Friendship Place

On any given night in Washington, DC , thousands of men and women do not have a home to sleep in. Homeless people, and those who are at risk of experiencing homelessness, rely on shelters and transitional apartments in order to get themselves through difficult times.

Friendship Place, a nonprofit in the District, empowers the people of this marginalized community through programs that address significant areas of need. These programs offer support to homeless and at-risk persons in regards to housing, job placement, meals, showers, laundry, and medical care.

One impressive component of Friendship Place is the Permanent Support Housing service that they provide. The purpose of PSH is, "to empower people with serious mental health challenges, addictions, physical illnesses and/or disabilities to transition into housing and rebuild their lives."

What sets Friendship Place apart from other supportive housing providers is the organization's come-as-you-are policy. One branch of the Permanent Support Housing program is Neighbors First, a "nonjudgmental and non-coercive" model of homeless services that does not force people out based on sobriety requirements. The residents set their own goals and work with managers at Friendship Place to achieve them. The result? "Housing stability rates of better than 98 percent."

Friendship Place began in the shadow of resistance. Initial efforts 25 years ago to create a shelter led to protests from some residents. But still others persisted, and what has grown since is a reminder of the might of the determined few. Today, Friendship Place serves more than 1,600 people each year.

To learn more about Friendship place and the services they offer, visit their website. To view a list of items you can donate to the organization, click here; to see how you can volunteer at Friendship Place, click here.

Sarah's Circle

According to the United States Census Bureau, approximately 10% of people 65 and older in our country live in poverty. Since this demographic is less likely to be employed than younger generations, they are prone to falling into poverty with no way out. To support this at-risk segment of society, Sarah's Circle provides affordable housing for low-income senior citizens in the District of Columbia.

Sarah's Circle supports successful independent living by providing support services and individualized care to its residents. The average age of the residents at Sarah’s Circle is 74, and every member of the community has a fixed income at or below the poverty level. The organization does more than simply offer elderly folks an affordable place to live. Sarah's Circle is dedicated to fostering a sense of community by encouraging its residents to make friends and get involved in group activities. Programs that emphasize nutrition, art, health, and exercise are available to all of the residents who live at Sarah's Circle.

Sarah's Circle combats feelings of isolation and loneliness in its residents by providing abundant opportunities to socialize, from book club and yoga to watercolor painting and exercise classes. As one resident, Mrs. Patricia Kelly said, “My whole outlook on life is different since moving to Sarah’s Circle. I like Sarah’s Circle as it is a great community with great people.”

Horton's Kids

If you’re looking for a nonprofit organization that focuses on empowering at risk youth to fulfill their true potential despite their circumstances, then you’re looking for Horton’s Kids.

Operating on the mission statement that “circumstances should not dictate a child’s future, and every child should graduate from high school ready to succeed in college, career, and life," Horton’s Kids is living up to that standard by providing 500 children out of Ward 8, where most family’s annual income is at or below 10,000, of Washington DC with various support services, including addressing basic health needs and a Community Resource Center. 

Children inWard 8 face numerous challenges, including living with one of the highest crime rates in the city, and underachieving schools where only 15 percent of elementary students are reading at grade level. Horton’s Kids is working to combat these problems by providing a comprehensive model of support. 

Horton’s Kids was founded in 1989 by Karin Walsh, a woman who wanted to provide impoverished youth with new experiences that broadened their perspectives on life and opportunities available to them. One evening, Ms. Walsh was approached by several children who asked to pump her gas in exchange for spare change. Instead, Ms. Walsh offered them a trip to the zoo. That was the spark. Since then, Horton’s Kids has grown into a dynamic organization, thanks to an active volunteer force as well as federal partnerships. Learn more and get involved.

Back on My Feet

We use a lot of ambulatory and foot-related idioms: Walk a mile in her shoes, pulled up by his bootstraps, on my own two feet... you get the picture. Usually, it's all metaphor, but this week's DDG featured org, Back on My Feet, is getting literal about it (like actually literal, not like "OMG, I literally died when she showed up wearing the same dress as me").
Back on My Feet uses running as a means of helping people who are fighting homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless. The philosophy behind the program is that the physical act of running can provide the self-confidence and energy needed to take the next steps (that wasn't even on purpose!) toward job training, education and self-sustainability. With Back on My Feet, clients can find a way to do more than just put one foot in front of the other (okay, that one was planned). 

Shepherd's Table

Fighting Hunger 

Since 1983, Shepherd's Table has been serving the homeless population in Silver Spring. The organization's services include meals, an eye clinic and a clothes closet. The resource center provides clients with a range of offerings from blankets and toiletries to Social Service referrals and access to prescription medication. 

Executive director Jacki Coyle remembers a woman she met last year. "You saved my life," the woman said. "Shepherd’s Table was there for me 10 years ago. If not for all the help you gave me, I would have died on the street.” 

"All I could do was to say thank you to her," said Jacki, "to let her know that it was an honor for us to serve her."

"What I find most rewarding in my work each day is serving with an amazingly dedicated staff as together we share our hearts and skills in the pursuit of providingcompassionate social services, nourishing meals, eye care, clothing and more to over 2,400 folks who are hungry and homeless in our community." - Jacki Coyle, executive director at Shepherd's Table

Common Good City Farm

Do Good For the Common Good

At Common Good City Farm, more than 5,000 pounds of food each year are shared with the community through CSA's and programs like Green Tomorrows, which provide nutrition education and produce to income-qualifying individuals. In addition to youth learning opportunities, Seed to Table and other workshops provide individuals with knowledge about gardening, nutrition and cooking. Learn about sustainable agriculture and community engagement. Support programs that help ensure food security for our neighbors in need.

If you like to get down and dirty, here's a great volunteer opportunity for you. Dig in with Common Good City Farm in LeDroit Park, a neighborhood where poverty, obesity and health-threatening conditions like diabetes are growing epidemics. Access to nutritious, fresh food can make a world of difference, and you can help! Learn about sustainable agriculture and community engagement. Support programs that help ensure food security for our neighbors in need. Or if you're more of the type to keep your hands clean, check out CGCF's Amazon Wish List. 

Latino Economic Development Center

Creating Success

The catalyst for the beginning of the Latino Economic Development Center was tragedy: The shooting of a Latino man by a DC police officer, and the subsequent outpouring of violence and protests known as the Mount Pleasant Riots. A group of citizens decided to take a stand, that for those who had left poverty and persecution in their old countries deserved advocacy, aid and opportunity for advancement in their new one. In 2014, LEDC invested more than $1.5 million to help more than 100 small businesses start and expand, aided more than 3000 families with affordable housing, prevented nearly 150 foreclosures, in addition to helping Latinos and other DC-area residents find employment, become financially literate and develop business acumen. 

Planting Dreams 

The American Dream is essentially the ideal that every citizen have an equal opportunity to achieve success if he is willing to work for it. The Latino Economic Development Center helps clients take the steps toward achieving that American Dream. It doesn't look the same for everyone. For some, it might mean owning a small business, while for others home ownership is the most meaningful goal. LEDC teaches clients how to ask the right questions, make smart choices and advocate for themselves as they move toward the future.

Community of Hope

TRANSFORMED BY HOPE

Alanda Braxton-Miles was sick.

 She was swollen and tired. She was gaining weight. Her hair was falling out.

 Her physician wasn’t looking hard enough for answers. She was tired of visiting the emergency room. So she went to Community of Hope’s Conway Health and Resource Center.

“My doctor took time to listen,” she said. “She’s loving and caring. I know she’s busy, but she treats every patient like they’re her only one!”

 Finally, Alanda got her diagnosis: Diabetes. And after receiving the proper treatment to manage her condition, most of the symptoms have disappeared. 

 "I've had a physical transformation,” she said, “from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet." 

 “To be able to see the impact our services have on people,” said Community of Hope development and marketing manager Karis Erwin, “that was a really special day.”

Since 1980, Community of Hope has been working to help low-income families in DC find stability, in the forms of home, health and income.

“Many times people who come to us for help don’t need support in just one area, but wrap around services that touch multiple parts of their life,” Karis said.

A pediatric exam at Conway Health Center/Photo courtesy of Community of Hope

Health services are available to anyone, regardless of ability to pay.

