Category: Meet a Volunteer

Ross Goodwin

“It was hard to leave the Center today,” said Ross Goodwin on June 28th, his last day serving as Georgetown Ministry Center’s Consultant Psychiatrist. He is leaving after two years of providing psychiatric evaluations, ongoing therapy and medication management for its guests, in addition to accompanying Executive Director, Gunther Stern, on weekly street outreach to visit those experiencing homelessness living on the streets. The end of Ross’ time at the Center – an experience he describes as “wonderful” – coincides with the completion of his General Psychiatry residency at George Washington University. He will go on to begin his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.

Center guests came to rely on Ross’ presence over the past couple of years. “The fact that the guests at the Center came to expect me to be there, and noticed when I wasn’t there, and it meant something to them that I was there – I think that was the most rewarding thing,” said Ross. “To matter to people in that way – in a professional capacity and in a human encounter.”

Ross feels this is the work he was born to do. He became interested in psychiatry arguably late in medical school; initially thinking he wanted to be a pediatrician, he found he liked the notion of addressing a person in a holistic way, including addressing family systems as they pertain to childhood development. With this discovery, Ross entered his general residency at GW knowing he was interested in child psychiatry, an area where he felt the most himself and that he could naturally do the most good. His time serving adult guests experiencing homelessness at the Center has allowed him to observe how the interplay of mental health and socioeconomic factors play into an individual’s health and emotional, physical and intellectual development. “Understanding the importance of early support and intervention and how that can play out – we see the results of that in the people we serve here,” Ross said.

While Ross’ time at the Center as its Consultant Psychiatrist has come to an end, he describes the experience as rewarding and says he would like to remain involved in the future. “It’s been very meaningful to get to participate and have an impact on those lives, to understand people better,” said Ross. “To learn a lot about resilience and strengths that people show in the face of great adversity, how persistent people are, and resilient and hopeful … to get to be part of utilizing that hope and identifying those sources of strengths that might be hard to find or for them to see in themselves – it’s been rewarding.”

We thank Ross for his invaluable service and contributions to Georgetown Ministry Center over the past two years and we wish him all the best in his future. We will miss you, Ross!

Today is our summer intern, Eliza Smith’s, last day with Georgetown Ministry Center. Eliza has served an important role within GMC over the past 5 weeks, serving our guests in the Center, participating in street outreach, providing support to our development team, and spearheading the reorganization of our Clothing Closet. We are grateful to Eliza for her time and many contributions, and her sunny demeanor will be missed by guests and staff, alike!

Eliza Smith, GMC Summer Intern

Before she leaves us, we asked Eliza to write a short piece about her experience at GMC that we’d like to share:

My name is Eliza Smith and I am currently a rising second year student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. I arrived at GMC in May to complete a five week Supervised Ministry internship as a part of my masters program. Eager to enter a new context, I learned about GMC from my family friend, Alex Bullock, and was then connected to Gunther and the team. I have had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of GMC over the past month, spending a substantial amount of time in the day center, participating in street outreach and learning about development and fundraising.

Throughout my time at GMC, I have learned that adequate assistance is only possible with a deep understanding of context. Though I have completed two prior internships within the realm of transitional housing, GMC has reminded me that using the term “homeless” as a blanket descriptor can often be misleading. While my previous internship experience has often involved working with recently evicted homeless families, GMC has been my first exposure to the long-term street dwelling population. As I have learned the stories of many of our guests, I have been amazed by the length of time some have been surviving on the street. It has not been uncommon to encounter someone who has been homeless longer than I have been alive.

The past month has been an excellent lesson in redefining what is, ultimately, “successful”. Though many have received housing in large part due to the assistance of GMC, there is an understanding that effort cannot and should not end there. There is also a recognition that some who qualify may refuse housing for a variety of reasons. In many ways, to discuss homelessness in our context is to also discuss mental health and healthcare. Many suffering from mental illness also have anosognosia, a lack of awareness about their condition. This often makes treatment and maintenance of care complicated. The goal of GMC is not a seamless, unrealistic or stream-lined approach toward housing, but rather community and comprehensive support for those who are on the street. This requires an acknowledgement that different people need different things, making the work largely relational. While some need case management, others simply want a shower. On the same day that some have come to meet with a psychiatrist, others have stopped by for 30 minutes of internet access.

As a seminary student on the ordination track for the Presbyterian Church, I am particularly interested in how this understanding can better inform congregational perception of mission and outreach. Instead of “blind participation” in philanthropic endeavors, I believe that church communities have a responsibility to be deeply engaged in the world in which we live and serve. Part of this involves being well informed, taking into account why and how we should deliberately participate in responsible advocacy and service.

By Gil Rosen

For the last year I have had the privilege of volunteering at Georgetown Ministry Center.  What began as a desire to use my cooking skills to help feed homeless men and women has turned into a passion of connecting with others.

