Every fall, Bread for the City honors the engine that keeps our organization running: our incredible volunteers! This week, we’re learning more about the honorees of our 2014 Good Hope Awards, which took place on October 23rd. Drum roll, please…
AWARD: Housing Access Program Volunteer
HONOREE: Carolyn Peery
ACCOLADES: Carolyn provides valuable support in the sometimes-chaotic environment of our Housing Access Program. She excels as a volunteer because she has a very caring personality and easily builds rapport with clients. Even in difficult situations, she comes from a place of understanding and she does not judge. She is dedicated, compassionate, and is always willing to stay until the job is done. When Carolyn is not assisting clients in the Housing Access Program, you can also find her helping out in our food pantry. It is clear that she enjoys the work she does with us, and we appreciate her even more!
AWARD: Medical Volunteer
VOLUNTEER: June Wilson
ACCOLADES: June is a wonderful addition to our medical volunteer team! As the instructor of our sewing class, she has been sharing new skills and offering a therapeutic learning environment to class participants. With June’s assistance we have been able to broaden the services of our “medical home” environment. Through her sewing class, June has developed relationships with a core group of patient students who enjoy the collaborative and creative process of sewing. We thank June for sharing her skills and passion with Bread for the City and helping us expand our services!
AWARD: Sustainable Agriculture Volunteer
HONOREE: Marline Coughman
ACCOLADES: Over the course of each season in the Sustainable Ag Program, we have the opportunity to work with hundreds of volunteers and community members–but seldom do we have the opportunity to work with people from the beginning to the end of the season! Marline Coughman has been one of those volunteers who could always be counted on to enthusiastically attend events, rain or shine, with a positive attitude and unstoppable curiosity. The whole team appreciates her contributions to the SE Garden, to the Client Retreat and our Crop Mobs. We are thankful for Marline’s cooperative spirit and all she has given to the Sustainable Agriculture Program!
AWARD: Legal Partner
ORGANIZATION: DLA Piper
ACCOLADES: DLA Piper has been involved with Bread for the City’s Kenilworth-Parkside Legal Clinic project for the past two years as the financial sponsor of our Equal Justice Works Fellow, Taylor Healy. The clinic, part of Bread’s Community Lawyering Project, provides legal services to people living in the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative footprint in Ward 7. This neighborhood is part of the Department of Education’s national Promise Neighborhood pilot project that aims to develop a “cradle to college” continuum of services to improve the outcomes of children and families.
DLA Piper has gone above and beyond providing generous financial support to the project by also dedicating hundreds of hours of pro bono time conducting legal intakes and representing clients in Landlord and Tenant court. The firm’s support has allowed more people to receive high quality representation in a court where over 95% of tenants do not have a lawyer. Furthermore, recognizing the importance of continuing our joint commitment to the neighborhood, DLA Piper recently went a step further; committing additional funding and pro bono attorney time to allow Taylor to continue and expand our scope of work in the community.
