exCelebrating Excella Consulting!

On Monday January 18th while most people took the day off to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, the staff of Excella Consulting took their day to help make a difference at Homestretch. 50 Excella employees came to help make a difference in their community.

The group was split up in different teams and did various projects for Homestretch. There were some people who helped paint two of our units; there was a group that helped paint our Homestretch offices, and another group that helped move all of our donations from building 360 to building 350…all in just FOUR HOURS!

We are so thankful for Excella and all the work that they did, and continue to do to help further the mission of Homestretch! For more information on Excella please go to http://www.excellaconsulting.com/.

Holiday Shopping Spree & Gift Wrapping Party!

On Saturday, December 5th approximately 100 Homestretch staff, volunteers, and clients showed up at the K-Mart in Annandale, VA for our annual Holiday Shopping Spree & Gift Wrapping Party.

Every year all of our school aged children go to K-Mart and buy a $10 gift for each member of their family for the Holidays. Volunteers come out and help the children navigate throughout the store, and help the kids buy the presents. After the children buy their gifts we have a gift wrapping party at a local church.

This is one of Homestretch’s favorite events where we try and teach the children of our program the joy of giving and not just receiving. This year we had a fun filled day full of shopping, wrapping presents, arts and crafts, and games.

Congressman James Moran's Visit to Homestretch

Congressman James Moran visited the Homestretch offices on Tuesday morning, October 13th, and met with some of our homeless families, as well as staff and members of our Board of Directors. The reason for his visit was simple: we wanted to thank Congressman Moran for being such an outstanding champion of Homestretch, and of the families we serve.

Among the things for which we are thankful to Congressman Moran is a grant for $500,000 through the Department of Justice to help provide housing and services to families made homeless due to domestic violence.

In the Congressman’s remarks, he noted the following:

*That over half of the homeless families that come to Homestretch have been made homeless due to domestic violence;
*That domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness among women with children in the United States;
*That human trafficking is also a growing cause of concern in our region and an increasing reason for homelessness among women;
*That Homestretch has helped over 850 homeless families and over 2,000 children since we were founded in 1990.

Three Homestretch mothers told about their ordeals – what happened to cause them to be homeless, and how Homestretch has helped them.

*The first, a young woman from Kenya, spoke about how she had been a victim of human trafficking. Promised a college education in the United States, she was taken instead to a brothel in Mexico where she was held captive for ten months. She escaped, made her way into the Unites States, went through more travails, and eventually came into Homestretch, where she learned English, enrolled in employment training, learned to drive, was provide with intensive therapy and legal assistance, and is not well on her way to becoming a nurse. She was happy to report that she was accepted in a County program in which she will become a first time home buyer in five years. She is graduating from Homestretch this month.

*The second woman spoke eloquently of how she finally became convinced it was time to leave her abusive husband after she found it necessary to train her four year old twins on how to call 911, in case they came to into the room and found her unconscious from another beating. She, too, is learning a trade – dental assistant – and is becoming more independent every day.

*The third woman told the Congressman about how she had managed to escape a religious cult, where she had spent almost eleven years. By the time she left, she had become emaciated and was so timid and controlled that she barely knew how to survive. She testified to how much Homestretch helped her regain her self esteem, and how she learned to become a strong, independent woman. She is also enrolled in the County program in which she will become a first time homebuyer.

Homestretch was very pleased to be honor Congressman Moran, as he has been a tireless and valiant advocate for homeless families, for survivors of domestic abuse, for victims of human trafficking, and for disadvantaged people of all kinds who seek a better life for themselves and their children. We give him great thanks!

Homestretch Wine Tasting & Silent Auction a Success!

Friends of Homestretch toasted their mission while sampling a variety of wines from around the world supplied by the Wine Cabinet of Reston, VA. The Fourth Annual Silent Auction and Wine Tasting event was held on Friday, October 2nd at the Gannett USA Today Headquarters Building in McLean, VA. A crowd of about 250 people, including Homestretch staff, Board members, sponsors, volunteers as well as many family and friends, enjoyed the fine wine, excellent food and terrific music by the Stolen Moments jazz group and their guest vocalist, Ericka Ovette, as well as the opportunity to mingle with friends and bid on the many dozens of interesting auction items. Happily, since the event was a fundraiser, more than $50,000 was raised to support the Homestretch mission of helping homeless families in Northern Virginia move from crisis to self-sufficiency. Instead of the Wine Tasting event next year, Homestretch will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with a Black Tie Masquerade Gala at the Dulles Hilton on October 30th, 2010. Save the date!

