WASHINGTON, DC — It was a real women helping women effort Thursday, when a group of 80 female veterans helped give a makeover to an Anacostia shelter dedicated to assisting women transitioning out of homelessness.
The volunteers were part of The Mission Continues, a nationwide non-profit empowering former members of the military to perform service projects in their communities.
The group that visited Calvary Women’s Services at 1217 Good Hope Road, S.E., Thursday, March 5, was in D.C. for a three-day training program.
Kris Thompson, Calvary’s CEO, was grateful to have volunteers on site to help fix up the non-profit’s Anacostia home.
“One of the big things I think is really the sense of community that exists here,” she said. “We can provide all the services that we can as an organization, but empowering women and creating an environment where women begin to support one another and bring about their own change is really what it’s about.”
Calvary provides transitional housing and support services for women who find themselves homeless. Many of its residents are survivors of violence and trauma, recovering from substance abuse or living with mental illness.
“Women come with any number of challenges,” Thompson said. “What we do is provide the resources and personal support that makes it possible for them to transform their own lives.”
While some of Thursday’s volunteers refurnished the education space and repainted the dining room inside Calvary, others spruced up the outdoor area, preparing the planters for gardening, painting the walls, and building furniture for residents to sit on when the weather is nice.
“It’s really different serving with women. It’s got a whole different feel and I’m super exited for you to experience some of that today,” Mary Beth Bruggerman, president of The Mission Continues, told the volunteers before they started to work. “And the fact that also we’re serving women here at Calvary today makes that extra special.”
All 80 volunteers are in the middle of their first session in a five-month-long leadership development program with The Mission Continues designed to help them “upskill as a woman” in their professional and personal life, according to Bruggerman.
The work they were doing at Calvary was their first chance to embed in the community as part of a service platoon, which is something The Mission Continues does throughout the country.
“The reason we want you to help upskill in this world is partially so you can go home and serve in those service platoons better able to lead in your community,”Bruggerman said. “It’s going to help you ground a bit here in D.C., but this kind of work is happening year-round in 53 cities across the country all the time.”
One of the people helping out at Calvary was Riiaka Wright, a 34-year-old former sailor who volunteers with a service platoon in the Hampton Roads area. She learned about The Mission Continues from a Navy-combat buddy in 2016.
“The reason I’m here is I’m extremely passionate about helping people,” she said. “I’m extremely passionate about helping women.”
According to Wright, it’s especially meaningful for woman veterans to continue their service by helping other women in need.
“Why I am here today is to help these amazing women that are here,” she said. “But also, when I leave here, I’m going back home and start something similar to this.”
Wright’s vision is to build an apartment complex in Hampton Roads like Calvary to help other female veterans who are displaced or who find themselves in transition and in need of assistance and don’t know where to go.
“They need resources,” she said. “So I’m going to make sure that I’m able to provide that for them and get that off the ground this year.”
The Mission Continues volunteer Jamicka Edwards found Thursday’s effort to be particular poignant. A former member of the U.S. Army, the 41-year-old was homeless for a period of time in 2014.
It was a program like Calvary that helped Edwards get off the streets and on the path toward self-sufficiency. She recently bought her first home in Indianapolis, where works for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“While I was homeless, there were different resources for veterans that helped me,” she said.
“Once I started realizing a lot of people don’t know about these resources, and there still wasn’t enough to help others, I realized eventually I wanted to be in a position to help others the way they helped me.”
Like Wright, Edwards hopes her association with The Mission Continues will lead her on a path to start her own non-profit to help others.
“Being able to give back in this capacity, because I know what it’s like for these women. Some of their stories, I was there,” she said. “I get it. I’m so happy to be here to give back with The Mission Continues.”
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