Support Everyone Home DC’s 2024 Back-to-School Initiative

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We are just starting to enjoy the summer, AND the new school year is approaching fast! Each year, we begin planning around this time so that when our families start to think about the new school year, Everyone Home DC is ready to provide support for any back-to-school needs. This year, Everyone Home DC will again offer flexible monetary support to the families we work alongside, encouraging families to shop together in anticipation of the new school year. 

Everyone Home DC is raising funds for the upcoming school year to provide gift cards for families to use during back-to-school shopping. This year, we aim to distribute 200 $50 gift cards to Everyone Home DC scholars, and we need your help to reach our goal. 

Here are some other ways you support Everyone Home DC in reaching our goal:

  • Make a donation today towards our fundraising goal.
  • Create a fundraising page to share with your community. We are on standby to provide support! 
  • Host a drive to collect gift cards (Visa, Mastercard, Target, Walmart, and Amazon) at your work, place of worship, or with your favorite people. 
  • Please email or post on your favorite social media platform to spread the word and share the need with your friends and family. 

Everyone Home DC plans to distribute gift cards to families the week of August 5.

Every little bit helps. Below is more information on getting started and getting gift cards or cash gifts to Everyone Home DC. 

GETTING STARTED

  • We want to hear if you plan to run a drive or collection! This will support Everyone Home DC’s planning (and budgeting) efforts. Contact Kate Akalonu at akalonu@everyonehomedc.org to discuss what types of gift cards to focus on collecting and to share how many gift cards you plan to contribute. We can also provide brainstorming support to get the word out to your community if you run a drive.
  • You can also make a monetary donation, and program staff will purchase gift cards and send them electronically to families. Please note families have openly expressed how much they appreciate the convenience of receiving gift cards electronically. Consider donating in $50 increments (or any amount) today!
  • Families express most appreciating Visa, Mastercard, Target, Walmart, and Amazon gift cards.
  • Are you interested in setting up a personal fundraising page? Email Kate Akalonu at akalonu@everyonehomedc.org. She is on standby to help you get started!

GETTING CARDS TO EVERYONE HOME DC

  • You are welcome to skip the process of purchasing cards and make a donation on our Back to School Collection donation page. Program staff will then purchase gift cards and send them electronically to families. Make Your Donation Today!
  • If purchasing gift cards at a store or online, you can mail them directly to Everyone Home DC’s main headquarters address. Please contact Kate at akalonu@everyonehomedc.org if you have any questions or to discuss dropping the gift cards off.

Mail Gift Cards to:
Everyone Home DC
 Attn: Back-to-School
415 2nd Street NE, 3rd Floor
Washington DC 20002

Please note: We will not be accepting gift card drop-offs at our drop-in day center. 

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out! Thank you for standing with Everyone Home DC now and always. We are so glad you are here.

 

Dine Out for Everyone Home DC is Here!

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What’s on the menu this May?

Everyone Home DC is serving up a brand new fundraising event, with a side of positive impact!

Dine Out for Everyone Home DC is a month-long partnership between Everyone Home DC and restaurants throughout the District. Together, we will share more about Everyone Home DC’s vital mission to end homelessness in DC and raise funds through a variety of special (and dare we say, tasty?) opportunities!

Take a bite out of the calendar of events for Dine Out for Everyone Home DC:

  • Call Your Mother, 701 8th St SE, Washington, DC 20003: Favorite DMV deli Call Your Mother is hosting a fundraiser at their Capitol Hill location on Wednesday, May 15. From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. (that’s prime bagel time), when you use code “EHDC” on orders made online or in-person, 25% of sales will go to Everyone Home DC. 
  • Letena, 3100 14th St NW, Washington, DC, 20010: Visit this Ethiopian eatery in Columbia Heights on Thursday evenings throughout May and 10% of sales of any wine bottle will be donated to Everyone Home DC!
  • Dolan Uyghur Restaurant, 3518 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008: Stay tuned to our social media for upcoming announcements about this event!

Delicious Dine Out delights will continue at this year’s Spring Social, where we will be raffling off $100 gift cards to Blue 44, DC Sweet Potato Cake, Elfegne, and Pacci’s! The Spring Social, which will be held on May 21 from 6-8pm at H Street’s Irregardless, will feature other raffle prizes as well, including Wizards and Nationals tickets and passes for adventures all around the DMV at Six Flags, Beat the Bomb, 5 Wits Arlington, and more.

At the Spring Social, we will come together to harness collective energy around our shared vision of the District of Columbia as a thriving and diverse community where all people can obtain and remain in safe, affordable, and comfortable homes. Tickets are required, and space is limited, so make sure to reserve your spot today if you haven’t yet done so.

We look forward to Dining Out and Spring Socializing with you all this May!

