Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1D, the five-person elected body that represents Mount Pleasant, has been working hard to assist our neighborhood during the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted to share with you what the commission has undertaken over the last 3+ months.
Beginning in mid-March, ANC 1D partnered with the Mount Pleasant Village, which supports seniors, to form Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a volunteer initiative to help neighborhood residents stay safe and well during COVID-19. NHN is now 200 volunteers strong, and has grown into something much larger than either the ANC or the Village envisioned. In partnership with World Central Kitchen, Food Rescue, and Food For All DC, the amazing NHN volunteers are organizing neighborhood food aid programs that reach an estimated 1,000 unique people in and near Mt P each week. Volunteers are also on site to assist the Spanish Catholic Center's weekly food distribution program, and they're lending a hand with grocery distribution via Sanctuary DMV and the Latin American Youth Center.
Teams of volunteers are also sewing masks, strategizing with District Bridges (a local economic development nonprofit) to support our neighborhood businesses, and organizing around other neighborhood needs. For the past three months, NHN volunteers have been helping to keep the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market running every Saturday. In addition, volunteers run errands and provide other assistance for homebound or quarantined neighbors. (Interested volunteers can sign up for NHN at www.anc-volunteering.org.)
It has been truly overwhelming to see the outpouring of volunteer activity through NHN. Many of us believe Mount Pleasant is a special neighborhood but this has been extraordinary to witness. The commission does not have adequate words to convey our gratitude for the NHN volunteers.
In addition to helping to coordinate NHN, ANC 1D is fortunate to have significant savings in its bank account. The commission has been of the unanimous opinion that this life-threatening crisis is a critical time to leverage our savings to help our neighborhood. To that end, we have:
-- Purchased 3,200 adult-sized reusable cloth masks, 1,000 child-sized reusable cloth masks, and 2,000 large 16 oz. bottles of hand sanitizer, totaling $29,000. These have been distributed to about 2,000 vulnerable families in our neighborhood through the Spanish Catholic Center, La Clinica del Pueblo, Bancroft Elementary, and the DC Housing Authority. We also distributed these supplies directly to half a dozen apartment buildings through NHN's World Central Kitchen meal delivery partnership. The hand sanitizer and child-sized masks were both purchased from local businesses, Cotton & Reed Distillery and District Masks, to benefit our local economy as well as provide these vital supplies.
-- Awarded a $10,000 grant to support the Food Pantry at the Spanish Catholic Center. The SCC provides huge boxes of food on Wednesdays to as many as 600 families -- TEN TIMES the number of families they served pre-COVID. It has been an all-hands-on-deck effort for them to meet the need. Thanks to their arrangements with the Capital Area Food Bank and other suppliers, the cost is about $20 per box and yet is enough to feed a household for almost a week, helping to stretch our commission dollars as far as possible.
--Provided modest financial support for administrative and supply costs associated with NHN. Incredibly, NHN's work has been accomplished over the last 3 months with less than $1,000 in direct expenses.
We continue to explore ways to support our neighborhood during this time. Three-and-a-half months in, we are keenly aware that the danger from COVID-19 is still present and the economic fallout from this crisis is only deepening.