Three facilities, in Bellevue, Carver-Langston and Adams Morgan, provide medical, dental and behavioral health services for men, women and children.

“There are significant challenges to health care,” said Karis. “There’s a higher infant mortality rate, increased deaths from diabetes and AIDS, need for increased access to primary medical care, dental care and behavioral health support in Wards 5,6,7 and 8.” 

HOPE AND INDEPENDENCE

About 80 percent of Community of Hope’s housing clients live in Wards 7 and 8, which have the highest unemployment rates in the city. As of Jan., 2015, the unemployment rates in Wards 7 and 8 were 13.1 and 16.2 respectively, according to the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services.

“These are individuals we’re really trying to target to work with them on job skills, helping them access benefits, and find the resources they need to find and keep jobs,” she noted.

A Community of Hope housing client shows off her space/Photo courtesy of Community of Hope

The housing component of Community of Hope ranges from rapid re-housing – families and individuals who need a few months of help to get on their feet – to permanent supportive housing, which consists of having a lease in ones own name and paying up to 30 percent of rent from income.

Housing clients are referred by the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center.

Monique Walls lives in one of COH’s Rapid Re-Housing apartments with her 3-year-old son.

 After being laid off from a position she’d held for 14 years, Monique could no longer pay rent, and was eventually evicted. The DC General Shelter was an unhealthy environment for her child, who had heart problems as a baby.

 The two spent 11 months in a motel before finding Community of Hope. Now, Monique and her son not only have a safe place to live, she has support. Monique is actively searching for employment.

 “It’s programs like Community of Hope that make me feel hope – for myself and others like me," she said. "It’s giving me an opportunity to gain my independence back. I needed help and Community of Hope has just been such a blessing.”

WORKING FOR HOPE

Community of Hope's in-house workforce development program allows clients to work with employment specialists who help them with resumes, job leads and interview techniques.

A soft-skills development program focused on customer service is available to COH clients. Here, they learn not just how to get a job, but how to keep one. Topics include how to accept feedback from supervisors, avoiding co-worker conflicts, and how to deal with difficult customers, valuable skills, indeed, for nearly every working person.

After completing the six-week program, David Mitchell landed a job as a wheelchair escort at Dulles Airport, a great relief for the 31-year-old, who had been unemployed for three years.

 Through Community of Hope, David learned the confidence and poise required to make an interview turn into a job.

 “Community of Hope saw something in me,” he said. "I found it, and now I’ve been working for six months. I’m going to be proud to do my taxes this year.”

Workforce Development class/Photo courtesy of Community of Hope

COH has a dedicated and motivated staff, from the doctors and nurses who staff the health centers to CEO Kelly Sweeney McShane who, on March 24, was named one of eight Women of Excellence by Mayor Muriel Bowser, The Office on Women's Policy & Initiatives and the DC Commission for Women.

Like most nonprofit organizations, however, Community of Hope relies on loving and dedicated volunteers and mentors, people like Ellie Matthews. 

For the past four years, Ellie has been a mentor with COH. She's been working with her current mentee, an elementary school girl, for two years. They spend their time together experiencing many of DC's cultural opportunities -- the National Zoo, or an Italian Christmas celebration at the Portrait Gallery, to name a few.

"I've been able to see her grow up," Ellie said of the child. "I enjoy the activities we do together. I can impart knowledge, and she teaches me things in a different way."

Despite any challenges she and her colleagues face in their work, Karis Erwin said the opportunity to see hope coming to fruition keeps her going.

“I’ve seen the lives that have been impacted and the lives that have been changed,” she said. “That’s motivation enough for me.”

Editor’s note: Sections in italics are based on stories sent to The Daily Do Good via e-mail by Community of Hope.

Move for Hunger

PROVIDING RELIEF TO FAMILIES IN NEED,
ONE TRUCK AT A TIME 

If you’ve lived long enough, you know the chaos that is moving. Oftentimes, during the process of packing and transporting countless boxes to a new home or apartment, a lot of food is thrown away. Unfortunately, a great deal of that food is perfectly fine and could be donated to a family in need instead of being tossed in the trash.

With 49.1 million Americans not knowing where their next meal is coming from, that’s where Move for Hunger comes to the rescue. Based in New Jersey, and serving areas across the United States, including DC,the crew at Move for Hunger works closely with moving companies across the country to pick up “unwanted, non-perishable food items from those who are moving and deliver it to their local food banks,” according to its website. 

Founder Adam Lowy (his family owns Lowy’s Moving Service) grew up seeing how much food gets thrown out when people move. That didn’t sit well with him, so in 2009, he decided to do something about it.  

“One day, [Lowy] asked his father if it would be all right to offer to take the food to the food bank and his father responded ‘Why not?’” said Erika Oman, Move for Hunger’s communications and events manager. “Just by asking that simple question, he collected more than 300 pounds of food in only one month, and it just sort of grew from there. Our mission is to ensure that food is never thrown out.”
 

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Here’s how Move for Hunger works: When you’re ready to move, you call the organization ahead of time, set aside any non-perishable food items you’d like to donate on your front porch, and a mover will pack the food and deliver it to your local food bank. 

To date, Move for Hunger has donated – wait for it – 5.2 million pounds of food and delivered more than 4,178,962 meals to food banks located across North America. Pretty impressive, right? On top of that, the nonprofit has established partnerships with 601 relocation companies throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Move for Hunger was recognized for its outstanding service when Lowy was honored on VH1’s Do Something Awards as a finalist back in 2011.

Move for Hunger founder Adam Lowy with actor Terrence Howard

“This goes out to the 17 million American children who do not have enough to eat right now and all the movers already across the country who are working to make this a solution and really bring relief to those in need,” Lowy said during his acceptance speech. “I urge you if you are a mover, if you know a mover, join our efforts and help us fight hunger in America.”

Lowry walked away that night with a $10,000 grant to help take Move for Hunger to the next level.

Taking it to the next level isn’t a new concept for the folks at Move for Hunger. They’re always brainstorming new and cool ways to raise awareness and money for the organization. On September 13 for instance, Move for Hunger held its second annual Truck Pull competition. Each participant was asked to donate $10 and 100 percent of the proceeds go toward Move for Hunger.

MOVES LIKE ERICA

Graduate student Erica Dick is busy pursuing her MBA at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey, but in between classes, she finds the time to volunteer at Move for Hunger. In the short amount of time that she’s volunteered at the organization, she said it’s already been a rewarding experience so far.

“I help set up food drives and write press releases,” Dick said. “It’s always been important for me to help out and give back to others and truthfully, I enjoy it. It’s great to see how many other people want to help out and do their part as well.”

Her advice for others who want to make a difference? “Any contribution helps, whether it’s donating time or food – it could be a little or it could be a lot,” Dick said.

Those interested in getting involved can organize a fundraiser, join a race team, or start a food drive. Move for Hunger recommends holding the food drives at grocery stores, libraries, sporting events and tournaments, churches, and golf outings, just to name a few.

“There are nearly 50 million Americans who are affected by food insecurity and when you think about how 40 percent of food in America ends up in a landfill, it’s upsetting,” Oman said. “What we want is for people is to donate their food when they move instead of throwing it away. You can do your part and help us fight hunger.”

Move for Hunger food drive

About the Author: Princess Gabbara is a Michigan-based journalist and freelance writer (Ebony, Essence, etc.). You can read more of her work on her blog. She also tweets @PrincessGabbara.

Miriam's Kitchen

WELCOME TO MIRIAM'S KITCHEN

The kitchen at Miriam's Kitchen

“Hi,” the man with the bird scarf tied jauntily around his neck says, offering a hearty handshake. “I’m Michael Ford. I’m chronically homeless. I like farting around with collages.”

Michael, and others, can indulge their artistic inclinations at Miriam’s Studio, the twice-daily therapeutic art sessions at Miriam’s Kitchen, in Foggy Bottom.

Every day, the staff and volunteers at Miriam’s Kitchen fight to help their neighbors in need. From meals to permanent supportive housing services, the goal is help clients not just survive, but thrive.

