Leaving the spot on the hill overlooking Calvin Presbyterian Church on Feb. 28 will be sad for Tent City 3 resident Robert Gordon.

“People have been very nice to us here in Shoreline,” Gordon said. “It’s sad to leave. No one likes to move.”

If continued support is any indication of how the surrounding community feels about Tent City 3, chances are Shoreline residents may also miss the mobile community when they pack up and move to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle for a two-month stay.

“This has solidified my faith in God like nothing else has,” Barb Farden, a deacon with Calvin Presbyterian Church said about hosting Tent City 3.

Since Tent City 3 moved into the neighborhood at the end of November, Farden has witnessed donations of food, blankets, clothes, toiletries and time from church members, residents, families, schools, stores and organizations. Additionally, health professionals have visited Tent City 3 to offer their services, residents were given shower passes to the Spartan Gym, Calvin Presbyterian Church opened their doors on cold nights in December and football enthusiasts were welcomed into the church fellowship hall to watch the Super Bowl.

Most recently, 11 James Alan Salon stylists volunteered their time to cut hair. Councilman and former co-owner of the salon Keith McGlashan also came out of retirement to cut hair.

“It was an amazing experience,” salon owner Matthew Fairfax said after the event on Feb. 8. “I really think everyone will talk about Tent City 3 a whole lot differently than we did before.”

Fairfax was struck by one resident who “walked into the salon with her hair matted and looking like she had just woken up.” In forty minutes, the same woman entered the lobby looking radiant, he said. Soon everyone was crying.

“It makes us feel good (that) people care,” Gordon said after getting his hair cut. “We’re human and we want to look and feel good, too.”

At times, calls offering help were hard to keep up with, according to Liz Fenn of Greater Seattle Cares (GSC), who organizes the meal calendar for Tent City. In December 2008 dinner meals were not scheduled five times and in January dinner meals were not provided twice. In February, a dinner was not scheduled on a day a lunch was scheduled.

“I have told some of the Shoreline folks that in the two years I’ve been involved with GSC, I have not seen a more generous community willing to help Tent City 3,” Fenn said. “Around Christmas I would get calls from individuals that drove by the camp and wanted to help out; some got together with families and stopped their gift giving in order to give to Tent City 3. It was really inspirational to me to talk with these folks.” Residents and those wishing to provide further support for the Tent City community have the chance to do so through Greater Seattle Cares, according to the Rev. Mary Gould, who started the organization. Greater Seattle Cares sends updates about Tent City 3 to those who are on an e-mail list.

“We’re hoping we will be a connection bridge so people can stay involved where ever they are,” Gould said.

North Seattle residents and founders of the nonprofit Gourmet Grub, Steve Bearden and Margaret Walkky, have followed Tent City 3 since 2000 and provide hot meals most Saturdays of the year.

The couple uses donated food to cook and deliver anything from seafood gumbo or cheeseburger macaroni to T-bone steak meals. The practice has become a routine they both enjoy, according to Bearden.

“People come and go,” he said. “It’s a place many stay while they get back on their feet. But they’re also making a statement. The idea of people sleeping under bridges and in alleys is insane. It’s unfortunate some people don’t get this.”