Stay connected to all our upcoming events on Everyone Home DC’s Event Page!

Make a Lasting Impact. Join Everyone Home DC’s GoodNeighbor Circle.

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We are so glad you are here! And, we would love to invite you to invest monthly in ending homelessness by joining Everyone Home DC’s GoodNeighbor Circle. 

The GoodNeighbor Circle includes 35 of Everyone Home DC’s most committed partners. Collectively, its members raised more than $20,000 in 2023, an increase of 40% from the previous year. Everyone Home DC has a goal of reaching 50 members. Will you help us reach our goal and join our GoodNeighbor Circle today?

Joining Everyone Home DC’s GoodNeighbor Circle is the easiest and most consistent way to support Everyone Home DC. Members make automatic monthly donations, which allows Everyone Home DC to plan long-term, budget more efficiently, and create more life-changing opportunities for individuals and families in our city. You choose how much to give and you can change your amount or cancel anytime.

Become a GoodNeighbor with your monthly gift today and ensure everyone in our city can access safe, affordable, and comfortable homes.

Introducing…

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Everyone Home DC is excited to kick off this new year by introducing a new initiative while at the same time celebrating our tenacious and inspiring leader, Karen Cunningham! Karen has served as Everyone Home DC’s Executive Director for TEN phenomenal years…and…fun fact…Karen begins each new year celebrating her birthday on January 1. 

In honor of both Karen’s January birthday AND her recent 10th work anniversary, Everyone Home DC is launching its first-ever year-long Birthday Bash, with the goal of welcoming TEN birthday fundraisers to the Bash this year.

Below are some simple ways you can join in on the fun and help Everyone Home DC reach this 2024 goal:

Invest in Stable Housing this Holiday Season

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In reading this post, you are no doubt at some point in your typical daily routine. You may be scrolling online first thing in the morning, coffee mug in hand, ready to tackle the day ahead, or maybe you are just getting home from work, preparing to take the dog for a walk, or finding a minute to relax before making dinner.

However, this letter fits into your day, we all find comfort in our routines. Consistency helps us to stay on top of tasks, manage stress, and find moments to do those special little things that make us happy—maybe that coffee has your favorite caramel creamer swirled through it. But the key to forming our routines–and coping when they are disrupted—is the support of something we may not have ever had to think twice about—having a permanent, stable home. 

“You get a flat tire, you think,  ‘Okay, I might need to take the bus home tonight. But I’ll be able to go home, sleep, and rest. I’m not pushed to the brink of, ‘I have nothing,'” says Veronica Starr, Everyone Home DC’s Clinical Supervisor of the Permanent Supportive Housing Program, which was newly launched in March of 2023. Everyone Home DC’s new Permanent Supportive Housing Program guides individuals and families through the process of finding housing and securing the resources necessary to maintain it. 

Everyone Home DC’s Permanent Supportive Housing team’s work directly supports the goal of ending chronic homelessness in DC, as do donors like you. This holiday season, your gift to Everyone Home DC ensures all people in our city have access to services and programs that connect them with supportive networks and make positive gains in their lives. At Everyone Home DC, we know housing is the solution to ending homelessness. 

We also know that much of the hard work continues once connected to a safe and stable home. “There are so many barriers that people are dealing with personally that have nothing to do with housing,” Veronica says, noting that this is where their team’s work comes in. “If you have someone to ensure that you can work through those things while you are housed, you can put your other goals first if you know where you are going to sleep and that you’re going to be safe.” 

However, the Permanent Supportive Housing Program faces many challenges in helping its clients find this safety and security, making the support of Everyone Home DC’s friends and supporters all the more crucial.

“There are all these shades and layers of red tape,” says JoVonna Chase, the Permanent Supportive Housing Program Manager. Everything from a person having their only form of ID stolen, to landlords being reluctant to accept applicants working with a case manager and potentially without a solid rental history, to unit inspections taking months instead of days to carry out can slow down the approval process. Veronica adds, “It’s not as easy as looking at apartments.com and picking out a place.” 

The dedication of Everyone Home DC’s Permanent Supportive Housing Team and the generous donations from our community this holiday season can help lead to more and more success stories despite the many roadblocks.

“As we built the team,” says JoVonna, “one of the things we were very intentional about was hiring people who would operate from a place of kindness and compassion first. Allowing people to be people allows us to have big wins.”

Veronica felt inspired when the Permanent Supportive Housing team supported its first client in finding permanent housing after a challenge-filled four months. “It felt like, ‘We can do this! This isn’t impossible!'” she says. Beyond feeling confident in the team’s work, Veronica was struck by the change she saw in the client herself. “The smiling, the casual conversation: it makes such a huge difference when someone can remove [concerns about housing] from their brain and just talk about food, the weather, school, and music.” Finding a home meant that this person could finally shift their focus to those everyday things instead—their routines. 

