Sandra Mears refused to believe the Lynnwood Hygiene Center would close, even as she planned its goodbye party.
Around 700 unsheltered people in south Snohomish County relied on the center for hot showers, meals and a safe place to rest. But last month, after five years of renting the site for free to the Jean Kim Foundation, the landowner said he had to sell.
The center announced its Dec. 12 closure in early November while Mears, the nonprofit’s director, launched “a Hail Mary effort” to save it. She frantically searched for new host sites or funding to pay rent elsewhere, developing tension headaches and struggling to get out of bed…