A Sleeping Bag Distribution in late February

While we didn’t find homeless people in each location we visited during this event, when it comes down to it, we gave out 11 sleeping bags to the “street” homeless on Sunday, February 20th. I’m glad we had the event because the next day, there was sleet and the freezing temperatures that come along with it in DC. Be the Change in DC and its volunteers certainly made an impact on those 11 people who received sleeping bags.

In my opinion, two interesting things happened during the event:

1) The first thing is that while giving out sleeping bags near Union Station, we ran into Wally. Wally immediately recognized me from last year. As I asked him if he wanted a sleeping bag, Wally told me that we had met before. I asked him where and he reminded me that exactly one year ago, I had asked him if he thought a prepaid cell phone would be a good thing for Be the Change in DC to distribute to the homeless. Wally’s support for the idea one year ago is what gave us the encouragement as an organization to push forward on our “cell phones for the homeless” initiative, which we officially started in August of 2010 after months or research and planning. We handed Wally a sleeping bag and found a way to keep in touch with him through his contact with DC Central Kitchen, another organization that helps the homeless and with whom Be the Change in DC works with. Wally is at the very top of out list when we expand our cell phones for the homeless program and the February sleeping bag event enabled us to reconnect with him, bringing that initiative full circle.

2) Not surprisingly, most of the sleeping bags were given out at the same location as we did during the January event (on the corner of 14th and New York Avenue, NW). That location has become, at least in my mind, a hotspot for finding the “street” homeless in Northwest DC. While at that location, we ran into Ed, a homeless veteran. Ed told us his story of becoming homeless and he definitely had our attention the entire time. We are looking into connecting Ed to services meant specifically for veterans, and we will consider Ed as a potential candidate for our cell phone program.

Both Wally and Ed stand out in my mind. People like them make us love what we do at Be the Change in DC. They both said “thank you” but it wasn’t what the “thank you” that made the strongest impression on me; it was meeting them, talking to them and hearing their stories. Make no mistake; their voices were heard.