Local officials shared ways neighbors can volunteer or donate to The Aston unhoused shelter at a Community Advisory Team meeting Monday.
Chris Cannedy, the director of community engagement at Friendship Place, the provider organization that manages The Aston, said neighbors can donate food and hygiene products or provide professional development or beauty services to the former GW dorm turned unhoused shelter on New Hampshire Avenue. Community members first broached the topic of volunteering and donating to The Aston in December, a month after the shelter welcomed its first cohort of tenants.
“The idea is simple, we engage neighbors to show up for other neighbors,” Cannedy said.
As the director of community engagement, Cannedy works with Friendship Place — including at shelters like La Casa in Columbia Heights and Valley Place in Anacostia — to identify volunteer opportunities at various shelters.
He said each shelter has different needs, depending on the type of program and the number of participants. The Aston is a temporary, apartment-style housing model for up to 100 people who cannot be accommodated by other types of shelters or are waiting to transition into permanent housing.
Cannedy said The Aston is open to any support neighbors are interested in offering and said those interested in getting involved should reach out to him to discuss potential ideas and details.
At other shelters, Cannedy said students have performed music numbers, and people have offered grooming services like haircuts and makeup. Background checks are required to volunteer inside certain housing facilities, Cannedy added.
He said a popular program at La Casa is the Brown Bag donation program. The program involves community members or local organizations purchasing food, packing lunches and delivering the bags to the shelter for tenants, he said. The Aston serves only breakfast and dinner to its residents.
“We’d love to see if we can get something started like this at The Aston,” Cannedy said.
Division Director of The Aston Jeremy Jones requested that people notify his team before dropping off food items and ensure there’s enough for up to 100 tenants. Jones added that The Aston has already seen many donations from the community.
“Keep them coming,” Jones said.
Co-chair to the CAT Sakina Thompson also shared an update on behalf of the D.C. Department of General Services. She said “all the work” has been completed to two units in the shelter that were not originally compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and officials applied for a permanent Certificate of Occupancy for the shelter “last week.” A Certificate of Occupancy is a District-issued document required to open and operate the shelter.
The shelter has operated since November with a temporary Certificate of Occupancy, which the city initially didn’t grant due to a failed building inspection and issues receiving the certificate, causing delays to the shelter’s opening.
As of Monday, the shelter’s census count reached 84 people, according to Jones.
At the May CAT meeting, a DGS representative said the District secured a “verbal Certificate of Occupancy,” and a physical copy would be issued “any day now.”
“We feel like we’re on the right path here,” Thompson said. “It’s always a process with buildings.”
