Volunteers Needed for Homelessness Registry Event in Mount Vernon

The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to End Homelessness has joined the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a nationwide initiative to find permanent homes for chronically homeless individuals.

It is estimated that 300 people in Fairfax County are chronically homeless. The chronically homeless population is defined as “those who continually struggle with finding a safe and consistent place to call home.” Many chronically homeless individuals endure serious illness, physical, and mental disability. The county’s goal is to house 150 of the county’s chronically homeless population in the next three years.  To achieve this goal, the county is participating in a Registry Event in February to help organizations understand who is homeless, why they are homeless, and how they can be housed.

Sherry Edelkamp is the volunteer coordinator for the Ventures in Community Hypothermia Outreach Program, a hypothermia shelter housing the homeless during the coldest months of the year. Edelkamp is coordinating registry efforts in the Route 1 corridor.

Edelkamp needs individuals to assist in the registry and commit to one, two, or three mornings to go with a team to campsites to interview homeless individuals and report the information back to Edelkamp.

Once the data is collected, a follow-up meeting will convene on March 1 to give a detailed account of the homeless in the Route 1 corridor.

Edelkamp calls the surveys a “huge eye-opener” in learning more about the homeless in the community.

“You can talk about homelessness, and you don’t have an impression of it until you see the person,” Edelkamp said. “It truly puts a face on homelessness.”

Volunteers are also needed to help send the teams out each morning with supplies for campsite visits and to conduct interviews in the shelter during evening hours. 

Those who are interested in volunteering should attend a volunteer meeting. Both meetings will take place at Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church in Mount Vernon on the following dates: 

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 26, 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

If you would like additional information about this project, or to RSVP to a volunteer meeting, please email Sherry Edelkamp at sherryedelkamp@yahoo.com