Years after generous strangers helped a homeless family find housing in Vancouver, the Greens help others struggling with instability

SEATTLE — Eight-year-old Genna Green hugged her mother, Pamela, as they gazed at a banner that read, “Welcome Home!”

This moment, captured in a 1992 front-page story in The Columbian, marked a defining moment for the Green family. After months of living in their car, the family of 11 finally found housing stability in Vancouver thanks to the generosity of strangers.

At the time, the idea of a family living in a car was shocking. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 256,549 people were homeless in the United States in 1992.

Today, that number has doubled, and stories like the Greens’ are all too common. Genna Green, 42, works with her mother and most of her siblings to combat homelessness in Seattle, where they live now.

A reporter at The Oregonian wrote about their story, which caught the attention of the Vancouver couple who would change the Greens’ lives forever.

Instead of just making a financial donation, the Elliotts invited the family to move into their daylight basement, hoping to help them find a more permanent rental.

Genna Green remembers how the couple was not only nurturing to their own children but to her and her siblings. She remembers the couple’s daughter sitting with her parents as they soothed her stomachache. That moment has stuck with Genna Green all these years.

“I remember living with them and how kind they were to our family. Though we didn’t know them prior to living with them, they always made me feel comfortable and safe,” Genna Green said.

The search for housing large enough to accommodate the family proved nearly impossible, though.

The couple, thinking outside the box, then asked themselves, why not just buy a house? Two months later, the former YWCA domestic violence shelter, a 3,200-square-foot property, was available for sale.

The couple approached the Vancouver Housing Authority, which owned the vacant property, and were surprised to find that it could be bought for just $55,000 — the same price it had been purchased for 20 years earlier. The plan was for the Greens to lease the property at first, with the option to buy it after 18 months.

“By then, the family hopes to have turned the rambling house into a home,” the 1992 Columbian article stated.

Volunteers from a local church helped make the house livable. They reroofed the building and assisted the family in settling in. The Greens also crossed paths with a woman they remember simply as Claudia, a community member whose compassion and support became a vital lifeline for Pamela and her children, although they have since lost touch.

Small interventions

The Greens have since looked for ways to give back.

In 2021, Genna Green launched Child and Youth Partnerships in the United Kingdom, where she was living at the time. (She has since moved to Seattle.) A desire to address gaps in services for at-risk youth, particularly those affected by domestic violence, motivated her.

“This work feels like a reward of being able to come out the other side of the trauma and the pitfalls … and be able to overcome and use my life story to impact the lives of others in an inspiring way,” Genna Green said.

Pamela Green runs Abundance of Hope Center in Seattle. She formed the nonprofit in 2008 to prevent youth homelessness and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Pamela Green said one of the reasons she named her nonprofit that is because of the hope that Claudia, the Elliotts and others have ignited in her and her children over the years.

Genna Green works for her mother’s organization. A few of Pamela Green’s other children also work at the nonprofit. On a recent weekday, the Green family worked together in the nonprofit’s headquarters, sorting through donations, stocking shelves and preparing essential supplies for those who walk through the door.

“I just want them to know how important they were to all of us,” Genna Green said. “Because of George and Casey and Claudia who helped us and showed us compassion, we were able to do this work — and not just do it but have the belief that we can do it.”

Genna Green has penned several letters to Claudia and the Elliotts, hoping she would someday find an address where she could send them.

A letter addressed to George and Casey Elliott reflects on the many factors that could have kept the Elliotts and the Greens apart — differences in race, social and economic status, or even the natural hesitation people often feel toward strangers. Any of these could have prevented their paths from ever crossing.

“Yet, none of these factors stood in your way,” Genna Green wrote, later adding, “Your actions taught me that compassion has no boundaries. You showed me the power of love and acceptance, regardless of societal norms or differences. For that, I am eternally grateful.”