Signal team members visited the Patricia Handy Place for Women.
On Monday, August 19th Signal team members visited the Patricia Handy Place for Women, a shelter that is a part of the N Street Village network.
We dropped off bins of donated items, including lightly used women’s shoes and clothing as well as soaps and shampoos. These items serve a vital need for N Street, as the organization seeks to help women maintain their dignity during their fight to escape homelessness. We also served a dinner of mac and cheese and glazed carrots to the shelter’s overnight residents. Nightly meals at Pat Handy are provided by DC Central Kitchen, a friend of Signal.
N Street’s Work
N Street was founded in 1972 as the first housing unit for homeless women in DC, providing temporary residence for 8 women. Since its humble beginnings, the organization has grown to become a provider of a full range of services to over 2,000 women in the district each year. These services vary from short-term emergency sheltering on harsh winter nights to long-term training in literacy, life skills, and career development.
The village’s stated mission is simply “to meet each woman where she is on her unique journey to healing and recovery.” The challenges are often significant. 1 in 2 arrivals have no source of income, 64% report having a mental or physical disability, and 8% report living with HIV/AIDS. Many within the network also struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol.
The group’s work has culminated in many inspiring success stories, including Rebecca, who was born HIV-positive into an abusive environment, but now has a college degree and works as an advocate for others in her situation. There is also Winona, who, after a life of chronic homelessness, has secured an apartment through an N Street Village program. We applaud N Street’s efforts to create more success stories such as these and to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in the district.
We are grateful for the opportunity to play even a small role in these efforts and look forward to working with N Street Village again in the future!