From the President

A New Reality

Throughout our community, there are more and more people who never imagined that they would have little or nothing to eat, no livelihood and would be facing the prospect of no place to live. But that is the new reality. And unfortunately the safety net organizations that we all expect to be there are struggling mightily.

Thanks to our generous donors, The Community Foundation has been able to respond regionally through our Neighbors in Need Fund, which awards grants to nonprofit safety-net providers across the Washington, DC region. To date, we've awarded more than $1.1 million in grants to food banks, homeless shelters, meal programs and other such services. The Neighbors in Need Fund continues to grow and has reached $3 million, but the needs are far greater.

We can and must do more. Organizations like SOME are feeling the strain and need your support. The National Capital Region is blessed with caring and committed donors like Julie Davis who is profiled in this newsletter. Join Julie and others in supporting those who need you. I hope you will read the stories and consider a gift to the Neighbors in Need Fund. You really can make a difference.

In the end, our Community Foundation family is a community of givers. And the time to give – and keep on giving – is now.

Sincerely yours,

Close to Home...

As of June 3, 2009 foreclosures in selected
metropolitan Washington regions:

• District of Columbia:  1,410
  
• Fairfax County:  6,097
  
• Loudoun County:  2,332
  
• Montgomery County:  2,517
  
• Prince George's County:  4,622
  
  Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Spotlight: The Neighbors in Need Fund

Shelves at food banks are sparse, and there aren't enough beds for the growing number of people on the waiting lists for area homeless shelters. Meanwhile, faced with budget shortfalls, local governments are dramatically cutting support for safety-net social services. For example, the District of Columbia's support for Bread for the City, one of Washington's best-known safety-net nonprofits and a Neighbors in Need Fund grantee, was recently cut by $250,000. By now, of course, we're all used to seeing these types of numbers, but the human impact behind these cuts are real. For example, that $250,000 could have fed some 1,500 hungry families for three days and supported approximately 1,150 social services visits, 1,100 medical examinations, and 1,150 hours of legal representation.

The good news is that The Community Foundation family has come together like never before. By supporting our Neighbors in Need Fund, our donors have made it possible for us award grants to some of the most effective food banks, homeless shelters and foreclosure-prevention programs across our region.

So far, the results are inspiring: the first round of Neighbors in Need Fund grants, announced this past March, totaled $445,000, with a second round set to be announced soon. And in Montgomery County, the Neighbors in Need Montgomery Fund has distributed $165,000 in safety-net grants. In total, we've raised more than $3 million, but we're not stopping there, because the needs are growing every day. We're striving to raise at least $5 million and we need your help.

Join with us -- GIVE to The Neighbors in Need Fund.

Learn more about The Neighbors in Need Fund HERE.

At SOME, a Sad Sign of the Times

These are the community's elders, yet they are forced to make impossible choices — whether to pay their rent or utilities...or eat.

One sign of the times: senior citizens at a local day center forced to make a choice between eating and paying utilities – it's eating they are giving up.

This increasing trend was noticed by the staff who have had more and more seniors requesting help in obtaining food.

For nearly 40 years, SOME (So Others Might Eat) has been meeting the daily needs of Washington’s poor and homeless residents with food, clothing and health care while providing programs and services such as employment training, addictions counseling, case management and affordable housing.
“The needs of the poor and homeless in our community are at an all time high,” said Brother John Gleason, SOME’s Director of  Elderly Services. “The fact is, this is a serious situation for people on fixed incomes. These are our community’s elders, yet they are forced to make impossible choices—between paying their rent or utilities, or purchasing groceries.”

Not only that, but SOME reports that food donations from individuals are down, government is cutting support to food programs and, at the same time, demand for services continues to increase. In 2008, for example, SOME served 270,000 meals in its dining room -- nearly 24,000 more meals than the previous year. In the first few months of 2009, SOME served an average of 100 more meals a day in the dining room and provided 1,505 more pounds of food in emergency groceries than it did in the same time period in 2008.

