Ms. Naaz Farooqi was scared to go to shelter. Even as she fell further into debt while trying to take care of her children, she refused. Even COVID seemed to scare her less than shelter. She had heard “horrific things about shelters” and was dead set against going to one at her age. But everything […]
Geraldine Morrison lost her savings and became homeless after 9/11, but she persevered. She lost her left arm and almost lost her life in an accident a few years later, but still she endured. Ms. Morrison sought refuge at Bailey’s Shelter in December 2019 and quickly found housing, but her troubles weren’t over. Her landlord […]
With a contagious virus everywhere, people are going to get sick. Knowing what to do to prevent an outbreak is important. Jason Munoz, Director of the Eleanor U. Kennedy Shelter, and his team helped prevent an outbreak when a staff person tested positive for coronavirus last month. The staff person felt […]
Compassionate, dedicated, and adaptable. These words were repeatedly used to describe the 9 individuals, families, and groups who were honored Saturday, August 29th, by New Hope Housing at our Annual Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast for their service over the past year. This was the first time in 15 years that we did not have an in-person […]
Say “Hi” to Kelsey – a new volunteer at New Hope Housing this year who recently chatted with us about one of our latest activities: “Coffee & Conversations.” This activity pairs a volunteer with a shelter guest to chat for half an hour on Zoom. Kelsey is originally from Fairfax County, studied business and music […]
The 5th grade class at Maury Elementary School in Washington, D.C., had spent months raising money to go to Space Camp. And then the coronavirus pandemic hit and everything was cancelled. As you’ll hear from Nasir in the video below, Ms. Jondal’s & Mrs. Banks’s class decided to make lemonade out of lemons. The class […]
We’re sorry. In searching for the right words to describe our horror and our grief at the killing of Mr. George Floyd…we said nothing. And silence is complicity. We condemn the killing of George Floyd, the killing of Breonna Taylor, and the killing of far too many of our black and brown neighbors. We believe […]
We Miss Our Volunteers! We’re grateful that so many people have stepped up and found new ways to serve our homeless neighbors since the start of the pandemic and our changed guidelines – but we do miss having the friendly faces of our volunteers on site to brighten our day! We’d like to share some […]
April 23, 2020 would have seen hundreds of neighbors turn out for the annual Volunteer Fairfax Service Awards. And we would have been sitting right there with them with our fingers crossed for our nominees: Keller Williams MetroCenter for Best Corporate Volunteer Program; and Washington Community Church for Best Adult Volunteer Group. This ceremony did […]
“You’re everything I’ve wanted in a man.” Charles couldn’t believe it when his fiancée told him this – how could he expect anyone to ever tell him that after they learned about his past? But Sabrina did, and he uses those words to remind himself every day to be a better man. Their stories started […]
