Whatcom County reverses decision, agrees to provide federal funds to Lighthouse Mission
Lighthouse Mission may get $750,000 in federal pandemic-relief funds after all for a homeless shelter it is building in Bellingham, after the Whatcom County Council reversed an earlier decision to deny that money over what it said was the Christian organization’s bias in hiring.
Council members decided 5-1-1 on Tuesday to rescind their May 9 measure rejecting funds for the Lighthouse Mission, 910 W. Holly St., which is building a 400-bed shelter in Old Town to replace its Base Camp downtown, which has a 200-person capacity.
Councilwoman Kathy Kershner, who abstained from the May 9 vote denying funds to the mission, told The Bellingham Herald that the mission is a valuable partner in Whatcom County’s efforts to provide food, housing and other services to people with nowhere to turn.
“The community really values the work that the Lighthouse Mission does,” Kershner said in a Wednesday interview.
“We have to figure out how we can work together and do things that are the best for our community.”
Councilwoman Carol Frazey voted against rescinding the measure that denied funds to the mission, and Councilwoman Kaylee Galloway abstained.
A second vote, taken Tuesday with no discussion, asked the County Executive’s Office to prepare a $750,000 contract with the mission for an industrial kitchen and furnishings, using unspent money from the American Rescue Plan Act, President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic stimulus measure.
The second measure passed 4-1-2, with Frazey opposed and Councilman Todd Donovan and Galloway abstaining.
Earlier opposition to providing the money to the mission centered on the mission’s policy of not hiring employees who were not Christian.
Frazey told The Herald on Wednesday that she was unable to discuss her vote. But she voiced her opposition to the funding measure during the May 9 meeting.
“It’s not just that you have to be Christian. Lighthouse Mission Ministries discriminates against the LGBTQ community. As a county, I don’t think most of our constituents would want us to discriminate in that way,” Frazey said.
Erchinger-Davis told The Bellingham Herald that the mission provides food, shelter and other services to everyone, regardless of “identity, race, gender or creed” but that “traditional Christian faith tenets” are required of its employees.
“Lighthouse Mission Ministries was surprised and disappointed in the Whatcom County Council’s decision to refuse support for the mission to provide meals for the vulnerable in Whatcom County through the purchase of kitchen equipment with (pandemic relief) funding,” Erchinger-Davis said in a May 10 email.