Being involved with GMC has introduced me to something Gunther Stern mentioned at our first meeting. Gunther suggested that while food and shelter are a challenge to the homeless population, the biggest hurdle is mental health.

Gunther’s  statement resonated with me on a deeply profound and personal level. As such, I have created a program that attempts to offer people the opportunity to benefit from the one thing that helped me cope throughout my travails—namely, love! While I can never offer the tremendous support that my nuclear family and community offered to me, I can offer one of the chief ways through which that love was expressed: food.  

My friend Wynne Sitrin and I have tried to make our Thursday lunches a model for how we can share love with the guests at GMC. We have prepared and served meals for the past year and found the process both rewarding and  therapeutic (nothing like sharing love to make you feel loving).

In this vein, we would like to invite other members of the community to prepare and serve meals at GMC. You do not need much time—just a willingness to roll your sleeves up and cook.

Wynnie and I may have some helpful hints, but it is ultimately pretty straight forward. To make the meals we generally buy the ingredients from supermarkets. We prepare the meals at home and serve them the same day. This project has been an incredibly rewarding experience and we would love some help. You can help in three ways: cooking, procuring food, and coordination.

We are looking at expanding and streamlining a program we started with Norman’s Farm Market.  John Norman has generously donated some of the fresh fruits and vegetables that we serve on Thursdays and we would love to coordinate a way of using the “extras” to create nutritious food for the center on other days.

Also, we need additional cooks who would be willing to take up other days.  Already a group of women who call themselves “Women Who Hike” began a similar program on Tuesdays—we are both vying for top ratings from the GMC food critics. 🙂

Finally we need a way to coordinate this program so that we can ensure regular meals at GMC.  If you are interested in contributing to this endeavor please reach out to me at (301) 980-1139.  

On a completely different note, I have also been conducting a beading/story sharing workshop on Tuesdays. If you have old costume jewelry or beads lying around the house please donate them to our program. If the beads have a story, please join us to share both the beads and your story. We meet at the Grace Church courtyard on Tuesdays at 10:30.

As part of the beading for change program, we begana scavenger hunt. We want to encourage members of the community to come to the garden and find the bracelets that we bead. If you are interested in participating in this game, these are the guidelines.  Every Tuesday we will hide grace bracelets (these sacred bracelets are beaded in a pattern that reminds the wearer that only through divine grace, love, and action can we bring change to the world). Participants should wear the bracelets as a reminder that it is through our individual  actions that the world will change.

One meal and one bead at a time.

A few months ago, Peggy Pacy reached out to us and expressed interest in bringing food to GMC. She has been such a supporter of our program, bringing not only sandwiches but also toiletries and clothing when we needed them. Everyone looks forward to when she comes in with her adorable dog, Dusty, and her tray of sandwiches!

I asked her to share with us her how she came to discover GMC and her experience providing sandwiches for our guests. We are so grateful to have friends like Peggy. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

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I discovered GMC through my friends at the Homeless Children’s Play Time Project. I enjoy volunteering with the Play Time project, but my main role with them is in fundraising and community outreach.

I love to cook! I asked the folks at Play Time if they had a need for food delivery. They didn’t but they directed me to GMC.  As an independent producer I have a fair amount of control over my schedule so I chose Mondays, a day I can almost always start work after food delivery. My dear friend and neighbor covers Saturdays, and together we decided during the cold months to switch to warm burritos! More work and expense but they have been a huge hit. We also asked neighbors via our list serve to pitch in with supplies, and they did on occasion.

I sometimes ask neighbors to come over and share a bottle of wine while we make burritos. It becomes a party and everyone pitches in. When it is just me, I really enjoy it. I know that smiles, and conversations, and appreciation that will be part of delivery.

My favorite moment…. I  often bring my dog, Dusty. Lots of the guests like to pet her and feed her treats. One day as I was leaving someone asked me about her name. I explained that she is named after a famous English singer who was big in the 60s and 70’s. Some knew of Dusty Springfield and some didn’t. But it turns out they all knew one song. I explained that when Dusty gets nervous during thunder storms I sing her a Dusty Springfield song.  It was really cold out, but in about 30 seconds all of us were in the alley belting out the tune, badly….. but it was fun!  ” You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand…. you don’t have to STAAAY forever I will understand….  a great moment of community.

Delivering meals has become a really important part of my life. When people thank me, I tell them that it is I who am grateful.

Have you heard about Gifts for the Homeless? They are an amazing wholly volunteer-run non-profit that helps the homeless in Washington D.C. Every winter, they collect either clothes or funds to purchase cold weather items to donate to area shelters, outreach programs, soup kitchens, and transitional homes.

This year, we received a box of men and women’s underwear, a box of thermal socks, and a box of knit hats from GFTH right when the weather started to get really cold. We were able to give everyone in our center at least 2 pairs of socks and a hat to help them through the cold nights. Thank you so much, Gifts for the Homeless, for thinking of Georgetown Ministry Center’s guests this winter season! Keep up your good work.