“I believe if I come home to a comfortable home with AC and heat, with no rodents or roaches, somewhere I feel safe, I feel our clients should have that same opportunity,” says JoVonna. As Program Manager, she has ambitious goals for the Permanent Supportive Housing team that can be supported by a gift from community members like you, who believe, just like JoVonna, that everyone deserves this same comfort and security. She wants to grow the team’s capacity in the coming years, with more case managers to partner with more clients. No matter what support they may need, JoVonna hopes the people we work alongside can trust that Everyone Home DC will be there with a comprehensive, holistic response.  

“Our donors have a heart to help,” JoVonna shared. And we at Everyone Home DC know that those generous hearts beat especially strong at this time of the year. In the spirit of the season, please make a personally meaningful year-end gift to Everyone Home DC today. Our entire community will feel your love and support. 

When we invest in Permanent Supportive Housing, we are taking a crucial step toward the ultimate goal of ending chronic homelessness in the District. Your urgently needed year-end gift can ensure that 
Everyone Home DC continues to provide essential services and housing support for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness in our city. We cannot do this work without YOU. Thank you in advance for your support and the love that you show to Everyone Home DC.  

Sincerely,
Karen Cunningham
Executive Director

P.S. Does your employer have a matching gift program? There is still time to give and have it matched in 2023! Learn more on our website. If you need any support with completing forms, email Kate at akalonu@everyonehomedc.org

 

2023 Executive Director Reflection

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Dear Friend,

Last month, I celebrated my 10-year anniversary with Everyone Home DC. I can hardly believe how the time has flown by. In some ways, it feels impossible that a full decade has passed. But when I pause and reflect on the organization I joined and the one I lead today, it feels like it can hardly be the same organization. 

Everyone Home DC has changed so much in my decade with the organization:

  • We moved our growing staff that had spread into two churches, one public housing community, and a shared workspace into one main office where we all fit comfortably together
  • We launched two new programs–Family Homelessness Prevention and Permanent Supportive Housing
  • We changed our name and branding to reflect our mission better and be more welcoming to everyone who needs our services or wants to support our work to end homelessness
  • We hired our first development staff person, grew the department to a three-person team, and created an operations department with two full-time staff
  • Our team grew from about a dozen staff to more than 40 and now includes well-established manager and director-level leadership teams
  • Our budget of less than one million dollars in 2013 will be well over five million dollars in 2024
  • We survived a global pandemic and transitioned to a hybrid work environment that offers greater flexibility to both our clients and our staff, and
  • We have grown as leaders and advocates within the homelessness continuum of care and our city 

Indeed, Everyone Home DC has grown and matured a LOT as an organization during my tenure, but what has not changed is just as important:

  • Our steadfast commitment to ending homelessness and treating our unhoused neighbors with dignity, respect, and love
  • The generous and loyal support of our extended community who reach  out to ask how they can support an unhoused neighbor they worry about; to our faith community founders and growing number of partners who provide volunteers and board members, in-kind supply drives, and financial support; to the community foundation and local business who support our programs and sponsor our events
  • The strength of our staff, including several of our managers and directors who were already here when I arrived and have grown alongside me and been key to our continued success

I am so proud and honored to be a part of Everyone Home DC and to have had the opportunity to grow with it these last ten years. I am also deeply grateful to each of you who have played a role in our success. We are a community organization, and you–our community–have always been and always will be essential to our ability to achieve our vision of the District of Columbia as a thriving and diverse community where all people can obtain and remain in safe, affordable, and comfortable homes. As the economic future of our beloved city feels terribly uncertain, and the support of our social safety net is at extreme risk with planned budget cuts this year, and next, we know we can rely upon you to see us through to better times. Thank you! 

With gratitude,
Karen Cunningham
Everyone Home DC
Executive Director

It’s GivingTuesday | Enjoy These Simple Ways to Join the Movement

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Today is GivingTuesday! GivingTuesday is an all-day global generosity movement that strives to build communities where the catalytic power of generosity is at the heart of the society we build together—unlocking dignity, opportunity, and equity in DC and around the globe. #GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to stand together in unity⁠⁠—to use their individual power of generosity to remain connected and heal.

Here are some ways to share this special day with Everyone Home DC:

DONATE. Your GivingTuesday gift ensures all people in the District have access to safe, affordable, and comfortable homes and meaningful relationships that connect people with supportive networks. This is even more important during the ongoing global health emergency. Make your year-end #GivingTuesday gift TODAY!

PLACE YOUR BIDS. What do family portraits, a deluxe coffee tasting, and a homemade jar of pesto have in common? All of these (and more!) are the kinds of unique gifts you’ll find in Everyone Home DC’s 2023 Holiday Auction!