Homestretch Summer Picnic!

On Saturday, July 25, Homestretch held its annual summer picnic at Cherry Hill park in Falls Church. This is a day when all Homestretch families come together to share food, fun and fellowship. Each parent brings a dish of food from their country, so that everyone can enjoy an 'international buffet'. Over 20 countries are represented within our agency! The food was amazing, as it always is when our parents cook.

When the feasting was over, the games began. This year, we decided to include the parents in the games, and we created Homestretch Summer Olympics. We divided the participants into 6 teams of adults and children. As a team, they competed in 4 games, including the egg on a spoon relay, a shoe scramble, shelling a pea, and threading a hoola-hoop from one end to the other without letting go of hands. It was fun to see our parents out there racing and cheering for their team! Prizes were handed out to the top 3 teams.

Finally, at the end of the picnic, backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed to all school-aged children. This is definitely one of the highlights of the picnic, as our children are so excited to receive their new book bag!

The day was a lot of fun and ran very smoothly with the help of our outstanding volunteers from BB&T. It was a great way to celebrate the summer and get our kids excited for a new school year!

Those Breakthrough Moments

“When did things finally shift for you?” I asked her.

“When I saw my four year old playing with the phone,” she replied. “She likes to act grownup and talk on the phone even if nobody is on the other line. She will mimic me, what I say and even my tone of voice.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued. “So my little girl, she says into the phone, I am sick and tired of living this way! It is not right for you to control my life. I do not want to live in fear every day.”

“Then I saw – then I knew – if my little four-year-old is repeating what she sees me say every day, what kind of affect is it having on her?”

She buried her head in her hands, sobbing: guilt was pouring over her. We assured her that what had happened was not her fault and coming for help was the best thing she could do. Leaving her abuser could be the beginning of a brand new life.

I am fascinated by the things that bring sudden insight – the “breakthrough moments” that are the spark in someone’s decision to profoundly change their life. Sometimes these moments might seem, to a casual observer, to be completely innocuous, but to the person for whom it happens, it may be life changing.

I recall a conversation I had with a man who once worked for me. He was in his mid-forties, in recovery from substance abuse. He had left behind a lifetime of minor crimes to become a respected counselor in my drug treatment program. I asked him about his breakthrough moment.

“It was the day I went into a bagel shop and asked for a donut”, he said. “I didn’t know the difference between a bagel and a donut, and when the lady behind the counter corrected me, and when I saw the laughter on the faces of everyone in the shop, I realized for the first time that I really didn’t know anything.”

He paused to reflect back on that moment.

“It swept over me like a lightning bolt. All those years, I was a know-it-all, I was smarter than everybody else; I had all the answers I needed to get by. And in that moment, I saw the truth: that I was forty years old with nothing to show for myself. I couldn’t even tell the difference between a bagel and a donut. I decided then and there that I needed to humble myself and accept the possibility that maybe the people trying to help me knew a lot more than I did about how to live a successful life.”

Raum Emmanuel has said, “One should never waste a good crisis”. That is our business at Homestretch – turning crisis into opportunity, helping people fundamentally change their lives for the better. Thank God for those breakthrough moments.

Bike Doctor Donates Bikes to Homestretch

In the summer of 2008, Homestretch came into contact with Charles Jones, whom we affectionately refer to as the “Bike Doctor.” This gentleman, with the help of some of his friends, has created a business called “Bikes for Tikes and Teens.” Using the shed in his backyard, he collects used bikes, fixes them up, and donates them to children in need – easily earning his title as “Bike Doctor.”

Last summer, he agreed to partner with Homestretch and provide a batch of bicycles to our children. To date, Homestretch has been the recipient of over 70 bicycles! On the day of delivery, many kids are riding around the parking lot just as soon as the tires hit the ground. One teenage boy who lives nearby actually walked to Homestretch to pick up his bike because he couldn’t wait for it to be delivered. We have been so grateful and so blessed by Charles’ generosity and look forward to continuing this partnership.