way to capitalize on her business management skills as well as her master’s degree in social work. The organization’s signature program is its Foster Boarding program, which is available to qualifying families and individuals throughout Snohomish County. The program is changing lives, Ryan said.

The connection between people and their pets is deeply meaningful, and relatable for Ryan. But that same meaningful connection can be a barrier when people need help, since homeless shelters, safe housing for victims of domestic violence, drug rehabilitation programs, detox services and clean and sober housing facilities typically do not allow pets. To help her clients move beyond that barrier, Ryan matches up dogs and cats with foster families, providing for all the basic needs of the pets, including veterinary care, while they are in the program.     

Once the animal is in foster care, Ryan stays in constant contact with her clients during the duration of the separation, sending photos, messages and giving updates on how their pet is doing. The program has been absolutely transformational, Ryan said, allowing the wounded to become healed.

It starts with a connection, she said. 

One of Ryan’s recent clients had been living on the streets of Monroe and Sultan for many years. He was homeless, addicted to drugs and had tried to get clean without success. His dog, Jenna, was his best friend, his lifeline and his primary support system. He had people who were concerned about his well-being, and services had been offered, but treatment was simply out of the question if it meant he would have to give up Jenna.

“He knew he couldn’t get help without losing Jenna, and that was not an option. He wasn’t going to do that,” Ryan said. “So we said, ‘What if we gave you a different option?’”

The relationship was tenuous at first. In order to build trust, Ryan invested her time, patiently working to build a connection. She explained what Beck’s Place does, and assured him that Jenna would be well cared for while he got the help he needed. He could focus on himself, and leave Jenna’s care entirely up to her. Eventually, he told her he was ready.

He told her he trusted her with Jenna, and that he was ready to do whatever it took to get his life back. He wanted to see his kids and he wanted to build a better life for himself, his family and for Jenna.

“He went to treatment, and we took care of Jenna,” Ryan said.

Now, that client has eight months of sobriety, a job and housing. He stayed in contact with Jenna from the time she entered the foster boarding until the two were reunited, through Ryan. 

“That is really the power of what we do. That dog allowed us to build a connection with a guy who nobody was able to build connections with, and that dog allowed him eventually to be healthy again,” Ryan said. “We still talk all the time — he volunteers for us.”

That is the beauty of Beck’s Place, Ryan said. Her clients frequently give back through volunteerism.

Ryan’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. She was recently awarded the 2016 Change Maker Award by the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community, a Snohomish County-based organization dedicated to promoting well-being through research, education and outreach.

It was an incredible privilege to be selected, she said. 

“We’ve worked really hard, and we know we’ve been here a short period of time, but we do think the impact we’ve had has been very deep and very strong,” Ryan said. “We were deeply honored to know that that has been seen, recognized and appreciated.”

In addition to cash to help fund its foster boarding and veterinary care programs, Beck’s Place is always on the lookout for eligible foster families to care for animals in need. The foster boarding program has a never-ending wait list, Ryan said, as the need is significant. 

For more information about Beck’s Place, visit www.becksplace.org. To purchase tickets for the Evening at Adam’s fundraiser, visit this shortened link: http://bit.ly/2cU6ygz

Adam’s Northwest Bistro is at 104 N. Lewis St. in Monroe.