Our Mission

Elizabeth Gregory Home provides a welcoming and respectful refuge where women who are experiencing homelessness, trauma, or economic insecurity have access to a caring community and critical resources.

Our Vision

Homeless and at-risk women have the power to transform their lives.

Our Values

We build our services on the following values:

• Respect – Honoring individuality;
• Inclusion – Accepting and celebrating difference;
• Community – Engendering a sense of belonging;
• Empathy – Listening with compassion and understanding.

Our Core Strategies

To achieve our mission and ensure the fulfillment of our vision, we focus our expertise, resources and activities toward the establishment of the following conditions:

• Build a solid support structure in our community aimed at connecting homeless people to information, resources, skills, assets, and supportive relationships.
• Establish a standard of integrity and consistency in the provision of homeless services.
• Engage community leaders in learning and reflecting together on new, highly effective models and approaches to addressing homelessness.
• Nurture a community that is invested in treating people humanely.

Our History

Elizabeth Gregory Home (EGH) was established in 2001 by members of University Lutheran Church as a non-profit, nonfaith-based organization. After a lengthy study of the most critical social needs in the University District, University Lutheran Church voted overwhelmingly to address housing for homeless women. The program was named the Elizabeth Gregory Home after a very special woman who dedicated her life to working with underserved and vulnerable populations.

Elizabeth Gregory’s Story

Former EGH board member Frank Gregory shares fond memories of this inspirational woman, “I met Elizabeth, a single mother, in 1971 as we were both enrolled in computer programming classes. She was forced to withdraw from school after losing her job. She eventually found other employment but survived in the interim on unemployment and food stamps. This was a blow to her self-esteem and eventually to her health, as she felt first hand the sting of life as a struggling woman.”

“I finished school in 1974 and we were married that same year. In 1978 she returned to school to finish her education, receiving an undergraduate in communications and her Master in Social Work at the University of Washington. It was during her practicum at Children’s Hospital of Seattle that she fell in love with one-on-one counseling with the disenfranchised and those affected by trauma and loss. These one-on-one encounters led to her sharing a private practice until her health forced her to retire prematurely in 1990.”

“Elizabeth had the most infectious laugh; she loved playing practical jokes, was a big sports fan, a film noir buff, and made friends easily. However, integrity was a requirement if you wished to remain a friend. When Elizabeth died she left me a gift that I will never lose; death is not the end of our journey.”

It is our wish the women served at Elizabeth Gregory Home will find that same indomitable spirit and joy for life that Elizabeth left as her legacy.