Last Spring, I wrote that we had added a 4th pantry at St. Luke’s on East Capitol Street SE. What a blessing that has been working with the wonderful people there, including Fr. Cornelius Ejiogu, a great Josephite priest from Nigeria and Violet Tinsley and Lenny Jones. But what has been especially nice is the wonderful families we meet every month who benefit from the pantry. We are now serving about 40 families a month and the number seems to be growing by word of mouth.
Somehow, we were called to open a 5th pantry at St. Vincent de Paul on South Capitol Street SE, which we will do sometime next month. They are located just steps from Nationals Park and just down the road from the U.S. Capitol. I can’t help but to underscore the irony of folks living in the shadows of our Capitol Building not having enough to eat! Anyway, Fr. Andy Gonzalo, originally from the Philippines, is a close friend and we both thought it was time to bring a pantry to that under-served neighborhood. My great brother and JSM Director Jay Mulholland is busy assembling the shelving we purchased and the good folks at Catholic Charities have donated a brand new refrigerator and freezer which we will be purchasing this week.
We welcomed two new Directors, Cory Molina and Mack A. Kennedy and they have both been off to a great start! I hope you’ll read about both of these outstanding leaders here on our site.
We concluded another terrific Summer In The City food drive. 27 local churches participated and we collected and delivered 71,000 cans of food! I hope you’ll take a look at the story about that here on this homepage and take a couple minutes to view the beautiful slideshow produced by Anita Brienza and Robin Arnold, which captures some of the hundreds of volunteers who made this possible. All of our pantries remained fully stocked and open all summer!
This summer also brought a couple more hallmarks. We have now delivered 500,000 cans of food and purchased and delivered 22 tons of fresh produce, milk and eggs, meat and poultry since beginning just four years ago. While that is a pretty good accomplishment, the number that really matters is that we are able to provide supplemental food assistance to over 700 families every month.
Of course, we cannot do any of that without your generous support, which, of course, brings me to the Gala…
A CAPITAL EVENING IV is our only major fund raising event each year and we need the proceeds of that event to fund us in 2018. As you know, this years event on November 10th at the Capital Hilton is being chaired by Sharon Briskman, David Piscola and Peggy Marilley and we have an outstanding event planned. The Capital Hilton’s staff — especially Director of Catering Titou Phommachanh and Executive Chef Philip Thompson — are hard at work and we expect another sumptuous meal in their elegant Presidential Ballroom. Caruso Florist is once again providing the beautiful centerpieces and we’ll enjoy the beautiful music of Robin and Rick Gordon’s RKO Orchestra Combo. And, since it is Veteran’s Day (Observed) we’ll be honoring the men and women who make us free.
We’ll also honor two mentors who serve the poor here in Washington, Father John Adams of So Others Might Eat (SOME) and Father John Enzler of Catholic Charities. These two men combined, and their organizations, serve the lion’s share of the services to the poor, needy and homeless in our city.
Seats are just $225 (same as last year) and you can reserve your seats here on the homepage, later at jsmff.org/gala or by calling 202.827.9997. We do a really good job of managing the event, ensuring a 75% profit, which frankly very few galas can match these days. The evening begins with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres at 6:00, at which time you’ll be able to bid on more than 100 fabulous auction items, including trips to Hawaii, Barbados 20 other destinations, great gifts for the holidays, artwork, and much more. This is followed by dinner and dancing at 7:30. I’m told our Gala is so popular because we keep the price affordable, we choose a Friday night so you still have the weekend free, we are tuxedo-free, and we limit the program part so that you can enjoy the company of your guests and still make it home early before the babysitter goes into overtime!
What’s best for me, however, are the 300 people who will assemble to demonstrate their love and care for the working poor of our city. I hope you will join us.
And, as always, thank you for your support.
