Our members were treated to a taste of France today when Patisserie Poupon dropped off pastries and cakes! It is so great to have supportive neighbors, and we love being able to give our members a treat and experience some of Georgetown’s greatest cafes and restaurants.

Thank you so much, Patisserie Poupon, for thinking of us!

For the past two weeks, we had a volunteer make sandwiches for us. Every day, she would come in at 2pm, pass out sandwiches, and stay for an hour to chat with our members.

Our members are sad to hear that her busy schedule won’t allow her to come in anymore with any regularity. They appreciated her sandwiches and her time so much that our members got together on their own and made her a card.

They came into the office asking for markers or colored pencils, but all we had were a few highlighters and permanent markers. Using these few supplies, they took turns outlining and coloring, using the blue and yellow highlighters to color in green lettuce. The artists walked around and asked everyone to sign it. It was such an awesome sight.

We have some great members here. They appreciate all of our sandwich donors, but especially love those who take the time to personally hand them out and hang out for a few minutes. If you have some time, drop by and say hello!

Help the homeless while sampling great dishes at this year’s Taste of Georgetown on June 2, 2012!

Georgetown Ministry Center will be kicking off this year’s Help the Homeless campaign with Taste tickets and a VIP lounge for those who register. Escape the heat and the crowds during the Taste when you register to participate in Help the Homeless and receive the following perks:

• VIP Lounge: enjoy your tastes in Georgetown Ministry Center with access to seating, refreshments, restrooms, air conditioning, and WiFi

• 3 Taste Tickets: every registrant will receive 3 Taste tickets, a $15 value!

• Skip the ticket line! We’ll be selling tickets at the regular prices, too.

• a Help the Homeless t-shirt

• the great feeling of doing good and helping those less fortunate in your community

Come kick back in our center with GMC staff and friends. All you need to do is register yourself and as many as you can from your party on the Help the Homeless website. Pick up your Taste tickets on June 2 starting at 10:30 am in Georgetown Ministry Center (map and directions). Early birds will beat the crowds and be first in line for the tastes they want!

If you can’t make it to the Taste, you can still register and be a virtual participant. We will be live tweeting the event (twitter.com/gmcgt), so you can still feel like you’re there!

The Georgetown Patch recently published an article about the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ annual report on the homeless population. Read the Patch article here.

The article quotes our latest newsletter, which, if you haven’t read it already, you can find here or on our Media page.

Have you received a copy of our 2012 Spring Newsletter in the mail yet? Highlights from this season’s newsletter include the Mayor’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness by 2014, GMC’s amazing community, and updates on upcoming special events.

2011 was a year of change for us, which you can read all about in our 2011 Annual Report. Details about last year’s renovations, services, and financials are included.

Both the newsletter and the annual report can also be found on our Media page.

During today’s house meeting, a guest brought up Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposed $7 million cut to homeless services funding. With this cut, shelters are at great risk and may close. Those that do stay open may have half their beds cut for men and women. Services, including food, transportation, and outreach will be cut.

There is a rally this Thursday, May 10, at 9am to protest this budget cut. The march will start from the CCNV Shelter: 2nd & D St NW, DC.

If you have time, please rally to help keep shelters open and services provided.

Details can be found here.

We have a new craft auction going on, and there’s less than a week to bring home this adorable teddy bear!

This adorable teddy bear is sitting in our center, patiently waiting for someone to take him home and love him beary much. GMC’s temporary mascot stands a proud 18″ from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

He sports a purple, bue, and green sweater vest and scarf, which are removable during the hot summer months. His button eyes and shy smile invite people to give his dark brown hands and feet a gentle squeeze.

Teddy wants a home by May 13 at 5pm, when the auction ends. Be quick and bid now!

The winning bid goes directly to Sandra, the artist, minus 10% which is put into a fund for more materials. We will accept payment via PayPal or check, and Teddy can either be shipped or picked up from our center.

Stay tuned for information about Spirit of Georgetown 2012– Georgetown’s Autumnal Welcome Back soirée! We are currently working on a new Spirit page for our website, but in the meantime, get excited for this year’s benefit by looking at pictures from last year’s!

Recently, we’ve been posting about all of the colleges and college groups that have been involved with GMC. College students aren’t the only ones who care, though. Last Thursday, a group of students from Sidwell Friends School came to do street outreach with GMC.

They brought with them not only tons of energy and enthusiasm, but also probably the best bagged lunches we’ve seen to date: turkey and cheese sandwiches, an apple, baby carrots and bell pepper slices, a bag of pretzels, a bag of cookies, and a juice box. WOW! That’s a lot of food crammed into a brown paper lunch bag.

After doing outreach with us, they reflected on their experience:

Coming to Georgetown Ministry Center, we have had many eye-opening experiences.  We have learned so much about the causes of homelessness, as well as the day-to-day reality of those who live on the street.  We now know that many homeless people suffer from mental illnesses, and that many even have families who care about them, but aren’t able to take care of them.  It made us happy to see how much the people we met appreciated the lunches we made for them, and we enjoyed talking to them and hearing their stories.  We also realized that sometimes homeless people can feel ignored and invisible, and that just making contact can brighten their day.  We love coming to Georgetown Ministry Center, and we hope to come again soon!

Thank you, Sidwell Friends, and we hope to see you again soon!

Last Friday, several GMC guests walked from our center to Georgetown University’s campus for our weekly Friday afternoon movie. The Corp, Georgetown University’s student-owned and operated business, provided a wonderful lunch to accompany the movie Rolemodels, which was projected onto a big screen. It was great to see students and guests enjoying conversations ranging from homelessness to politics to celebrity news.

Our guests greatly appreciated the food, company, and the big screen. What a great change of pace for us! Thank you to all the students from the Corp, and especially to Eric Cheng, who organized the entire event for us.