Raised as a military brat, Michael, 58 (“I should have said 58 and seven-eighths”) spent most of his adult life in Colorado, where he worked in mechanical maintenance. After losing his job, his home, and being denied disability for benefits for bi-polar disorder, he came to DC in spring of 2014.

Michael Ford, collagist and Miriam's Kitchen client

He first came to Miriam’s Kitchen to get a state ID, he said, and kept coming back. “If they had showers and laundry,” he said, “it’d be the cat’s meow.” 

Setting up for studio time. This is also where meals are served, where case managers meet with clients, and where yoga classes take place.

All services at Miriam’s Kitchen are pro bono; the studio is as anonymous as the client wants it to be.

“If you come in here and you say your name is Jesus, you’re welcome,” said Kate, art therapist and case manager

She described Miriam’s Studio as“super collaborative, person-centered” and “not too therapy-ish.”

“This is a place people can chill out and engage in services in a different place. “

“A lot of our guests don’t have their own living room,” said Meg Dominguez, senior case manager. “We view this as a place for our guests to hang out and be.”

 

 

THE WISE OWL

Shandell is a Miriam’s Kitchen guest most days. He enjoys beading. His time in Miriam’s Studio, he said, helps him to relieve the stress he can feel when dealing with “peer problems,” – people who come along, people who don’t understand.

“I find it interesting,” he said, laying a pattern of beads for what he called a wise owl necklace. “It gives me peace of mind.”

Shandell creates a pattern of beads for his wise owl necklace. 

Raised by his grandparents, Shandell never knew his father. He was kicked out of his home as a teenager. “I’m still lost,” he says.

At present, Shandell is in his first year of permanent supportive housing, learning the day-to-day work of taking care of having “a room of ones own,” to hearken back to freshman literature classes.

Shandell wears a beaded necklace he made

“It can be overwhelming,” director of communications Tom Murphy said. “It’s not like you’re lined up at an apartment and all your problems go away.”

In fact, he said, no longer having to worry about the immediate needs – where to sleep, for example, forces people to have to focus on longer-term needs – say, employment – which can cause extreme stress.

Shandell is trying, he said. “I always make my bed every morning before I leave the house.” He wants to get his teeth fixed, get his high school diploma, study law and cyber security.

Michael created this collage at Miriam's Studio

“I keep pushing.”

Many people who have moved out of homelessness come back to Miriam’s Kitchen and to the studio because they feel supported here. Michael creates collages as gifts for the staff members, who have been kind to him.

He showed off a few of his collages, one featuring celebrity faces, the other with a political bent. There are photos of Hillary and Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan with a chimpanzee, Ted Cruz with a heart over his body, elephants and donkeys.

“I like Hillary,” he declared. “I think she’d be great for 2016. There’s a lot of know-how and knowledge.”

Like Shandell, Michael continues to look to the future. He’d like to own his own business, he said.

 

 

 

EVERY NEW THING IS A BEGINNING

Bea is happy to focus on the present. At 81,she is accentuating the positive.

“I enjoy Paradise,” she said. “I am enjoying God’s present. Every new thing is a beginning.”

Bea studied piano and ballet in her youth, she said

She smiles at Tom. “Thank you for serving us.”

The services provided by Miriam’s Kitchen depend on the kindness of friends and strangers alike.

“If we’re serious about our mission, we really can’t do it unless we get a new kind of collaboration,” said Tom.

One of the challenges to collaboration, he said, is that oftentimes people in the private sector don’t know how they can help. But there are plenty of ways to do so. Last year, The Advisory Board Company did some pro bono research for Miriam’s Kitchen.

Dinner menu at Miriam's Kitchen

Georgetown Cupcakes makes weekly donations. Foggy Bottom Farmers Market donates food they won’t be able to use, as does Trader Joe’s. Individuals and families provide in-kind donations year round.

Because of in-kind donations, Tom said, the cost of meals – 87,000 in total served last year – comes out to about 35 cents per plate. Most of the donations go to services, many of which are provided thanks to the more than 2500 volunteers who give their time.

Presently, said communications manager Martha Wolf, they are looking for volunteers to help run creative writing groups for Miriam’s Studio.

As she crochets a beanie, Bea talks about her life in North Korea. “I studied cosmetology, I played piano, I did ballet for 20 years.” She encourages people to take classes, sharing that she enjoys swimming and playing tennis. She attends yoga classes at Miriam’s Kitchen once a week.

“I can do anything,” she announces, stretching her leg over her head. Yes, that’s correct, this 81-year-old woman can put her leg over her head.

Bea holds up one finger to make a point.

“Say ‘I can.’”

Volunteers help prepare dinner at Miriam's Kitchen

About the Author: Holly Leber is the editorial director at The Daily Do Good. She is not remotely able to stretch her leg over her head. 

DC Central Kitchen

DC Central Kitchen:
Not Your Mama's Soup Kitchen

Carla Hall’s culinary talents and sparkling smile have made her a household name. But for all her blessings, Carla never forgets that there are households struggling to put meals on the table. That’s why she supports DC Central Kitchen.

First encountering DCCK in 1995 as a culinary school student, Carla has maintained a special relationship with the organization, serving on the board of directors, participating in the Capital Food Fight fundraiser, and promoting DC Central Kitchen as one of the hosts of ABC’s The Chew.

It is not, said partnerships and planning coordinator Katherine Eklund, a typical soup kitchen. DC Central Kitchen serve about 80 social services agencies every day, providing 5,000 meals to help the agencies focus on moving their clients forward.

“Our goal isn’t just to keep feeding people meals,” Katherine said. “Our goal is to ensure people don’t need those meals.”

A graduate of the DC Central Kitchen job training program tells his story. Courtesy of WJLA TV

Of DCCK’s many valuable programs, one that sticks out in Carla’s mind is the Culinary Job Training program, which trains unemployed and underemployed, homeless and previously incarcerated adults for careers in the food service industry.

“It’s something we take for granted,” Carla said, “having a work ethic. There is nothing more life changing than seeing somebody (at training graduation) being able to show his family, “I’ve changed. I’m going through a metamorphosis.”

Many of the Job Training graduates stay on as volunteers. Carla recalls one woman who had a perpetual smile.

“She didn’t have the greatest teeth, but she smiled. She was a beacon of light. Whenever you went there, her answer was ‘yes, how can I help’ you can have absolutely nothing, but when you have a smile to give people, it changes people. It changes the people who are coming through the doors. You can change people with a smile and a positive attitude.”

 

Top Ten Reasons We Love
DC Central Kitchen

1.     DC Central Kitchen helps fight food waste. They recover quality food that would have otherwise been discarded, simply because of appearance, from wholesalers, and convert it into healthy meals.

2.     They distribute nutritious meals and snacks to corner stores in DC’s food deserts, helping ensure people in all neighborhoods have access to healthy, affordable food.

3.     In 2013, DCCK served more than 2100 young people through agencies promoting youth mentorship, health education and job readiness.

Photo courtesy of DC Central Kitchen

4.      DC Central Kitchen is invested in its Culinary Job Training graduates, providing ongoing services, job assistance, and even grocery bundles.

5.     DC Central Kitchen invests in children. They work with 10 schools in Wards 7 and 8 to provide nutritious meals every day.

6.     DCCK supports the environment and local economy. Thirty percent of items for school meals are grown locally or nearby.

Photo courtesy of DC Central Kitchen

7.     The Culinary Job Training program isn’t just about skills, it’s about people. The program includes a self-empowerment course to help students deal with their challenges and learn strategies for overcoming them.

8.     By delivering meals to 80 partner agencies, DC Central Kitchen saved those agencies more than $3.7 million in food costs last year, allowing both money and time to be spent focusing on the missions.

9.     From karaoke parties to easy food donations, DC Central Kitchen offers plenty of ways for you to make a contribution.

10. DC Central Kitchen puts its money where their mouth is: The catering service – Fresh Start Catering – employs graduates of the job training program. 