 “The challenge is, and will be, to continue to find the resources necessary to fund the programs that meet the needs of the increasing numbers of men, women and children who come to SOME for assistance, including the aging population that must deal with aging issues complicated by poverty, insufficient food, transportation and utility costs,” said Gleason.

The Community Foundation's Neighbors in Need Fund has provided support not only for SOME’s emergency food program, but also for its Dwelling Place Shelter for Abused Elderly, a transitional housing program for older adults in DC's Wards 7 and 8 who have been abused, neglected, exploited or displaced from their homes. Dwelling Place is the only shelter in the city for abused elderly, and the first of its kind in the nation. “The economic crisis has created new challenges for this most vulnerable segment of the population,” said Gleason. Since receiving a $10,000 grant from the Neighbors in Need Fund, Dwelling Place has served 15 seniors, successfully placing eight of those in permanent, supportive housing.

Learn more about So Others Might Eat HERE.

Watch a video interview with a former SOME client by clicking on the video screen at right.

 

New Publication

Keeping Your Home: A Guide to Foreclosure Prevention and Assistance in Prince George's County, MD

Did you know that Prince George's County has the highest foreclosure rate (3.9%) in the State of Maryland? It's true. Download this new guide produced by our affiliate, The Prince George's Community Foundation, HERE.

Donor Julie Davis: "I had been living in a bubble"

"I had been living in a bubble," admits a somewhat embarrassed Julie Davis. Looking back on nearly 30 years as a tax attorney, Davis says she spent her time commuting between her home in Chevy Chase and the downtown offices of Caplin & Drysdale, where she practiced law. Now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, Davis raised her children, spent time with friends and was active in local politics, all the while unaware of how much Montgomery County was changing around her.

As Montgomery County's population had exploded to close to 1 million residents, so had its poverty rate— today, some 25 % of its 140,000 county public school kids qualify for free meals, a federal measure of poverty. "I had no idea until I saw it firsthand," she says.

Now retired, Davis has spent the past several years getting reacquainted with her community and, in the process, has taken an active role in helping to ensure that every resident has access to basic human services such as food, shelter and clothing -- no easy undertaking in the current economic climate.

"At first, I thought I'd just stick my toe in the water," says Davis. Instead, she jumped right in. As vice chair of the board of The Montgomery County Community Foundation and co-chair of its Neighbors in Need Montgomery Fund, Davis pays regular visits to local safety net organizations—Manna Food Center, the Coalition for the Homeless, IMPACT Silver Spring, Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Health, and Interfaith Works, among others. She has witnessed the long lines at Shepherd's Table, where families in need visit the free clothes closet, some arriving as early as 6:00 am.

Having met many County officials as well as dozens of nonprofit leaders and the families they serve, Davis is struck by "the large number of people who need safety net services and need them quickly. The County Department of Health and Human Services recognizes this and The Montgomery County Community Foundation recognizes this, too. Launching the Neighbors In Need Montgomery Fund has been a real ‘Yes We Can!' moment."

Davis hopes that more residents will get involved in supporting their neighbors during this economic crisis, noting that donations to Neighbors in Need Montgomery have ranged from $25 to two matching $100,000 gifts. "Your contribution, no matter how small or large, may go to a family that is otherwise skipping meals," she points out.

She has friends who are reluctant to contribute to organizations they are unfamiliar with. "As a former tax attorney, I have those same concerns," she says. "With Neighbors in Need, the money goes to the right sources, is well spent and will do a lot more good than you can even imagine. If there's one thing The Community Foundation can provide, it's that level of assurance."

In addition to co-chairing the Fund, Davis and her husband, John Metz, give generously through The Community Foundation in three special ways. First, they established a donor advised fund for their ongoing charitable giving. Then they use this fund to support the Neighbors in Need Montgomery Fund and the Sharing Montgomery Fund, which provides core long-term support to many key nonprofits serving vulnerable families.

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