Don’t want to read any more solicitation letters? Read this instead!
Gunther has a very poignant, heartfelt piece on the front page. We hope you will take the time to read it and let us know your thoughts and if you’re interested in learning more.
What else is in the newsletter? Reflections from two volunteers, recaps of our special events, and how the loss of Fannie Mae’s Help the Homeless has impacted GMC. Read about it today!
Categories: Newsletters
After over a year of construction that shut down the Wisconsin Avenue entrance to our alley and impeded access to GMC, we are so happy to announce that both sides of our alley are open once again! This will make it much easier for our guests to access the center, as well as for volunteers and donors, to reach us. Feel free to visit us via Wisconsin Avenue!
Categories: What's New
We know you’ve probably already read the latest issue of Washington Psychiatrist and seen our article, but in case you haven’t, it’s on pages 9-12: Assisted Outpatient Treatment for Homeless Individuals with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness: An Interdisciplinary Conversation
Gunther and Dr. Michael Morse, one of our consulting psychiatrists, teamed up with two of our board members, Kathryn Cohen and Reverend John Graham, to each write about the need for assisted outpatient treatment (AOT). Kathryn, who works as an attorney for Treatment Advocacy Center, wrote about the need for AOT from a policy standpoint. Reverend Graham tied his experiences interacting with our guests to the Bible, and Dr. Morse talked about medical ethics and how AOT is an ethical way of helping those with mental illness.
We hope you’ll read all of these great perspectives!
Categories: In the Press, What's New
At Georgetown Ministry Center, we have so much to be thankful for. Our community of guests, staff, volunteers, and donors are amazing, and we would not be who we are without them. In past years, Thanksgiving Day at GMC has usually been pretty low key; we’ve always been open, but have saved the feasting for other days that week. This year, our Program Coordinator, Beau Stiles, and his amazing family cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for all of the guests in our center!
Beau, his wife Corinna, and daughter Cora served sixty-five guests on Thanksgiving in our tiny center. If you think you slaved away in the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner, wrap your head around this: Corinna cooked the following from scratch: 3 turkeys, 21 pounds of mashed potatoes, 21 pounds of candied yams, a huge amount of cornbread stuffing, 9 pounds of green beans, 9 pounds of sweet corn, gravy, 6 dozen rolls, 8 dozen cookies, and pumpkin cheesecake coco marscapone swirl bars!
Beau later told the rest off staff:
Each day I get so much from the people we provide services to and I am grateful. As such, my family is supportive of what I do and the cause, so it was a natural fit. This was a token of my (and my family’s) appreciation. Thank you for allowing us to do is. It was incredibly meaningful to us all, and perhaps our most meaningful thanksgiving to date.
We really enjoyed our day. We did not go home and celebrate, as the Thanksgiving at the center was our Thanksgiving as well. After all, that’s what the day is all about… coming together and sharing. I am most thankful to be somewhere that brings this out in my family and I, and allows for us to do something like this, independent of the organization. We are truly blessed. We are already contemplating next year!
Thank YOU, Beau, for giving so much to GMC. We are so lucky to have such dedicated staff.
Categories: Events, Success Stories
Tags: Thanksgiving
Last November, Virginia state senator Creigh Deeds was brutally attacked by his son, who suffered from severe mental illness, before his son took his own life.
A year later, Creigh is talking about what life has been like since the attack. Please read it. It is a powerful story that speaks of a father’s pain and the need for better mental health care in this country.
Categories: In the Press