Ten military career counselors from across the Washington D.C. area volunteered to help to prepare a meal for homeless people on Friday at a New Hope Housing, Inc. shelter right outside of Fort Belvoir.
As part of the Military District of Washington retention training and team-building event the Soldiers, who work at many military installations including Fort Belvoir, Fort McNair, and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, visited Eleanor U. Kennedy Shelter for single adults.
The counselors unloaded a van, set up Christmas decorations and helped to prepare spaghetti during their visit, according to Sgt. 1st Class Samira Abdullah, Fort Belvoir installation career counselor.
"I feel like this is part of our Family," Abdullah said of the people living at the shelter. "It is right outside of Fort Belvoir. It is almost like our own personal community that we definitely need to take care of."
Fifty people currently live in the main house of the 24-hour shelter, which provides a meal each night, according to Chris Bramante, community outreach and volunteer coordinator for New Hope Housing, Inc. They are involved in a full-service program that also outlines a plan for employment and housing.
New Hope Housing, Inc. operates multiple shelters in the area and facilitates programs in many cities within Virginia, including Falls Church and Arlington.
Bramante said it was great to see the Soldiers helping out Friday.
"I will say that military people, in general, make the best volunteers because they are willing to do anything," she said. "They work hard."
Staff Sgt. Shawn Holman, a Fort Belvoir installation career counselor, said that preparing for the meal made him feel good.
"I wish we could do it more," Holman said. "We get caught up with our day-to-day jobs a lot. I just wish we could do more stuff like this."
Master Sgt. James Meyers, a career counselor at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, added it is a good time of year to participate in an outreach.
"It is a different avenue to do something good in the community," Meyers said. "It makes me feel good at the end of the day that I did something that impacted somebody's life positively."
Abdullah said the volunteers want to continue to help the shelter in the future. Everything went well with the outreach effort, she said. The military counselors arrived to prepare the meal early in the afternoon, but it was not served until later that evening.
"Our team that we have, they are probably one of the best that I have ever worked with, as far as coming together and just making the best out of any situation," Abdullah said. "They bring such a positive energy that it makes it so easy to make anything happen."
For more information about the shelter, email Bramante at cbra mante@newhopehousing.org or call her at (703) 799-2293, Ext. 22.
Social Sharing