Hopelink’s annual “Reaching Out” benefit luncheon drew more than 1,800 people to two ballrooms at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, making it the biggest attendance ever for a Hopelink event. Last year 1,300 attended the event.

Steve Pool of KOMO 4 News emceed the event which took place on Monday, Oct. 19. The luncheon featured keynote speaker Lisa Ling of CNN and closing remarks from Bill Gates, Sr, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This was Hopelink’s 14th Annual benefit luncheon. The organization set a goal of raising more than $1 million to serve East and North King County families and individuals in need.

Hopelink, a social services agency for the Eastside, has seen a huge jump in numbers in requests for food, energy bill assistance, housing and other help over the past year. The demand at the organization’s food banks has risen 35 percent.

As an investigative reporter and journalist, Ling has traveled the world to cover stories of poverty and homelessness in foreign countries. She has recently brought her reporting back home, turning her focus on the tent cities and sex trafficking happening in local cities across the U.S.

Ling spoke to the issues of national poverty and shared some personal insight gained through her investigative reporting.

This past weekend, Ling came across an article in the New York Times titled, Foreclosures Force Ex-Homeowners to Turn to Shelters. The article, published Oct. 18, addressed the rising problem of domestic homelessness and first-time foreclosures. According to the article, the number of Americans who have lost houses to foreclosure and as a result are landing in homeless shelters has risen by 10 percent over the last year.

While reporting on tent cities across America, Ling witnessed a rise in the number of people experiencing first-time homelessness in correlation to the economic downturn.

“The culture of excess that consumed this country for the past decade is no longer applicable,” Ling explained, adding her deep admiration and respect for an organization like Hopelink.

Her investigation into the world of sex slavery on domestic soil led her to discover a troubling trend happening to young girls who find themselves living on the streets for one reason or another.

“You think (sex slavery) is only on an international level, but it’s happening in every city,” she said, pointing to the level of desperation that can stem from poverty. “This is an extreme example of when homelessness can become hell.”

Ling pointed to organizations like Hopelink as being instrumental in helping families and individuals get back on their feet.

Hopelink offers an amazing delivery system here in Bellevue, Ling said, and is an important safety net for this community.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.

Hopelink services include food, housing, employment programs, family development, adult education, transportation, financial assistance, classes and energy assistance. Hopelink has five centers serving East and North King County. For more information visit www.hope-link.org.