WASHINGTON — Tamara "Tammy" Holmes hit a rough patch two years ago. She had a job but ended up homeless.
“You know we look at homelessness and immediately think people living on the street or a person that doesn’t aspire to achieve things and that’s not always the case,” she said.
She added, “I’m spite of all the chaos and the emotional un in balance that I went through there were agencies and people in place to it assist me.”
The people and assistance she’s talking about is United Way’s Project Homeless Connect.
All the city services you need under one roof.
Everything from health and hygiene are taken care of, podiatrists, dentists and hairstylists.
It’s a lot, but volunteers help walk you through.
If you’d like to help support Project Homeless Connect “Do more” on this Giving Tuesday -- click here.
Rosie Allen-Herring is the President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way National Capitol Area.
United Way's Project Homeless Connect
She said, "We know that many of those who are experiencing homelessness there’s a little bit of a dignity stigma that is attached to it so by having that one buddy who’s with you whether you need one services or all 80 services says that we care about you we’re not going to hand you off to anyone.”
And this year, the United Way is looking at the event a little differently.
Allen-Herring said, “We’re looking to bring it to more families who may be at risk of, and when we say at risk of these are families who are one paycheck away or one emergency away. If there’s anything you can think of, we try to make it available to our neighbors who need us at that moment.”
Interested in Volunteering? You can sign up to become a United Way NCA volunteer here.
Holmes said, "United Way gave me the opportunity to voice to share my situation hopefully to let somebody in that situation know that there is a way out."
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"I came to the program looking for help and then a year later a year later I was able to come back and assist in helping somebody else. I was able to go over on my break and volunteer for a couple of hours and that’s my way of giving back," she said.