GIVE IN-KIND. Everyone Home DC’s Day Center and Street Outreach team urgently need bras, pads, and tampons. Shop from our Feminine Needs Wish List and have items shipped directly to Everyone Home DC. Receiving much-needed items through donations allows Everyone Home DC to keep its operating budget as low as possible. All donated items are distributed free of charge to individuals and families in our programs. Check out Everyone Home DC’s main online Wishlist here. 

BE A GOODNEIGHBOR. Invest monthly in ending homelessness by joining Everyone Home DC’s GoodNeighbor Circle. Members of Everyone Home DC’s GoodNeighbor Circle make monthly small, automatic donations, making it easier for Everyone Home DC to plan long-term, budget more efficiently, and create more life-changing opportunities for individuals and families in our city. 

SHARE YOUR MERRY. Every family deserves a joyful end-of-year experience! Everyone Home DC is committed to ensuring that families have the flexibility to celebrate their winter holiday and experience the joy of giving gifts. Learn more about this year’s approach and share your merry with a family today!

START A HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER. Talk about a snowball effect! By sharing your very own holiday fundraiser with friends and family, you’ll see those early flurries of giving turn into a blizzard of support! It is easy. Create your holiday fundraiser today! 

Thank you for standing alongside Everyone Home DC on #GivingTuesday and always.

Grateful For YOU. Today & Always. 🙏

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Today and always, we are thankful for YOU! Every day, we feel incredibly grateful for the community we partner with at Everyone Home DC. We are consistently amazed by your exceptional empathy, compassion, and dedication.

We are inspired by your investment in a future that ensures everyone in our city can access safe, affordable, and comfortable homes and meaningful relationships that connect them with supportive networks. Your involvement makes Everyone Home DC’s work possible, and together, we are creating a more equitable and dynamic city for everyone. We are so glad you are here. Thank you for all you make possible.

From Your Friends at Everyone Home DC, Happy Thanksgiving!

Share Your Holiday Spirit with Families in DC

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This winter holiday season is the perfect time for Everyone Home DC and our amazing network of supporters to provide a little something extra for this special time of year. Everyone Home DC is committed to ensuring that the families we work alongside will have the flexibility to celebrate their winter holiday and experience the joy of giving gifts. This holiday season, Everyone Home DC will distribute debit gift cards throughout our community, allowing each household the opportunity to decide how they spend these funds to create a meaningful holiday for their family.

Based on the family size, Everyone Home DC will provide gift cards valued between $150 and $500. 

We need YOUR help to reach our goal. You can make a monetary donation today here. You can also consider running a drive to collect gift cards with your favorite community or network OR set up a fundraising page and watch your social network support you in reaching your goal! Every little bit helps. Below is more information on how to get started and some of the most preferred gift cards. Thank you for your continued support of Everyone Home DC!

Everyone Home DC plans to distribute gift cards to families in December.

GETTING STARTED

GETTING CARDS TO EVERYONE HOME DC 

You can skip purchasing gift cards and donate on our Winter Holiday donation page. Program staff will then purchase gift cards and send them electronically to families. Consider donating today!

If purchasing gift cards at a store or online, you can mail them directly to Everyone Home DC’s main headquarters address. Please contact Kate at akalonu@everyonehomedc.org if you have any questions or to discuss dropping the gift cards off.

Mail Gift Cards to:
Everyone Home DC Development
Attn: Holidays
415 2nd Street NE, 3rd Floor
Washington DC, 20002

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out! Thank you for standing with Everyone Home DC now and always. We are so glad you are here.

Please note:

  • Any funds received above the goal for this campaign will be redirected to the general fund.
  • We will not accept gift cards at our drop-in day center for our guests’ health and safety at Shirley’s Place Day Center. Thank you for understanding.

We’re a Target Circle Participant | Vote for Everyone Home DC

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Everyone Home DC is honored and excited to announce that we have been chosen to participate in a special charitable giving campaign sponsored and funded by Target. And you have the chance to influence how a portion of Target’s donation is directed to Everyone Home DC!

Now through December 31, vote for Everyone Home DC through the Target Circle program to help determine how Target’s donation will be divvied up. Find out more about Target Circle here: www.target.com/circle

We’re asking our supporters to help us maximize this incredible opportunity. If you are already an avid Target Circle user, you probably have some votes to share in your account! Every vote counts to help us receive a portion of the available Target funds as we continue our mission to ensure everyone in our city has access to safe, comfortable, and affordable homes.

And remember, as you earn more votes, you can continue voting throughout the campaign! Leave no votes on the table!

Thank you for being so supportive, and we encourage you to share your support for us (and your thanks to Target) on social media throughout the duration of the voting!

Click the thumbnail images below for a quick guide to getting started. Use your votes in support of Everyone Home DC today! 

 

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