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Tag: miriams kitchen

  • Mobile bathroom brings hygiene to people who are homeless in DC area – WTOP News

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    Taking a hot shower after a rough day is a game changer but for many people who are homeless, they could have long stretches without them. One local nonprofit is attempting to change that with new mobile showers that will travel across Northern Virginia and D.C.

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    Mobile bathroom brings hygiene to people who are homeless in DC area

    Taking a hot shower after a rough day is a game changer but for many people without housing they could have long stretches without them. One local nonprofit is attempting to change that with new mobile showers that will travel across Northern Virginia and D.C.

    “We talk to individuals who haven’t had showers in five weeks, in two months,” said Sylisa Lambert-Woodard, the president and CEO of Pathway Homes.

    The Mobile Outreach Unit is a retrofitted trailer with three full private bathrooms complete with hot showers that people who are homeless can use. One of the bathrooms is fully wheelchair accessible.

    “It’s not just the shower,” Lambert-Woodard said. “The shower is the entree. It’s a way of being able to engage individuals. It’s an opportunity for individuals to engage, to research, receive services, and ultimately restore their own hope and dignity through health and hygiene.”

    According to Pathway Homes, only two of the 41 homeless shelters in Northern Virginia offer drop-in shower services for people not living in the shelter. Lambert-Woodard estimated that around five in D.C. allow drop-by bathing.

    “It’s 18 degrees out here, and people are still trekking over to get a shower, and what individuals are sharing with us is that the shower actually gives them a new sense of hope and renewal,” Lambert-Woodard said.

    Miriam’s Kitchen in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of D.C. will be one of the stops for this mobile shower trailer. CEO Scott Schenkelberg told WTOP they offer, meals, clothes, case management to find housing and advocacy work, “But people are always in need of hygiene.”

    “Every time we’ve asked guests, what could we do to make your life a little bit better until we find housing for you?” Schenkelberg said. “They always ask for showers and our facility just is not built to be able to provide showers.”

    They plan for the Mobile Outreach Unit to be outside Miriam’s Kitchen every other week.

    In addition to providing showers, they will provide health and hygiene kits, with band aids, toothbrushes and toothpaste, that people can take with them.

    “Can you imagine going for weeks without having a shower, I mean, we all feel I would think very gross afterward,” Schenkelberg said. “But it also is about affirming dignity and building trust. Because when people ask for something, and you repeatedly say ‘no.’ We can’t do that. It’s really hard. It doesn’t help build trust.”

    A local nonprofit has built new mobile showers that will travel across Northern Virginia and D.C.
    (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

    WTOP/Luke Lukert

    mobile outreach unit with private bathroom
    According to Pathway Homes, only two of the 41 homeless shelters in Northern Virginia offer drop-in shower services for people not living in the shelter.
    (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

    WTOP/Luke Lukert

    shower and sink mobile bathroom
    The Mobile Outreach Unit is a retrofitted trailer with three full private bathrooms complete with hot showers that people without homes can use.
    (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

    WTOP/Luke Lukert

    outside of mobile outreach unit
    They plan for the Mobile Outreach Unit to be outside Miriam’s Kitchen every other week.
    (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

    WTOP/Luke Lukert

    signage for mobile outreach unit
    In addition to providing showers, they will provide health and hygiene kits, with band aids, toothbrushes and toothpaste, that people can take with them.
    (WTOP/Luke Lukert)

    WTOP/Luke Lukert

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Luke Lukert

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  • Man sentenced to 30 years in 2020 fatal soup kitchen stabbing in DC – WTOP News

    Man sentenced to 30 years in 2020 fatal soup kitchen stabbing in DC – WTOP News

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    A D.C. man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of another man outside a soup kitchen in the Foggy Bottom area in January 2020.

    A D.C. man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of another man outside a soup kitchen in the Foggy Bottom area in January 2020.

    In a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., prosecutors said Joseph Melton, 55, of Southeast, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon on March 25.

    Melton was involved in multiple stabbing attacks in the city on Jan. 14, 2020.

    The first attack took place around 9:10 a.m. as he encountered a man named Kevin Chamberlain while Chamberlain was walking along the 1800 block of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C.

    Prosecutors said Chamberlain didn’t know Melton but recognized him from college. That’s when the 55-year-old pulled out his knife and attempted to stab him.

    Chamberlain ran away and reported the incident to police.

    The second attack took place around 1:15 p.m. in the 800 black of Vermont Avenue near the McPherson Square Metro Station. Melton stabbed another man so badly that “his intestines were protruding from his body,” according to charging documents.

    Officials said the second victim survived the stabbing incident.

    Melton confronted Chamberlain again around an hour later outside Miriam’s Kitchen on Virginia Avenue in Northwest and stabbed him again, repeatedly. Chamberlain died from his injuries a few hours after the incident.

    Court documents state that Melton’s 366-month sentence carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and 5 years of supervised release.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Tadiwos Abedje

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  • Homeless encampments cleared in DC – WTOP News

    Homeless encampments cleared in DC – WTOP News

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    National Park Service and D.C. Department of Public Works employees dressed in hazmat suits flooded and cleared a homeless encampment at the corner of 20th and E Streets in Northwest, D.C., on Thursday morning.

    Volunteers and residents clear out the encampment site before city employees move in.
    (WTOP/Neal Augenstein )

    WTOP/Neal Augenstein

    encampment site
    Tents and belongings lay around the encampment site before D.C. Public Works and National Park Service employees cleared it.
    (WTOP/Neal Augenstein )

    WTOP/Neal Augenstein

    dumping tents into trash
    National Park Service and D.C. Public Works employees dump tents and belongings into a dumpster.
    (WTOP/Neal Augenstein )

    WTOP/Neal Augenstein

    City employees stand on the encampment site.
    (WTOP/Neal Augenstein )

    WTOP/Neal Augenstein

    National Park Service and D.C. Department of Public Works employees dressed in hazmat suits flooded and cleared a homeless encampment at the corner of 20th and E Streets in Northwest on Thursday morning.

    Pitchforks, rakes and shovels were used by the employees to remove tents and personal belongings from the park before loading them into garbage trucks.

    Volunteers from local advocacy groups including Miriam’s Kitchen, a non-profit organization aimed at ending homelessness, were at the encampment site Thursday morning to assist residents in gathering their belongings before the city employees moved in.

    Deputy Director Adam Rocap at Miriam’s Kitchen told WTOP: “It’s a closure that’s displacing up to 50 people.”

    This encampment was on both National Park Service and D.C. property. The city claims public safety concerns are a reason for removal, saying that clearing the site will protect people from assaults, rodents, fires and getting hit by vehicles.

    Rocap countered that the removal of the encampments won’t help, saying, “This doesn’t solve anything. People are just going to be on a tent on another patch of grass.”

    There was no outward tension between the residents and the employees, according to WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, who was on the scene.

    Six encampment sites on local and federal property will begin shutting down starting Thursday, according to NBC Washington:

    • San Martin Memorial Park
    • Rawlings/Wittman Parks
    • 26th and L streets NW
    • 20th/21st Street, E Street and Virginia Avenue
    • 25th Street and Virginia Avenue
    • 27th and K streets

    According to a statement released by Miriam’s Kitchen, the annual census showed a 14% increase in homelessness from 2023 to 2024.

    “Our community deserves better,” said Dana White, advocacy director at Miriam’s Kitchen in a statement. “With hundreds of housing vouchers sitting unused and no proposed investment in new vouchers from the mayor, we can’t excuse the lack of urgency. We demand that our leaders take immediate action to ensure these resources are deployed to provide stable housing for those who need it.”

    WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Ana Golden

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