During the Fall, Winter, and Spring months, Grace Church hosts a lunch and bible study on Saturdays for the homeless. Tomorrow, Grace Church will be hosting a special Monday edition of Grace’s Table, courtesy of Holy Trinity parishioners who are providing lunch.

Thank you, Grace Church and Holy Trinity, for coming together on MLK/Inauguration Day to host Grace’s Table for our guests.

On January 11, the United Way of the National Capital Area (United Way NCA) awarded grants totaling $358,271 to twenty member organizations serving the District of Columbia.

Georgetown Ministry Center was one of the lucky beneficiaries this year! We received a grant award of $15,000 for our winter shelter, which will provide ten homeless individuals shelter in a warm caring environment, meals, access to psychiatric and general practitioner services, individualized case management, and shower and laundry services for seventy nights. Meals are prepared and served by approximately 700 volunteers from ten participating congregations who host the shelter. GMC has been successfully operating its shelter, which runs from November through March, since 1993.

Read about the United Way’s community impact grants here. Executive Director Gunther Stern attended the check presentation ceremony.

Point in Time 2013

Wednesday, January 30 Thursday, January 31 is the annual Point in Time survey, and Georgetown Ministry Center needs volunteers to help! Do you know where a homeless person sleeps at night? Are you willing to canvass the streets with us on the 30th 31st? If so, please read on!

What is the Point in Time?
The Point In Time survey is a coordinated, annual count of individuals and families in the region who are homeless.  This year, the count for unsheltered individuals will be conducted on Wednesday, January 30 Thursday, January 31, 2013, between 9:30pm and 2am.

Why is this survey done?
The information will be used to help determine the need for supportive services in the District. It will also help the District learn how homeless assistance organizations can better assist their clients.

What can I do to help?
There are two ways to help:

• If you know where a homeless individuals camps out at night, please let GMC staff know so that we can reach out to that person during the PIT survey. This will help us minimize the time we will have to spend walking around at night.
• Come by Georgetown Ministry Center at 9:30pm on Wednesday, January 30 Thursday, January 31 to help GMC staff canvass the streets. If possible, please let us know that you plan on volunteering that night so we can plan out teams. (Email Stephanie at stephanie@gmcgt.org or call 202-338-8301.)

This post has been edited to reflect the new PIT date.

Last Wednesday, we posted one of the poems we collected about GMC and said we would post another on the following Monday. Here is another piece that we received, written by a member, William.

In the aspect of life, knowing and becoming one with the elements of life is an experience that is overwhelming. To get in touch with your inner peace is to know God and the coming of his salvation. At Georgetown Ministry Center, they help you with your goals in life and the prosperity of humanity. This is a place of recognition and growth within yourself, as long as you’re willing to take the steps to help yourself. The ministry will work with you.

One of our wonderful volunteers told me the other day about a young woman she saw on TV who had invented a coat that be turned into a sleeping bag at night. Veronika Scott initially came up with this idea for a project during her junior year of college for her design activism class.

This is such a wonderful idea. There are many homeless individuals who prefer sleeping on the streets for safety, privacy, or mental health related issues. All of them need warmth. Many of them would probably prefer not to carry around extra bedding everywhere they went.

Ms. Scott now runs a non-proft, The Empowerment Plan, which trains and pays recently homeless women to make these coats. You can read more about her and her invention here.