 

DC Central Kitchen
Quips 'n Quotes

"Using food as our tool, we strive focus on the root causes of hunger and poverty work to empower men and women to live lives of self-sufficiency... Ultimately, the Kitchen is about creating systems of empowerment that create a more just food system for all. - Michael Curtin, Chief Executive Officer, DC Central Kitchen

“Health is as much of a focus as it can be.” – Tracey Sero, Assistant Director of Kitchen Operations

“If it weren’t for DC Central Kitchen, I don’t know where I’d be.” – Marvin, served 30 years in prison, now employed at DC Central Kitchen

“Hunger is a symptom of other issues. It’s caused by other problems and it causes other problems.” – Katherine Eklund, Partnerships and Planning Coordinator

“I enjoy working with the volunteers. I have a lot of gratitude.” – Tarina, production chef, 2010 graduate of the Culinary Job Training program

“DC Central Kitchen taught me hyper-focus, and a dedication to detail and learning new things.” – Abby Woods, 2013 DCCK Culinary Job Training graduate, now employed in the kitchen of the Eisenhower Executive Office building.

“Remember to go and visit any of your soup kitchens during, as they say in the Catholic church, ordinary times, and not just during the holidays, because the need is 365 days a year.” – Carla Hall

Photo courtesy of Carla Hall

Want to know Carla Hall's celebrity crush? And what her Thanksgiving dessert of choice would be? Check out our Outtakes with Carla Hall!

A Wider Circle

Hurricane Poverty

FIGHTING A CRISIS

 

At A Wider Circle, the key word is dignity.

“A lot of the clients have been through a difficult situation, so we want this to be an uplifting experience,” said Laura Whitson, in-kind donations and marketing coordinator.

The mission of A Wider Circle is simple: To end poverty, one individual, one family at a time. A Wider Circle features programs ranging from job preparedness training and wellness to furniture supply.

Indeed, the first thing one notices upon entering the facility is how very dignified it looks. The space is set up like a department store showroom. There is a section with children’s toys and books, one with racks of kitchen and dining supplies, a large space with couches and easy chairs displayed in the center, with shelves and desks along the walls.

“If you have nothing, you’ve already had the worst of things,” said executive director Mark Bergel, “and now it’s time for you to get the best of things.”

Bergel founded A Wider Circle in 2001, after volunteering to deliver food to underserved families in the Washington DC area. Struck by the effects of poverty – families without enough food, without access to health care, without beds – Mark launched the nonprofit out of his living room.

“You’re always reminded about the needs,” he said. “Whenever I’m in the homes of people I serve, I’m reminded of why I do this. It doesn’t take much. Every person I meet, every home I visit, that’s when I realize this is what we have to do.”



Today, A Wider Circle has served more than 150,000 individuals. Fifteen to 20 families visit the center each day to collect furniture for their homes, free of charge.

At the Center for Professional Development, the focus is on job preparedness – resume writing and interview skills, among others. Job coaches are available to help on a one-on-one basis. And the showroom boasts professional attire and accessories for men and women. Even trying on a new, professional outfit, Laura said, a visible change can be seen in the client.

Additional programs include wellness workshops, particularly those focused on mothers and babies, as well as collaborations with the District of Columbia Housing Authority and resident councils to benefit residents of public housing.

Mark said the greatest challenge he faces in his work is getting people to believe that ending poverty is a realistic goal.

“We have to believe we can do this if we are going to do this,” he said. “Why in the world would we accept poverty? We have enough intelligence and enough creativity that we ought to be able to end poverty in this region with no problem, as long as we have the courage to commit to it. It's that we don't commit because we don't believe we can do it. A lot of people want to help others, but I'd like to see us go all out. Every day for people in poverty is like Katrina. We've got to look at it like the crisis that it is, and if we do look at it as a crisis, I think we'll muster up the courage to end it. 

Photo courtesy of A Wider Circle

TOP TEN REASONS WE LOVE

A Wider Circle

1. The folks at A Wider Circle doesn’t just want to give things to people in need, they want to give respect. Every client is treated with dignity.

2. The approach is holistic. A Wider Circle serves the body, the mind and the home. It’s not just about furniture, or computer skills, or the right clothes for a job interview. Every element is part of giving people a better future.

3. They know you can’t do it alone. You know that expression “it takes a village”? Here are some members of A Wider Circle’s village.

4. Executive director Mark Bergel practices what he preaches. One of the goals of A Wider Circle is to make sure every man, woman and child has a bed to sleep in. And until that day, Bergel says, he won’t sleep in one. “It's a lot easier to serve well, to serve effectively when you know what people are going through,” he said. “The least I can do is to put a little bit of urgency into my work, and not having a bed helps me stay urgent.”

5.  Brown’s Beds. DC couple Ann and Donald Brown donated $100,000 toward the purchase of beds for clients. Others sought to give what they could toward a donation match. Mr. and Mrs. Brown recently announced a second donation once the original was matched. That’s more than $3,000 donated toward beds.

The Professional Development Center at A Wider Circle. Photo provided by A Wider Circle.

6.     Every participant in AWC’s job preparedness program is provided with an individual job coach. That one-on-on advice can be absolutely essential when trying to figure out the next steps.

7.     They are bringing people together in pursuit of a goal. On March 28, A Wider Circle will host the National Conference on Ending Poverty. More about that as it gets closer.

8.     There are a ton of volunteer opportunities, and the whole family can get involved. Volunteers can do everything from haul furniture to help with personal shopping.

9.      The Wydler Brothers. Along with a number of partners, the DC-based real agents (and brothers) Hans and Steve Wydler pledged to donate 1,000 beds to A Wider Circle in 2015. Join the 1,000 Bed Challenge.

10. The folks at A Wider Circle are tenacious in pursuit of their goal. “It's that we don't commit because we don't believe we can do it,” said Mark Bergel. “If we saw the finish line, we'd probably all sprint to it. A  lot of people want to help others, but I'd like to see us go all out.”

The Wydler Brothers. Photo from Arlington Magazine. Click on the picture to link to original page. 

TESTIMONIALS

"My heart is full. I feel good. I got nice things that I really needed. I got sick last year and I was in hospital from January through June. My children don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore and I can take the sheets off of my windows.” – A Wider Circle client

Photo from A Wider Circle

"The skepticism that we can end poverty is one of my biggest challenges. Why in the world would we accept poverty? We have enough intelligence and enough creativity that we ought to be able to end poverty in this region with no problem,as long as we have the courage to commit to it.” – Mark Bergel, executive director

“For the first time in my life, I’m doing what I love. The first time I came here, I wasn’t getting paid, but I felt like the happiest woman in the world.” – Alice Njeri Hartfield, volunteer

“A Wider Circle helped me start back on my feet again and made me feel like I was getting somewhere in my life. I was able to provide the children with beds, their dressers, dining room table, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, something to eat on – I didn’t have anything. It’s gotten me back on my feet.“ – Michelle, client

“Some of the people are escaping abuse or transitioning out of homelessness. You see the change when you treat them with dignity.” – Laura Whitson, In-Kind Donations and Marketing Coordinator

Alice Njeri Hartfield, Photo provided by A Wider Circle

“It is a lot of hard work, and I am ready for that. A Wider Circle blessed me and my family, and now I am working full time and going to school at night. I am ready for whatever it takes.“ - Yvette, Adult Education graduate

“I love that I can come into what we call work everyday and really make an impact in my community. It can be tough to know that so many people are in need, but about half of those calls are from people who want to help. It can be really uplifting to know that people want to respond to that need.”  - Audrey Glasebrook, development associate

“Everybody defines success in a different way. What we’re aiming for in our job prep is for people to be employed full time. I just enjoy observing some of our participants, and seeing some of those changes as they move forward on their journey to finding employment. I would love for businesses and companies in the area to give our participants a chance.” – Liz Anne Ganiban, director of education

"Mark Bergel inspired me to do a lot of things. Mark is the closest thing to an angel I know. I've never felt more comfortable giving to anything than I do to A Wider Circle. It makes me feel so good knowing all the money I'm giving is going to such a good cause." - Donald Brown, Brown's Beds

An adult education class. Photo from A Wider Circle

Editor's Note: In order to protect the privacy of A Wider Circle's clients, all client testimonials were provided by A Wider Circle.

Manna Food Center

BOXES OF HOPE

Manna Food Center is in the box-giving business.

No, not that type of box.

Certainly not that type of box!

THIS type of box.

More than 170 of them each day, in fact. Each is filled with a variety of foods to help Montgomery County families in need.

