Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Extreme cold this week poses dangerous conditions for those living on the street.
When Bethesda Cares closed for the evening Tuesday, executive director Sue Kirk said some of the group's clients were headed out to spend the night on the street despite frigid temperatures. The group provides services for the area's homeless, some of whom have lived on the street for years. During the day, the group is providing hot lunches, coffee and hot water to their clients as the Washington region experiences extreme cold this week. Though shelter beds were available in Montgomery County, Kirk said many Bethesda Cares clients didn't plan on using them Tuesday night. With overnight temperatures expected to drop 10-15 degrees with wind chills of -5 to 5 degrees, Kirk expressed concern for those who would brave the elements. "It’s …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Bethesda Row's Ten Thousand Villages will donate 15 percent of purchases made from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday to the outreach group.
This holiday season, many of us are thinking about ways to help out the community's needy and ways to give back to friends and family with the perfect gift. Thursday, you can do both at the same time by shopping at Bethesda Row's Ten Thousand Villages. The shop will donate 15 percent of all purchases made from 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 6 to Bethesda Cares, a local advocacy group that works to help and house the community's homeless. The group offers services to those living on the street in Montgomery County and Washington, DC. It also helps needy residents with eviction prevention and works towards permanent housing for the homeless, many of which have been living on Bethesda's streets for years. The group recently helped house a 72-year-old …
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
New data shows medically vulnerable homeless people spend an average of 7.47 years on the street.
Medically vulnerable homeless residents in the Bethesda area have been living on the street for an average of 7.47 years—nearly two years longer than the national average, according to new data released by homeless advocacy group Bethesda Cares. The data was collected through outreach assessments led by the group as a part of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a nationwide effort aimed to house 100,000 of the most vulnerable homeless individuals by July of 2013. The campaign asks communities to canvas homeless individuals to determine who are most at risk of dying on the street, and prioritizing housing for those people. “These are not shelter beds—these are permanent apartments where you can lock the door,” Jake Maguire, a spokesman for the …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Survey effort, a part of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, geared to house the most vulnerable homeless.
Volunteers will once again take to the streets of Bethesda this week to survey the community’s homeless, part of a continuing effort to house the most vulnerable. Advocacy group Bethesda Cares is heading up an initiative to place homeless men and women into permanent housing as a part of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a nationwide effort aimed to house 100,000 of the most vulnerable homeless individuals by July of 2013. The campaign tasks communities with creating a by-name registry of homeless individuals in order to help service providers match them with resources and assist them into permanent housing. The initiative focuses on placing the most vulnerable “chronically homeless”—those most at risk of dying on the street—into permanent …
Paisley Mint
6:01 pm on Saturday, November 24, 2012
Thank you for your continuing coverage of this issue. If you live and work downtown, you know that the chronically homeless are as much part of life here as the restaurants and rich people. Props to Bethesda Cares and Montgomery County for taking a seemingly more proactive stance, i.e., their canvassing and housing first approach. But let's see if numbers of homeless actually go down as a result. more ›