DASHAWN
PATRICK

When I was 14 years old, my brother, sister, and I went to live with our grandparents. On holidays, my grandmother would have my brother, and I load the trunk of her 1979 Lincoln Continental with hot, home-cooked food. We would drive to Pioneer Square, in Seattle's Downtown district, and feed the homeless from the trunk of her car.

My grandfather would arrive in his work truck, "Big Blue', to drop off my grandmother's portable keyboard. For the next two hours, she would sing church songs to Seattle's homeless while my brother and I loaded their plates with mashed potatoes, fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, and German Chocolate cake.

One day, as we were packing up, I asked my grandmother why she cared about the homeless. Her response to me was: “Somebody has to care!” Her heart for giving is my inspiration.

I fell in love with storytelling while listening to my grandparents’ colorful stories of growing up in the South during the Civil Rights era. After church on Sunday afternoons, we would lounge on their front-porch, watching the leisurely pace of inner-city Seattle. My grandmother was splitting peas she had picked from our vegetable garden while my grandfather relaxed in his tattered armchair, playing his harmonica like a one-man Southern band.

I would plead with them to tell stories from their childhood in the South. Their stories were passionate, funny, and so vivid that I imagined walking alongside them on dusty roads in small-town Louisiana and Texas. With accents as strong as Willow tree roots, often ancillary in their tales.

I was given a front-row seat to an era rich in love but grounded in resiliency. I want readers and viewers of my projects to experience the feelings I felt listening to my grandparents’ stories.

Graduating from the University of Washington, Seattle, with a degree in Social Science, fueled my passion for improving the experience of children growing up in foster care, which has been a driving force in my life.

I founded Youth In Care Launchpad, an organization serving foster children in Seattle's metropolitan area. YIC Launch Pad supplies children with equipment and funding needed to participate in athletics and performing arts. Youth In Care Launchpad also assists foster parents with resources to connect children to local athletic programs.

Athletics have always been my passion. Many years ago, I had a career as a professional baseball player in the Seattle Mariner organization. I now enjoy coaching high school baseball and football.