Pearl Leung, Head of Community Affairs at Amazon and Jesse Franklin, Rainier Athletes Executive Director
Amazon is quickly making their presence known across our community, and it’s not just in skyscrapers downtown! They’re also building a sustainable partnership with Rainier Athletes to help expand access to mentorship and connection for students.
““There’s no better investment in Bellevue’s future than our kids. By supporting Rainier Athletes, Amazon is providing weekly support for students that spans from fourth grade through high school graduation and beyond. We’ve seen the proven results of Rainier Athletes’ program over the last decade and with Amazon’s involvement, even more students will thrive in the classroom, on the field, and across our community.””
Growth Mindset
After learning about Rainier Athletes’ success rate (more than 80% of students stay engaged with us through high school!), Amazon started with an investment to ensure more students have access to long-term mentoring. Their funds helped expand RA’s reach with an additional 40 mentor-mentee relationships! This year’s gift from Amazon is Rainier Athletes’ largest corporate donation to date.
Right Now Needs
Rainier Athletes has always worked closely with community partner Bellevue LifeSpring to connect families with rent and food assistance. Now, through Bellevue LifeSpring’s partnership with Amazon’s Right Now Needs Fund, families have been able to access even more resources like school supplies and utility bill assistance. By partnering with organizations across the community that work in collaboration with each other, Amazon is ensuring youth receive flexible, wraparound support.
Mentoring Matters
Every additional mentor Rainier Athletes recruits means one more student receiving weekly, long-term support all the way through high school graduation. Recognizing the importance of youth seeing people who reflect themselves in leadership roles, RA met with Amazon’s Latinos@Amazon group. The result? A new channel for recruiting mentors who look like, speak the same language, and have similar life experiences as RA students! Rainier Athletes currently has 10 Amazon employees participating in our mission at the ground level by mentoring.
Amazon mentor Tom and his mentee
Unity of Community
This year’s Unity of Community event, the first in-person since the pandemic, reunited RA students, families, mentors, teachers, community partners, and supporters at an energetic ice skating event. Seeing the power of the connections Rainier Athletes creates, Amazon was quick to get involved with the event. Their sponsorship helped create an evening that was equal parts fun and reflective, celebrating the community’s resilience over the past two years.
“LOVED that event. I loved seeing the community RA has created that would not exist otherwise. Together, Rainier Athletes and Amazon are addressing connection gaps as well as opportunity gaps.”
Looking Forward
When it comes to Amazon’s impact on Rainier Athletes students, the possibilities are endless. In addition to continuing the activities above, the organizations are also in talks about Rainier Athletes students being a part of the Amazon Future Engineer program. Together, Rainier Athletes and Amazon are committed to surrounding students with a supportive community.