Voices of Shirley’s Place
Collectively, we continue to find ourselves amid extraordinary challenges. This is especially true for Everyone Home DC and the people we work alongside. We are so profoundly grateful to you for standing with us yet again this year. Your dependable support has ensured that all of Everyone Home DC’s front line and essential services have continued uninterrupted. That includes our drop-in Day Center, Shirley’s Place, which continues to keep its doors open and services accessible—although in a re-imagined way—over the last year and a half. Shirley’s Place, located near the Potomac Avenue Metro station, is named in honor of the late Shirley Smith Anderson, a long-time member of the Capitol Hill Community, and social justice activist. Everyone Home DC’s Day Center is one of only a few spaces in our city offering people experiencing homelessness a safe, healthy, and dignified place to take respite from the elements and access vital services like showers, laundry, restrooms, mail service, phones, computers, lunch, and social service referrals. This holiday season, it is your gift to Everyone Home DC that supports our critical work on the front lines, ensuring that all people living in our city have access to meaningful relationships that connect them with supportive services and networks.
As economic uncertainty continues to loom, this is more important than ever before. As we reflect on the past year, we want to lift up the voices of our community as they share what Shirley’s Place has meant to them over the last 20 months.
Because of your commitment to our mission and programs, Everyone Home DC’s Day Center has historically had a profound impact on the Capitol Hill Community by providing consistent and life-saving support to our neighbors experiencing homelessness. During this pandemic, Shirley’s Place has continued to provide these essential services and supplies without interruption. The Day Center reconfigured its physical space, acquired the appropriate PPE, and put policies and protocols in place to offer in-person services safely and with urgency and compassion. This year, Everyone Home DC is partnering with DC Central Kitchen to provide tasty, nutritious, and dignified meals, to anyone who stops by Shirley’s Place for a visit.
It is so hard to know what 2022 will bring. Due to the economic and racial injustice that has existed in our society for decades, the individuals and families we work with—who were facing crisis and instability long before this pandemic—are feeling far more exposed to the harshness of this new reality. Please make a personally meaningful year-end contribution today to support Everyone Home DC’s critical work on the front lines in the new year ahead.
In the spirit of the season, please make a personally meaningful year-end gift today to ensure that Everyone Home DC continues to provide essential services and housing supports while preparing for the pandemic’s long-term impact. With your gift today, Everyone Home DC will be here not just today but, in the weeks, and months ahead, working with our community to put the needs of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness at the center of a just recovery. We are so glad you are here. We cannot do this work without YOU. Please continue to take care of yourself and each other.
