On almost any street in D.C., you will probably encounter people sleeping on the sidewalk or asking for money, and the majority will probably be men. Such encounters with homelessness have generated the idea that it primarily affects the male population. (And, as was mentioned earlier on this blog, so have some films and the media.)
Although it is true that almost 85 percent of DC’s “chronically homeless” – those who are in and out of shelters or living on the streets – are men, there are countless homeless women and children who are “couch surfing” or doubled and tripled up, staying with friends and family.
Homeless women face a very different set of circumstances than homeless men. As detailed in the D.C. Women’s Agenda’s white paper, “Homeless young women are very likely to suffer from bad health, substance abuse, criminal activity, mental disorders, prostitution, and low levels of education.”
These obstacles make it all the more difficult for women to overcome homelessness.
In America, as in most cultures, women are presumed to be responsible for taking care of children and providing meals for their family. For homeless women who are facing the huge challenges that come with that condition, even these seemingly simple responsibilities of parenthood can be overwhelming. The discontinuity of constantly having to find sources of food can have a damaging effect on children, and the inability of a parent to provide food for her children disrupts the family unit.
Regular access to healthy food can be the first step to helping one’s body recover from the harsh realities of homeless life and generates the energy needed to begin to overcome the obstacles of homelessness.
SOME (So Others Might Eat) is an inter-faith community-based organization that works to help the poor and homeless of Washington, D.C., and is a member of the D.C. Women’s Agenda (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation).
Over the past year, volunteers at SOME have been gathering information on food providers for homeless people in the District. Their research has been compiled in a brand-new Food Assistance for the Homeless Resource.
The Resource consists of Excel spreadsheets, beginning with a master sheet that lists all the providers, their location, contact information, and eligibility requirements. In the subsequent spreadsheets, the providers are listed according to the service they provide, either Food Pantry or Meals. Meals are then categorized by Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, days of the week and, finally, whom they serve: Men, Women, and Families.
This resource is intended to serve three purposes: to help those who are homeless find their next meal, to help service providers make referrals, and to help advocates identify unmet needs. In the near future, we hope to see the creation of a pocket version for people who are in need of food assistance and may have difficulty accessing the Internet.
Ultimately, we want to see a time when providers such as those listed in this resource no longer need to exist because everyone is able to provide their own food, for themselves and their families.
Until we can achieve this long-term goal, we hope that in creating an authoritative resource on food assistance for the homeless we can make it easier for homeless women to feed themselves and their families, and their energy can be used to begin improving their lives.
SOME began in 1970 when Father Horace McKenna started feeding sandwiches to the homeless of D.C. from the back of a church. As people were nourished and their bodies began to recover from life on the streets, SOME was able to extend its services.
Today SOME helps break the cycle of homelessness by offering a continuum of services, such as affordable housing, job training, addiction treatment, medical and dental care, and counseling. We believe that access to healthy food is the first step in beginning this continuum of care and ending poverty.
Nathania H. Dallas was the summer advocacy and social justice intern in 2007 at So Others Might Eat (SOME, Inc.) in Washington, D.C.