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Miriam's Kitchen fights food insecurity, homelessness in the DMV

More than 1.2 million people face food insecurity in the DMV. Miriam's Kitchen has been working for 40 years to give them meals and housing.

WASHINGTON — Millions of people face food insecurity every day. Thousands in the DMV don't have a permanent home. Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week seeks to bring attention to these major problems.

For 14 years, Susan Raskin has been volunteering at Miriam's Kitchen, which provides meals and housing assistance to those without homes.

“It's funny the first day or two I volunteered here, you know, they would say thank you see goodbye," Raskin said. "And I said, No, no, you don't know me. If it's something I really love. It's something I committed to. And what they do here is unbelievable.”

The group serves close to 500 meals a day -- half for breakfast, the other half for dinner.

In the past six months, CEO Scott Schenkelberg said they've served 30% more meals.

“I think anybody who's gone to the grocery store or out to eat recently, can attest to the incredible rise in the cost of food...And then there are, you know, hot rising housing prices…And for those who are on the edge economically, it's it's a crisis," he said.

The Capital Area Food Bank released a report in September 2023, showing that 32% of residents in the Washington Metropolitan Area faced food insecurity between May 2022 and April 2023. That adds up to more than 1.2 million people.

Most people told them they still haven't recovered financially from the pandemic.

Thousands haven't been able to find permanent homes.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments issued its annual Point-in-Time Homelessness Count report in May 2023. 

It reported 8,944 individuals experiencing homelessness in the region. That marks an 18% increase from the previous year, but the fifth consecutive year that the homelessness count has been below 10,000 people.

Nearly 5,000 of those people live in D.C.

That's who Miriam's Kitchen in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood serves.

Founded in 1983, their goal is to end chronic homelessness.

The nonprofit does that, not only by serving daily meals to those who need it, but also by providing a series of wraparound services.

"Miriam's Kitchen has been around for four decades and we've been working to end chronic homelessness across that time," said Miriam's Kitchen CEO Scott Schenkelberg. "We know that both food insecurity and housing insecurity are solvable issues in our community. Unfortunately, over the last six months we've seen as much as a 30% increase in the number of people coming for meals."

They offer a permanent supportive housing program — currently to 325 people — that provides them with a housing subsidy voucher and a case manager through Miriam's Kitchen.

Once staff members get these individuals into a home, they work with them to make sure they can keep it.

The group reports a 99% retention rate for those in housing for over one year in the program.

Since its founding, Miriam's Kitchen has helped more than 1,500 people move into their first home in years.

They have also provided nearly 1.8 million meals.

"Again, these are solvable issues. We know how to solve food insecurity, people need food, we can help people with food. We know how to solve homelessness, people need housing. We can provide housing for people. Miriam's Kitchen's work is to help the community understand those issues, and  bring people in so they can support our work to address food insecurity and housing insecurity," Schenkelberg said. 

In 2023, they helped more than 200 guests move into housing, which is the most guests in one year in their history.

This year alone, the organization has served almost 84,000 nutritious meals. That's key. Often, less healthy food is what is cheap and more easily attainable.

Miriam's Kitchen wants to help their guests improve their health as they work to get them housed.

“I don't want Miriam's Kitchen to be here, because I want everyone to be housed and have enough food and have enough clothing," Raskin said.

If you want to contribute to food donations or volunteer, click this link.

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