Editor’s note: Since this story was published, it’s been updated with additional reporting and we’re sharing a column by editors about the story’s sourcing.
Hanah Warthan calls her family’s work “a mission from God.”
It’s a mission that began one year ago when the Bellingham woman and some of her family members first visited the homeless encampment behind Walmart with chili and fry bread.
“I was shaky and scared,” she said. “I was like, ‘Is this even a good idea?’”
Since they began the work, Warthan said they’ve seen horrors, but also hope. They’ve come across people slumped over in the mud, overdosing. But, she said they’ve also seen the positive side — people getting out and leading a sober lives, securing housing and finding hope.
“The good always outweighs the bad,” Warthan said.
Warthan and her family operate under the name Mission for Missy, dedicating their work to her son Adrian Valentino Quinn’s late girlfriend who died from an opioid overdose in November 2022.
Marissa “Missy” Kerr died after taking a fentanyl pill she was told was Percocet. Her death shook Warthan’s entire family, inspiring them to start the nonprofit in her honor, spread opioid overdose awareness and help save lives.
“My past has brought me to where I am. Being charged turned into tragedy,” said Quinn, who currently faces criminal allegations, including a rape charge, in Whatcom County and said he is one-year clean from fentanyl. “My mom and I wanted to turn that tragedy into something good.”
“I feel like she’d be happy that [they] want to give back,” Tristan Kerr said about the organization that honors his sister.
Each week, the family shares information on addiction and where to go for social services. They spread donations collected from loved ones and community members to help meet the basic needs of the people living in the encampments who struggle with substance use, mental health and homelessness.
Currently, a group of about a dozen volunteers — including Warthan’s children and grandchildren — serve dozens of people each week living in camps.
In recent weeks — following the closure of the Walmart encampment — their work has shifted to the camp behind Jack in the Box off of Bakerview Road and Northwest Avenue. The population has ballooned since a Whatcom County judge ordered the landowner to begin abating the encampment on her property behind Walmart in September.
The City of Bellingham said in a statement on its website that it is “pursuing solutions for the unauthorized encampment” on Bakerview Road that “balance public safety, private property rights and the well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders and behavioral health challenges.”
Warthan said the nonprofit’s main goal is to get people out of the camps. Their philosophy focuses on providing support and meeting basic needs to keep the people alive, so they might consider leaving and taking advantage of social programs for support.
“We plant a seed in their minds to get out of there,” Warthan said.
Hailey Hoffman is a CDN visual journalist; reach her at haileyhoffman@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 103.
