Make Maya & Kate's June Birthday Wish Come True!

Maya and Kate love sharing their birthday month with each other and this year--as Kate leaps semi-gracefully into her 40s (June 1) & Maya finishes off her last year in single digits (June 29)--we wanted to do something special, important, meaningful to launch us into our new years.  So...we decided to dedicate our birthday month to raising critical funds in support of Everyone Home DC's Street Outreach program. A program that provides critical and life-saving support to individuals staying outside AND is entirely funded by the generosity of donors like YOU. 

This is Maya's first digital fundraising experience and she is feeling a little nervous about reaching our small goal (our ages combined with a 0 at the end). It would be awesome to help her feel the sweet success of reaching her goal in support of helping those in most need. No pressure...but you really can't leave her hanging...can you? Not if its her birthday wish. *smile*

Please consider making our wishes come true by making a donation today! Don't forget to share words of encourage for Maya to read as she will be helping to manage this page. All donors will receive a handwritten note from the Akalonu ladies and we will explore other ways of showing appreciation or inspiring motivation along the way!

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT US & EVERYONE HOME DC

[Videos Below From our Street Outreach Experience] 

Kate started working for Everyone Home DC last August as their Director of Strategic Initiatives, responsible for building the organization’s visibility, impact, and financial resources. Everyone Home DC believes that every person has the right to a safe, affordable, and comfortable home and the chance to live a healthy and fulfilling life.  The nonprofit provides a range of housing solutions and supportive services--Family Homelessness Prevention, Family Rapid Re-Housing, Family Permanent Supportive Housing, Street Outreach and Shirley’s Place Day Center--to ensure that individuals and families in our city have what they most need to thrive. You can learn more on our BEAUTIFUL new website (that Kate worked very hard on and is feeling quite proud of) at www.everyonehomedc.org. 

Maya who is a nonprofit baby 100%, has stepped seamlessly into the role of brand ambassador for Everyone Home DC and a concerned DC citizen when it comes to homelessness, housing insecurity, and affordable housing. This year, during a parent-teacher conference, Kate learned that Maya was focusing her opinion piece on homelessness. *swoon* We might even share it with you!

Recently, Maya and I were able to deploy with Everyone Home DC's Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART) to offer basic evening street outreach service to our unsheltered neighbors. HART uses volunteers to support its ongoing Street Outreach by offering an evening deployment to the community. We deployed on warm evening with two other long standing (and super compassionate) HART volunteers, canvassing  the streets of the Eastern Market neighborhood--offering water, snacks and supplies to individuals staying outside. We used our interactions to assess individuals for signs of hyperthermia or any other immediate health dangers, encouraged hydration by offering water, and made ourselves available to call the shelter hotline for anyone interested in shelter. It was an eye opening experience for both of us, something we plan to do again, AND we encourage you all to do something similar in your own communities.

Sharing some videos that capture pre- & post- emotions and reflections from our first HART experience. One while we are on our way to the grocery store to grab ingredients to make sandwiches and one right before we pulled into our drive way where we shared some reflections (it is long and we were tired...)