The group of about 20 volunteers had an hour to set up. They had already unloaded food and supplies — water bottles, hand warmers, scarves and granola bars — from their vehicles. Someone brought a rack for donated jackets and clothing. Others raised folding tables for the toiletries, gloves and hot breakfast being served to the nearly 40 people in need who were waiting in the 34-degree weather.
“Ah, my favorite meal,” said a man in line on a bike, his breath escaping like a cloud. “I could eat that all day.”
Within an hour of doors opening, nearly every chair in the Downtown Day Services Center, located in the basement of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in downtown D.C., was taken.
Unhoused residents typically come to the center, where they can access showers, a laundry room, computers and a nurse five days a week. But on Saturday, they were treated to a hot breakfast, free clothing and more for DMV Does Good’s fifth anniversary brunch and “give back” event.
“We’re not big, but we have a big punch,” said Major Bowen, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and board member for the nonprofit, which supports unhoused people in the D.C. area. They often partner with other organizations that are able to supply volunteers. On Saturday, they had help from George Washington University’s Mu Beta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
The group was started by founder and president Isaac Moore during the coronavirus pandemic. The son of a pastor and a self-described military brat, Moore, 40, was looking for ways to give back, he said.
“Inside of me is like this really deep desire to help people who are in need,” said Moore, who is director of development at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. School of Business. In December 2020, he packed his 2017 Nissan Altima with food, toiletries and coats and drove to McPherson Square, where those who are unsheltered often met.
At the end of the day, Moore recalled, “I had nothing but trash left, and one of the folks grabbed me and said, ‘Will you be back next week?’”
He didn’t have plans to return, he said, until the person spoke again: “Listen, if you want to come back, and when you do come back, bring soap because we really could use soap.”
When Moore returned to his car just steps away, he cried, he said. He was beating himself up for not bringing something he had an abundance of at home. When he shared his experience that day on LinkedIn, Moore said, others wanted to help. Some donated money and items. Others, like Nicole Hayes, a civil engineer and commercial developer from Palau, and Reginald Bostick, a retired Army colonel from New York, were willing to volunteer their time.
Since then, the group has served more than 3,000 people across D.C., Maryland and Virginia through their quarterly “Pop-Up Give Backs,” Moore said. The group has expanded to a team of 13 dedicated, unpaid board members, most of them formerly in military service, who gather supplies at “packing parties” and give them away under bridges in Baltimore and tent communities in the District.
Hayes often heard their stories and realized many had lost work during the pandemic and, more recently, because of cuts to the federal workforce.
Whenever it can, the group tries to help people with specific needs, said Moore. Earlier this year, they delivered donated furniture and cleaning supplies to a woman who had just recently made it off the street.
“You don’t expect to be able to provide that kind of help when you set out to do this kind of stuff, but how nice would it be for us in the future … to put more people in housing, put more people in homes, get more people off the street,” Moore said.
On Saturday, people were welcome to get seconds at the center. A warm meal “means a lot” to 55-year-old D.C. native Darryl Reed, who said he has been experiencing homelessness for 10 years.
DMV Does Good has a “zero inventory policy,” said Moore, who had begun to clear the empty food trays and break down tables with the other volunteers toward the end of the event. Everything that was left — dozens of toothbrushes, sticks of lip balm and hats — was packed into a bin or a purple drawstring bag.
With two board members by his side, Moore returned to McPherson Square, mere blocks from the center and where he had started this work five years ago. Lines had already formed on the sidewalk, where two other organizations were offering a warm meal to those in need.
The trio quickly set up a table, giving away items to anyone who wanted them.
Bostick, the retired Army colonel, walked through the park with a half-full box of lip balm. By the time he returned, the box was empty and the table was cleared.
“These are our people,” he said.
The post At a giveaway for the unhoused, free meals, handwarmers and clothes appeared first on Washington Post.