This isn’t just a bring-cans-in, pass-cans-out distribution center. The organization exists to “mobilize the community to keep people well-fed,” said Jackie DeCarlo, Manna’s executive director.

Manna works directly with grocery stores, bakeries and other suppliers to take the food they can’t sell and put it to good use. Other donations come from all over the county: Girl Scout troops, synagogues and individuals dropping off a few items they picked up on their last grocery run. It’s truly a combined effort. 

They also take the idea of being “well-fed” very seriously. Manna employs nutritionists and educators to work directly with the people they’re serving. While waiting in line, clients can watch a flat screen TV showing healthy recipes and tips on eating better. The boxes themselves are prepared with a balanced, holistic diet in mind. Manna’s partnerships with local farms and retailers gives them the chance to provide fresh produce, as well as the standard non-perishable fare.

A DAY AT MANNA FOOD CENTER

Manna’s truck drivers arrive at 6:30 a.m. They visit between eight and ten stores a day, arriving back at the distribution center around lunch time. Once back, the drivers help offload the donations into the warehouse. Some then head back out to one of Manna’s network of satellite distribution centers. 

“There’s times when they’re not done until 8:30 at night,” said Trostle. “It’s not unusual for me to see a 13-hour day put in by these guys.”

Volunteers begin rolling in around 9 a.m. They start by helping organize the newly arrived food, packing boxes, and getting things prepared for distribution. When the doors open at noon, volunteers are up front at the distribution table, ready with carts to ferry boxes and bags of food to clients’ vehicles. 

In the evenings, when most have gone home for the day, a different group of volunteers arrives. “Elves,” Kevin calls them. In the morning, staff and volunteers arrive to find the pallets, once stacked with various food items, now stacked high with brown boxes that are sorted, sealed and ready to go.

Volunteers serve Manna in other capacities as well. The referrals office serves as a sort of one-stop shop for client sign-up, customer service, and daily logistical and administrative work. At any given moment, there is a veritable platoon of people manning the desks and service windows -- two employees, and three or four volunteers. Other volunteers help out off-site. Director of development Mark Foraker recounted a recent food drive that took place at 27 branches of a major grocery chain, over the course of a two-day weekend: “Mathematically, even if only one of [the staff] took each store, it would be impossible to do.” Once again, the volunteers came through.

Managing an operation of Manna’s scale is an ongoing task. Staff members, full-time and part-time, work alongside volunteers and partner organizations to provide more than 2.1 million pounds of food each year. These social servants work from sun-up to sundown, weekdays and weekends, so that the people and businesses of Montgomery County can come together to support one another in times of need. Manna provides a wonderful example of what can happen when neighbors reach out to neighbors.

 

STORIES FROM MANNA

Many people see organizations like Manna Food Center as serving the poor, homeless and unemployed. The fact is, Manna helps out a wide range of people, each with different reasons for coming through the door. The phrase “working poor” can describe the average Manna client -- underemployed, seasonally employed, or employed in an unstable field – someone who doesn’t always need a helping hand, who but finds themselves stretching to make ends meet every now and then. 

The following were adapted from “The Stories of Manna: Narratives from the Ground,” a collection of profiles compiled by University of Maryland graduate student Sarah Lazarus. Names have been changed to protect confidentiality.

Art from Manna Food Center

The volunteers at Manna Food Center pack boxes to distribute more than 16,000 pounds of food each day, according to Manna's 2014 annual report.

Joann is a single mother. She first found Manna when she lost her job as a caretaker. When Joann was working, she qualified for daycare assistance from Social Services. Once she became unemployed, however, that assistance either ended or, in other cases, became logistically impossible to use. While she picks up some money by looking after her friends’ children or doing their hair, it’s not enough to make ends meet. Manna’s assistance allows Joann to feed herself and her daughter while she continues to search for a paid position that will either allow her the schedule to take care of her family or, ideally, pay enough for her to afford a nanny.

Laila has spent the last 13 years working as a certified nurse’s assistant in hospitals and private homes. Since the income from these jobs can be unsteady, she’s been working on her bachelor’s degree in nursing, with hopes for becoming a registered nurse. She’s only one semester from graduating, but she’s had to put her dream on hold to tend to her family. Laila’s son is also in college, and two tuitions was too much for the family of seven to handle. She, her husband and her son all work – a full-time minimum wage position and two part-time low-wage jobs among the three of them, but her family still relies on the folks at Manna to help them get by each month. 

Manna's Food for Families program feeds more than 37,600 families per month.

Varshea was born into a military family. She graduated from Largo High School, holds a certificate from Prince George’s Community College, and graduated from a career college in California, where she studied business. She had to give up her job at a bank, however, to return to Maryland to take care of her ailing mother, a task that makes it very difficult to find a full-time job. Varshea works part-time while tending to her family and paying back her student loans. Manna only sees her a few times a year, when she feels that she is truly in need of the help. Other times, when funds are less tight, she makes a point of giving back to the organization. “Even if it’s only three dollars, I donate when I can.”

Manna strives to provide nutritious food for clients. Click here for a wish list of donations from Manna Food Center.

These are just a few of the stories of Manna’s life-changing work. These are our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers. Normal, hard-working, caring people who just need that helping hand to get by. Every week, box by box, the staff, volunteers and supporters of Manna help write chapters in thousands of stories just like these.

About the Author: Jarrod Jabre is a theatre artist, educator, writer, theologian, and beer & wine specialist. He currently resides in Silver Spring with his fiancee, Bethany, and cat, Toby. In his free time, he likes to joke about having free time.

Bread for the City

MORE THAN BREAD ALONE

If you put on your magic hat and conjured up an organization that addressed all the needs of DC’s low-income residents, it would probably look something like Bread for the City. From its beginning partnership with Zacchaeus Free Clinic in a church basement 40 years ago, Bread for the City has grown to a multi-facility powerhouse providing comprehensive services for over 33,000 DC residents a year. Clients will find not only food, but also medical and dental care, legal services, health and wellness programs and, perhaps most importantly, a “client first” philosophy based on dignity and respect.

CEO George A. Jones has been with Bread for the City for about half its journey. Although he was not new to the sector prior to Bread for the City, his work with the organization opened his eyes to the real face of homelessness in DC: families.

“When we think of the homeless, most of us think about the single person standing on the street corner,” he said. Bread for the City’s holistic approach with families, however, is what makes the difference for him.

Image from Agua Fund

Bread for the City’s food pantries in Northwest and Southeast DC serve more than 24,000 DC residents a year. Both locations offer rooftop gardens, where clients grow their own food, and staff cultivate vegetables for the pantries. In the summer, a farmer’s market alternates between locations. Both sites also offer social services(housing assistance, employment readiness and representative payee programs) and legal clinics to help vulnerable residents facing landlord-tenant, public benefit and family law conflicts.

EVERYTHING FOR THE CITY

An additional benefit at the Southeast center is its clothing room, and the Northwest location’s special feature is its full medical and dental clinic, open to everyone in the community regardless of income. Neighborhood residents with medical insurance seek treatment side by side with Bread for the City clients in this modern health facility with a full-fledged lab, dispensary, eye clinic and dental treatment. Health and wellness classes such as yoga and maintaining a low-sodium, low-sugar diet help clients sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Artist Lana Wong of TICAH (Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health), who worked with Bread for the City clients in a partnership with WomenStrong DC Wellness./Photo by Tara Campbell

And did I mention Bread for the City’s 2.75-acre City Orchard in Beltsville, MD, with more than 2,500 trees that will produce more than 45,000 pounds of food for DC residents? Or Glean for the City, their program to rescue thousands of pounds of excess produce from farmers markets around the city that would otherwise go to waste?

Just Bread for the City? More like Everything for the City. So how do they do it all?

Committed staff and a sense of community are a huge part of it. As Communications Director Karen Byer said, “I feel like part of a family of one hundred people from varying backgrounds all moving in the same direction.” Clients feel a sense of respect and belonging, and often come back to volunteer at the pantry or orchard. “Clients feel good about being able to give something back,” said Byer.

GOOD HOPE

Don’t just take staff’s word about all the good Bread for the City can do.

