My wife planned to cook an early Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. She awoke ready to cook - already starting to make stuffing and fix her turkey as I read through my emails over coffee. There in the bunch was an email asking if I was interested in covering the November storm that was coming down outside. A record amount of rain was falling outside as I geared up to photograph the damage around West Seattle.

One of my stops was Nickelsville, a homelesscamp that was rapidly flooding. The camp can house over 100 people and is located on city owned land but lacks the permits to operate.  Walking up  to the gate, I just saw blue tarps and water. The rain was pouring along with whipping winds as I photograph J.S. trying to build a walkway to the camps, standing in his tennis shoes in knee-deep water.  He pauses for a minute taking off his shoe and dropping water out of it as he tries to remove debris. While most of the resident's tents are raised off of the ground, most weren't high enough to be saved from the flood.  Around 30 tents with all the resident’s personal belongings were soaked.

Coming home very cold and very wet. But I open the door and smell Thanksgiving inside and immediately feel so very thankful for what I have and where I am in life. 

Once the story reached the public, the community opened their hearts being very generous in helping the residents. With hours people were donating wood, clothing, blankets, food, and most important a pump to remove the water.