New Temporary Overnight Shelter for Encampment Residents

Hello, neighbor!

Several months ago, the county announced that the Hill would be cleared, and the tent residents would be offered a temporary shelter. At the time, there were no details about this temporary shelter and no details about the timeline for when the tents would be cleared. This lack of information drove me to create a website urging community support for the Hill. Now, that temporary overflow shelter is opening Monday (⁷⁄₂₉). There was a meeting last Wednesday to discuss the shelter, which you can read about below.

TL;DR

🕍 Cornerstones hosted a meeting with interfaith partners to discuss plans for the Temporary Overnight Shelter intended for those residing at the Hill – it’s not perfect, but I’m optimistic.
💪 Reston Strong (a local nonprofit which has been with the Hill since day one) hopes to start a drop-in center for people experiencing homelessness.
🏡 Three friends from the Hill have secured housing!
🥪 We’ve received awesome sandwich donations from Sue (AKA “the sandwich lady”) and Capital Church.
♻️ I did another trash run, and if you’d like to help in the future, let me know!

Cornerstones Meeting About Reston Encampment

Yesterday, Cornerstones (an organization that provides a multitude of services to low-income people, including running the Embry Rucker shelter) held a meeting at the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation with interfaith partners to discuss the new Temporary Overnight Shelter. This shelter has been planned specifically for the residents of the Hill, since the land the Hill is on will be sold to INOVA in the near future (we don’t know exactly when). It is of course disheartening that many people will be forced to leave a place they’ve made their last-resort home, but I am optimistic that this new shelter may provide a better quality of life.

Three important items the tent residents desire are privacy, storage, and 24-hour access. Without these, a tent in the woods is a better quality of life for many folks on the Hill. The county has agreed to provide storage for those who stay in the Temporary Overnight Shelter, so that’s awesome! Additionally, everyone in the temporary shelter will have cots instead of mats. Some of these cots will have tent canopies, offering privacy (pictured above). Unfortunately, only 10 of the cots currently have this tent canopy (there are ~35 residents of the Hill). Not all the cots have this tent canopy because Cornerstones is concerned that the tent canopy cots will take up more space and that they’ll be difficult to assemble/disassemble (this must be done every morning/night). However, based on my conversations with tent residents, privacy is a very important factor, so I hope that the number of tent canopy carts will increase. Finally, 24-hour access will not be possible at this new shelter. Anyone sleeping there will be encouraged to stay at Embry Rucker shelter during the day. Embry Rucker is already quite crowded and busy, so this isn’t the best-case scenario, but there’s potentially a new drop-in center (discussed below) that might alleviate that problem.

Overall, the Temporary Overnight Shelter offers more for the residents of the Hill than I’d initially hoped for. I do believe that your emails to Walter Alcorn’s office helped with this (as well as advocacy from Reston Strong and other local groups). I plan to encourage everyone at the Hill to stay there, rather than attempting to find some hidden spot in the woods elsewhere.

Reston Strong’s Proposed Drop-In Center

The lack of 24-hour access to the new Temporary Overnight Shelter is an issue for those who stay there. Reston Strong hopes to fill this need by opening a drop-in center for those experiencing homelessness, modeled after the Lamb Center. The drop-in center would likely be in Hunters Woods. Reston Strong has a great team, and I’m confident that this would be a wonderful facility. I’m looking forward to new developments about it!

Housing Success Stories!

After seeing my friends on the Hill living outdoors for so long, the idea of them moving into their own place can seem very distant. But during the last two weeks, three folks on the Hill received housing! One is an older man who was recently hospitalized and received surgery on his leg. He’s been through physical therapy successfully. On Tuesday, I helped move all his things from storage into his new apartment, and we also moved in a donated couch and desk! Additionally, an employed young man from the Hill (with a constant smile on his face) moved into a group home last Friday. Reston Strong helped him move into his new place. And the last person to receive housing is an older woman with back issues. I’ve known her for ages, and I’d been storing her personal belongings. Her new bedroom is pictured above. Soon after moving in, she was reunited with her dog, Squirt.

Sandwiches from the Sandwich Lady and Capital Church

Many people on the Hill know “the sandwich lady.” I know her as Sue. She receives bread donations from First Baptist Church of Herndon and frequently makes sandwiches for our friends on the Hill (as well as people living on the streets in Herndon). Some of her recent sandwich donations are pictured above. We also received more sandwiches from Odie, a new face (for me) who brought Firehouse Subs from Capital Church.

Trash keeps piling up

Once again, trash really piled up, so I did another trash run. Some folks on the Hill often feel discouraged from maintaining clean surroundings since that seems impossible, but I do my best to encourage them. In addition to renting a U-Haul and driving garbage to the dump, I make sure everyone has enough trash bags and gloves for picking up trash. I also feel that it’s fair to compensate the Hill residents who help, since they’re often picking up trash from other areas of the camp that frankly, you couldn’t pay me to clean. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping out on trash day, let me know!

Thank you,
Matthew