A client speaking at the organization’s Good Hope Gala recently attested to the same thing. Quoting Ralph Ellison (“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness when greatness is expected.”), she thanked the organization for expecting more of her and helping her rise to greatness.

Even at a gala, an event that would seem the furthest removed from the lives of the people it serves, a genuine sense of community shone through. Far from a snobbish affair of elites clutching glasses of bubbly while admiring one another’s shoes, this was a night where clients, staff, friends and supporters ribbed one another and laughed, literally patting one another on the shoulder, fetching a chair or a plate of food for a friend, and having a good old time—while just happening to look sharp.

And as for the music? Now, you know Bread for the City wasn’t going to bring in some staid string quartet or pipe in easy-listening jazz. No, friends: DC’s very own Brass Connection Band, which often graces Dupont Circle and other corners of the city, topped off the evening with a loud, joyous salute to Bread for the City. Long after the food had been eaten and auction had been held—which, by the way, netted an astounding $770,000 toward anti-poverty programs—clients and supporters boogied the night away as the band played on.

Tara Campbell is a DC-based writer of crossover science fiction. When not writing, she likes tending to her own little balcony garden. Not exactly Bread for the City, but maybe Salad for One.

Goodwill of Greater Washington

GOODWILL ON A MISSION

When you clean out your closet or are in need of some cheap picture frames, what’s the first place you think of?

Chances are high you said Goodwill.

“Goodwill has very strong brand recognition,” said Brendan Hurley, chief marketing office of Goodwill of Greater Washington, “but where Goodwill is lacking is in mission awareness.”

The mission, according to Goodwill’s website, is “to transform lives and communities through the power of education and employment,” particularly for those with disabilities and disadvantages.

“Transforming is a word that really resonates,” said Hurley. “When someone is successfully employed, they can meet a variety of human needs.”

Needs including a roof over ones head, the ability to buy food, to keep the lights on, or keep the heat running in winter, the ability to get kids school supplies or sneakers or medicine when they’re sick.

“It provides necessities that many of us take for granted,” he said. “That is transformative.”

The organization uses the acronym RISE – respect, integrity, service and excellence – to reflect its core values.

Goodwill offers job training and placement programs in the fields of hospitality and security services, as well as career navigation. The latter is a generalized career enrichment program that includes resume and interview assistance, and job search and self-marketing tools.

Goodwill’s career services education programs feature individual assessments to find participants’ best career fit, and address the full job-training process, from initial search to job retention post-hire.

The retail stores that are associated with the Goodwill name help to fund that mission. Ninety-one cents on the dollar that comes into the stores goes to support Goodwill’s education and job training services.

“There is a disconnect between how we generate money to fund our mission and the mission itself,” Hurley said. “We work on correcting that everyday.” 
 

ALL THE YOUNG PROS

Aiding in the quest to spread Goodwill's mission is the Young Professionals Council. Members of the YPC act as brand ambassadors for Goodwill, familiarizing the community with the organization’s mission.

“People are surprised that Goodwill is more than where you buy cheap clothes, or where they can donate things,” said Samantha Penabad, chair of the Young Professionals Council. “We are able to change people's perception of what Goodwill does.”

Penabad, 26, works as a strategy consultant for Accenture Development Partnerships, helping organizations develop and accomplish their goals. She became involved with Goodwill and the YPC through her employer.

YPC's Board members at a retreat: Tahira Christmon, Melissa Sullivan, Samantha Penabad, Gloria Chou, Evelyn Smith, and Greg Allis./Photo courtesy of Melissa Sullivan

As chair, Penabad manages the day-to-day operations of YPC, including strategy and membership recruitment. A good YPC member, she said, is “intensely excited about community service.”

Members of the Young Professionals Council come from a wide range of professional backgrounds, but share the common goal of wanting to help Goodwill spread its mission.

“For me it has to do with providing opportunities, whether it be educational or vocational, for those in our community who have been affected by disabilities and disadvantages,” said Melisa Sullivan, YPC’s vice president of events. “I see Goodwill as a sort of safe haven. It's about empowering these individuals to live in a self-sustaining way.”

Sullivan, 29, has worked on Capitol Hill and in campaign finance fundraising. She has been a part of the Young Professionals Council since 2012.

The YPC is tasked with creating events that fit the lifestyle of DC’s young professionals, finding fun and unusual ways to engage them.

Guests browse the racks at the Goodwill Edited Summer Trunk Show, co-hosted by the Young Professionals Council.

“On any night in DC, you can go to 15 or 20 happy hours for a charitable organization,” Sullivan said. “We want to think outside the box. We want to engage people where they are.”

On July 11, the YPC will host a charity spinning event at Zengo Cycle in Logan Circle. While in the past, YPC has joined in on larger Goodwill events, this year the leadership is working toward more autonomy. Possible future events include a paint-and-sip, a cooking class, and thematic pop-up shops.

In addition to planning and attending events, members of the Young Professionals Council must meet a volunteer requirement, taking part in Goodwill’s programs. That can take the form of assisting with resume development, unloading donations, or anything in between.

“It’s important to be out there and see the impact that Goodwill has and see the people who are benefitting from these programs,” Sullivan said.

Hurley recalls a fashion show Goodwill held in Sept. 2014. The recent graduating class from the hospitality program was invited to walk down the runway. More than 200 people, who all now have jobs with Marriott, stepped up.

“They had huge smiles,” Hurley said. “Some of them were dancing. It was very moving, knowing the impact the program had on them.”

N Street Village

HEALING A BROKEN SPIRIT

Gisele knew N Street Village’s doors were open to her.

She had come here before, in 1991, homeless and drug addicted. More than 20 years later, the demons got the better of her again.

“I came here not having anything except a broken spirit,” she said.

Since 1972, N Street Village has been serving DC-area women affected by homelessness. From a drop-in day center with activities, food and access to laundry, to recovery programs and permanent supportive housing, N Street Village serves nearly 1,400 homeless and low-income women each year, according to the organization’s website.

“N Street Village really is a toolkit,” said chief development officer Stuart Elizabeth Allen.  “Each woman who comes here every day uses the tools to rebuild her life.”

 The first goal, she said, is to establish a sense of trust. Despite the services available, some women might not be ready to ask for more than a meal and a place to sit quietly at first. Integration can be gradual: A meal, a conversation, a yoga class or art session at Bethany Women’s Center, N Street’s drop-in day program. Then, if needed, entry into addiction recovery, mental and physical health services at N Street’s Wellness Center, and moving toward permanent supportive housing, and independent living.

“For some women,” Allen said, “this is home. Their highest level of self-sufficiency is going to be where they need this wrap-around service. And that’s okay.”

When she re-entered N Street Village in 2013, Gisele spent two months moving between a shelter and the day program. She eventually began a substance abuse program.

Now, she said, she tries to set an example for ladies who are new to the program. “The sky’s the limit for Gisele,” she said. “This is a place I can rebuild myself and try to live my dreams.”

Dreams like staying healthy, going back to school to become a substance abuse counselor, and helping her 29-year-old son build his life.

“There were periods in his life when I was just missing,” she said, “but I don’t believe in throwing in the towel.”

The biggest hurdle to overcome, she said, has been forgiving herself. 

 

IT'S THE CLIMB

Street Village offers a sense of community, particularly for those who have been missing that.

“It’s something we all crave and need,” Allen said.

Walking the halls of N Street Village, women greet one another heartily and by name. Throughout the halls, clients’ art hangs on the walls.

This past summer, interns Annabel Simpson and Devon Fore helped the women of N Street Village create a collage titled “It’s the Climb.” The work depicts mountains interspersed with stars and clouds. Written on the stars and clouds are goals and affirmations.

To keep my sobriety.
Become a mom.
Go to law school.
Graduate college.
Anything is possible, if only you believe.
There are no more clouds.

“The inspiration for me is recognizing the resilience of the women here,” said Devon, a peace building and development major at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.

“Some women think they aren’t creative,” said staff community organizer Sharon Hart, in a tone that expresses her disagreement with the sentiment. Referred to as the “heart of the village,” Hart has been on staff at N Street for 27 years. She oversees arts programs. The fruits of her labors can be seen everywhere.

A colorful cardboard butterfly hangs on the wall of Allen’s office. It symbolizes new beginnings.

