Category: What’s New

Are the following events taking place on September 27th on your agenda already? Please come out if you can!

Grace Church’s Music on the Lawn, 5-7pm

The 27th marks the last of this year’s Music on the Lawn series at Grace Church. Local performer Holly Bass and her Jazz Band will be performing. This event is run by Grace Church, but GMC has a table at the event with lots of amazing crocheted items for sale! Everything for sale was made by one of our homeless members and all the money we raise directly benefits that artist.

CAG Panel Discussion on Homelessness, 7pm – 8:30pm

After Music on the Lawn, the Citizens Association of Georgetown will be having their meeting (open to all) inside Grace Church. They are partnering with us and Grace Church in order to present a Panel Discussion on Homelessness. This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the relationship between mental illness and homelessness, discover new points of view as speakers from various fields talk, and listen to the testimonials of those whom homeless has affected directly and indirectly.

Extra, extra, read all about it! Click here to read our Fall 2012 Newsletter. Highlights include spotlights on GMC’s psychiatrist and general practitioner, progress with housing our guests and helping them with benefits, and a management retreat with a team of MBA students.

Last Friday, a group of six MBA interns from Danaher Corporation gave Georgetown Ministry Center four hours of their time and knowledge to assist us with any business/administrative obstacles we were facing. We experienced what was probably the most productive four hours we’ve ever had. On the agenda: a road map to success for our members; tracking and reporting metrics; and strengthening GMC in all aspects.

We couldn’t have asked for a better or smarter group of volunteers. Andrew, Bryce, Danish, Fiete, Jake, and Trip were organized, focused, and worked cohesively together. We started out the morning creating a road map to success for our members that begins with engaging an individual and ends with housing.¹ The group also created a spreadsheet dashboard for us to keep track of just about everything: case management, grant applications, volunteer hours, social media analytics. We learned so much and felt so energized and excited after working with them.

Thank you so much, Andrew, Bryce, Danish, Fiete, Jake, and Trip! We hope you’ll come back to visit soon!

¹ But it doesn’t end there! We also try to keep in touch and provide supportive services to those we are able to get into housing.

At Georgetown Ministry Center, we talk about community a lot. There’s the community and camaraderie in the center, and there’s our relationship with the Georgetown community, which varies from love and support to frustration and resentment. We do our best to strengthen our community by bridging gaps of understanding and communication, whether we are attending Block by Block meet and greets or inviting members of the community into our center to meet our awesome guests.

At this week’s house meeting, Officer Atkins from the Metropolitan Police Department came in to meet and speak with our guests. It was our most well-attended house meeting to date; even those who usually don’t participate in our weekly house meetings came into the room to hear what Officer Atkins had to say.

In addition to encouraging our guests to introduce themselves to his fellow officers, Officer Atkins had his captive audience discuss panhandling laws and define “agressive panhandling” to each other. He also pushed our guests not to leave their bags unattended, as it uses a lot of time and resources when authorities have to examine suspicious bags. Some of our guests had no idea that the FBI, canine unit, and bomb squad all respond to calls in which their bag might be the focus.

Above all of his talking points, Officer Atkins stressed that we, whether we have a house or not, are all part of the same community, and that this community is only as strong and cohesive as we choose to make it. He urged everyone report suspicious activity, understand where others are coming from, and to reach out to those in need.