N Street’s own beginnings can be found at Luther Place Memorial Church, across the street. Forty-three years ago, members of the church helped offer a place for homeless people to lay their heads at night – a series of mats on a floor.  Now, more than 200 women each night have a safe place to sleep.

Luther Place still serves as a night shelter and maintains a close relationship. Once a week, Rev. Karen Brau, pastor at Luther Place, leads the N Street Choir in song.

The choir recently performed at the swearing in of Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, or as anyone in the position is informally known, the drug czar.

Like many of the women at N Street Village, Botticelli himself once struggled with drug abuse. According to an April New York Times article, his goal is recovery, not punishment.

“Locking people up for minor drug offenses, and especially people with substance-use disorders, is not the answer,” the Times article quotes him as saying. “It’s cruel. It’s costly. And it doesn’t make the public any safer.”

N Street Village also cottons to this particular hands, not handcuffs, philosophy. Stuart Allen tells of a client who was sober for nine years, then relapsed. She began the climb back up the proverbial mountain, and tumbled down again.

“People are always looking for the success stories, “ Allen said. “But this is why we’re doing this. Women are going to move on, and N Street village is always going to be there. When (a relapse) happens, N Street village is always going to be there. That was a day I was like, ‘thank goodness we’re here.”

Painting Out Poverty

ART AS A COMMON LANGUAGE

Two years ago in Austin, Tex., Paulina Sosa and a group of painters wondered how they could use their art to bring attention to the issue of urban poverty. Their aim was to bring together allies and inspire action against homelessness and hunger, rather than depress people and make them feel hopeless. They formed a collective called Painting Out Poverty  to work on this problem.

But last fall, Sosa moved to Washington, DC to start her Master of Public Health at George Washington University. End of the group, right?

Wrong. Just the beginning.

As if a five-class courseload, three jobs and a health internship at the World Health Organization weren’t enough to keep her busy, Sosa launched POP in Washington, DC. The group landed a Knapp Fellowship for Entrepreneurial Service-Learning, a grant established by GWU to support social entrepreneurs who want to have an impact on the DC community.

“The arts are a common language that can have a healing effect, both on the people who are creating it and those who are receiving it,” said Sosa. The group capitalizes on the unifying effect of the arts to bring people together in a positive setting to advocate for anti-poverty policies. The artists benefit as well, says Sosa. “It gives them a platform to work with the community on socially conscious initiatives.”

Now, just a year after Sosa touched down, POP’s network of visual artists has expanded to include writers, musicians and an impressive array of community arts organizations. Its first event was a March fundraiser and book drive in conjunction with Reading Partners. And that was just the beginning. 

THE HEALING POWER OF ART

On Aug. 15, Painting Out Poverty hosted a day-long kick-off at the Westminster Presbyterian Church around the theme “The Healing Power of Art.” The work of local artists adorned the walls, and representatives of organizations such as Street Sense, Fuerza Contra Alzheimer’s and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop sat ready at tables to discuss how their organizations use the arts to combat poverty and illness.

One of the attendees was too big to fit inside the venue: A bus, painted white with gold dollar accents, sat in the parking lot outside. I Have a Home Here is a mobile, community-based art installation meant to illustrate the realities of poverty in the city. In a previous installation the bus was rendered invisible, representing the invisibility of the homeless. Future plans include creating a temple to homelessness in the interior of the bus, and making it a base for an interactive game of Homelessopoly, where players move around the board with backpacks, cardboard boxes and shopping carts, and give donations to Street Sense to get out of jail.

Back in the church, the day’s program began with an all-star panel, moderated by Juanita Hardy, Executive Director of Cultural DC, in which representatives from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Will Rap 4 Food and Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) joined CHAW, Fuerza Contra Alzheimer’s and the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian to discuss how artists and arts organizations can empower people, develop communities and transform lives. 

THE FUTURE OF POP

“Art has a role to play in addressing poverty, alienation and marginalization,” said Pastor Brian Hamilton. “For arts to be transformative, we have to get to the places where people don’t see themselves as being part of the arts.”

Navada Taylor of Will Rap 4 Food agreed. “Everyone on this panel knows that the arts community really sets the tone of what happens in society. If we intentionalize that, we can change society.”

Hardy provided the business case for the arts by detailing how arts centers have created jobs and led to economic development in communities like H Street and Columbia Heights.

The panel members were not alone in testifying to the healing power of art. James, a writer and vendor at the Street Sense table, described the arts as therapeutic. They relieve stress and helped him work through depression. “I could tune out the rest of the world and just concentrate on writing that poetry and creating that art.”

Artist: Raven Cain

In his eyes, the art workshops Street Sense offers are essential. “For our vendors it really makes a difference in their lives. Dealing with homelessness and poverty, it really helps to give them somewhere to go and give them an outlet.”

So what’s next for Painting Out Poverty?

Sosa says POP will partner with local organizations on painting and writing workshops in schools to empower students to tell their stories. She envisions a journal of short stories and poems about poverty, hunger and homelessness to raise awareness of how these issues affect children.

Another project Sosa has in store is to enlist graffiti artists to create a mural as a joint effort with community members, who would not only help design the work, but would also participate in the painting process.

About the Author: Tara Campbell is a DC-based writer of crossover science fiction. Formerly a painter, she’s now content to stand back and write about people who can really wield a brush.

Food Recovery Network

THIS IS CRAZY

 

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that about 90 billion pounds of edible food go to waste each year.

Crazy, right?

Food Recovery Network  thinks so too, and they’ve gotten way past the goggle-eyed disbelief stage. They’re digging in to solve the problem — digging in to leftovers in university kitchens around the country to reclaim food that would otherwise be thrown away at the end of each day.

Since its beginnings at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2011, FRN has grown to a network of 155 campus chapters in thirty-nine states that have recovered almost a million pounds of food to date.

The group became a formal non-profit in 2013 with help from the Sodexo Foundation (yes, college cafeteria survivors alums, that Sodexo). In 2014, FRN collected more food than in the previous three years combined. By May 2016, they plan to be on 180 campuses and have recovered 1.2 million pounds of food.

“America is ready to change,” said FRN Executive Director Regina Northouse. After many years in the social justice arena, Northouse is relatively new to FRN, but she’s already noticed a difference in how people respond to her current mission. “My network has always been happy to help with my work, but the amount of care and support they have shown for FRN has been amazing. People want to volunteer, they want to learn more.”
 

ONE PERSON AT A TIME, ONE POUND AT A TIME

It happens one student and one pound at a time. Every evening, volunteers arrive at campus kitchens across the U.S. to recover food in a careful process that involves checking food temperature for safety, weighing and repacking the food, and delivering it to area organizations in need. DC-area chapters partner with the Christian Life Center in Riverdale, Family Crisis Center in Brentwood and the Central Union Mission, in DC.

At UMD College Park, collections happen most nights at 9:45, whereas another campus in the network has to pick up at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays. These times are anathema to most college students, but FRN students are committed, and together they make a difference.

Food Recovery at Lycoming College, Williamsport, Penn./Photo by Jason Souder

The time, it seems, is right for food justice.

So what’s been stopping us before? Sara Gassman, FRN’s Director of Member Support and Communications, cites misinformation as one of the most common barriers to food recovery.

“Not everyone is aware of the Good Samaritan Act, which protects donors acting in good faith,” she said. The policy, enacted in 1996, protects food donors from liability when they have followed all measures to keep food donations safe from collection through delivery. “Another difficulty is that there are no national guidelines for what’s acceptable to be recovered. We have to research a lot of health codes.”

But for Gassman, who describes her involvement with FRN as “eye-opening,” all the work pouring through arcane local regulations is worth it when she gets to engage with students at regional and national conferences.

“It’s a chance to meet and see that we’re all part of something bigger than ourselves. We’re really facilitating change in the way people view food surplus.”
 

CHANGING BEHAVIOR

Food Recovery at UMD College Park/Photo by James Souder

This transformation isn’t limited to university campuses. FRN’s Food Recovery Certification program provides recognition for companies that donate food, and information for companies that want to start. There are currently sixty-five FRN Food Recovery Certified companies in this one-of-a-kind program.

December 1 is Giving Tuesday. For Food Recovery Network, it will be the culmination of a month-long campaign: #FRNDZY. It’s a friendly competition among national chapters to raise $20,000 and develop students’ fundraising skills. Prizes for winning chapters include trips for students to attend FRN’s National Food Recovery Dialogue in April 2016. And every dollar donated during this campaign will be matched by Newman’s Own Foundation.

Working with student organizations was her primary focus when she arrived, but since learning the food waste facts, Gassman said has started looking more closely at her own consumption. “Now when I’m at the store, I think twice before I buy something. ‘Do I really need it; will I have time to cook it?’ This work has definitely influenced my personal behavior.”

It’s also changed her friends’ behavior. Now, she said, when they’re out to dinner and they finish their plates, they proudly announce, “Look, no food waste.”

She’s happy to get people thinking about their relationship with food. “All it takes is one person.”

Students recover food after a football game/Photo credit: The Washington Post

About the Author: Tara Campbell is a crossover sci-fi writer living in Washington, DC. She volunteers her time for literacy organizations such as 826DC and the Books Alive! Washington Writers Conference. Follow her on Twitter at@TaraCampbellCom.

So Others Might Eat

SO OTHERS MIGHT THRIVE

Seneca Wood arrives at work before 6:30 each morning.

As program director of So Others Might Eat, part of his role is to supervise volunteers at the 7 a.m. breakfast served to more than 400 homeless and hungry DC-area residents each day. 

"I think I have the most unpredictable and opportune way of all my friends to make a direct service impact on a daily basis," he said. "There's no day quite like the day before. I wake up humbled and grateful."

Though known primarily for its dining room and food services (the name, after all, is "So Others Might Eat), SOME provides a spectrum of services from showers to employment training. 

"SOME's mission is to care for people who are poor and homeless in a holistic way that respects them," said Tracy Jefferson, associate director of development and marketing coordinator. "It really is about seeing each person as a complex individual, and figuring out what they need to stabilize their live, to improve their life."

Volunteers/Photo source: So Others Might Eat

The mission, Jefferson said, began in the 1970's, when Father Horace McKenna saw men sleeping on the steps of St. Aloysius. He began providing them with food, then started passing out sandwiches to other homeless people in the neighborhood, aided by a small group of dedicated citizens.

In 1978, SOME moved into its current home on O Street, in Northwest DC.

"I really was pretty blown away the first time I came in to interview," said Jefferson, who has been with SOME for a decade. "I'd studied anti-poverty policy, and SOME was doing all of these things I'd studied as best practices. It was amazing to see people come in 20 pounds underweight and addicted, and a year later, I'd see them at their job in Columbia Heights. You can't ask anything else in terms of purpose. It's a privilege to see that, it's a privilege to be part of an organization that's facilitating that." 

She recalled a day meeting with clients who were visiting to share their success stories. A gentleman came in, she said, holding a Starbucks cup and dry cleaning. "I thought he was a donor who had gone to the wrong part of the building."

As it turned out, however, the man was a former client who, thanks to SOME, was now working and living independently. 

"He said when he came to SOME he was so skinny from addicition he was wearing boys jeans," Jefferson marveled. "You would never even know he had lived through what he had." 

Both Jefferson and Wood draw daily inspiration from the clients they are able to serve each day. Wood remembers a single father who didn't have any Christmas gifts for his children. The distribution period had ended, but Seneca found some presents for the man to give his kids.

"I was doing my job," he said, "but he gave me a big bear hug. It was great seeing his appreciation." 
 

Calvary Women's Services

CREATING POSSIBILITIES

 

Kris Thompson remembers the woman who told her, “I could go days at a time with no one speaking to me and no one making eye contact with me.”

Like many of the nearly 8000 homeless adults in the greater DC area, the woman was alone.  Kris, who is the executive director at Calvary Women's Services, and her colleagues are working to make sure fewer such women are struggling on their own.

“Part of empowerment comes from relationships,” she said. “Even as we struggle to find ourselves and work on the things that any of us want to work on in out own lives, knowing you have someone standing beside you, that empowerment comes when someone's got your back, when someone is standing by your side.”

First established in 1983 as an emergency shelter in a church basement, Calvary serves about 100 women each year, either in their 45-bed transitional facility (the average stay is six months), or in permanent supportive housing – one of eight subsidized apartments.

Recently, Calvary launched two new programs: Step Up DC to help homeless women develop employment and job search skills, and a program teaching the residents about nutrition and budgeting.

Calvary offers group and individual therapy, with special programs for women struggling with mental or physical illness, or substance addiction, in addition to their LEAP program for Life skills, Education and Arts. LEAP classes are volunteer-lead.

There are courses in job readiness, computer skills, yoga and stress management. There’s a knitting group, a book club, art classes. A volunteer who was part of the DC Quilting Society took some of the women on a field trip to a quilting show, and is teaching them to make beginning patterns.

“Arts for all helps us get outside ourselves,” Kris said. "In the way that you or I could choose to take a class," (we ask) "How do you stretch yourself?" 

“It’s a very accessible place to become involved,” she continued. “It is possible to have your family, including your children, make meals here. It’ possible to lead a class in LEAP. A woman leads a hula hoop class. It's possible to see the impact of your volunteerism.”

How I Help: Peter

Peter Sacco, 21; Senior at George Washington University;
Major: Human Services and Business Administration

Q: How did you come to volunteer for Calvary Women's Services?
A: During my freshman year, I did a lot of volunteer work with homeless services organizations that worked on helping the homeless find jobs and secure public benefits. Starting off my sophomore year, I really wanted to try working in a more residential setting. I Googled “volunteer at homeless shelter DC,” and Calvary was the first link that came up. I’ve been volunteering at Calvary for two years now

Q: What tasks do you perform as a volunteer?
A: Every Friday, I arrive at 9 p.m. and talk with the women and watch TV with them (Monk is a favorite show for all of us). Once they go to bed, I set up breakfast in the kitchen. In the morning I’m up at 5 a.m. to cook breakfast. I’m known as the “pancake man” at Calvary because I always cook pancakes in the mornings. Original and blueberry are the normal menu items, however I’m starting to try out some new recipes. The apple cider ones I tried last week were well received.

Q: What have you learned from your time at Calvary? 
A: The value of hard work and determination. Although many of the women at Calvary have come from less than perfect backgrounds, they are all so determined to work hard and turn their lives around. Every time I’m there different residents come up to me and proudly say they’ve accepted a job offer, enrolled in school, or signed a lease on their own apartment. The success they’ve had because of their hard work and determination always brings a smile to my face.

How I Was Helped: Women of Calvary

In the interest of protecting the privacy and comfort of the women at Calvary, a client interview was not conducted. Instead, we have selected passages from Calvary’s blog, which will give our readers a sense of the women residing there.

Paula came to Calvary after years of drug abuse. She received her CDL learner’s permit in 2013 to become a bus driver. Paula is currently living on her own, working to maintain her sobriety, and volunteering with young people in her community. Paula said:

“My case manager showed how to make my goals doable – step by step. To have someone who really cares about you is a boost. It made all the difference in the world. I felt I was a part of something.”

After years of drugs, trauma and abuse, Jill found her way to Calvary. A resident of Sister Circle, Calvary’s permanent housing program, Jill takes advantage of the educational opportunities available to her. As of 2013, Jill was working toward her GED. Of the LEAP program, Jill said:

“The program taught me how to be responsible.”

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, reflected on her experiences at Calvary, and all that she’d learned, in a writing workshop. She wrote:

I enjoy having the freedom to pursue my future. I’ve been meeting people and learning the importance of interacting and making friends for life. This way I’ll be there for others and they’ll be there for me throughout my life.

Anna was part of Calvary’s STRIDE – Search Together to Resume Dignified Employment - program. After completing STRIDE, Anna earned a full-time job at a local hotel, and moved into her own apartment.

When she got her first paycheck, Anna told me how much she wanted to buy a new pair of boots, but she wasn’t going to because saving her money for her own place was even more important to her. —Kris Thompson

Editor's note: All photos from the Calvary Women's Services website, except for the photo of Peter Sacco. Images do not necessarily reflect any of the persons referred to in the story.