What? Let me explain. It was a briefing about the DC Catalogue For Philanthropy. GSHFS is proud to be included in their “carefully vetted list” of small, quality nonprofits. These are all small charities doing great work, and under the leadership of the Harman Family Foundation, a catalogue is put out every year spotlighting these great small nonprofits (including us!).

So, as I looked around the room and heard everyone introduce themselves, I was amazed. Many were agencies I hadn’t heard of with missions I wouldn’t have imagined. But, almost every person there had passion when they spoke of their work. What an amazing thing!

Inclusion in the Catalogue has been a great thing for GSHFS, and once they implement some of their new initiatives, things will only improve further. I look forward to telling you more later!

Oh, want to see our listing in the Catalogue? Follow this link.

I have been so pleasantly surprised by the community response to our request for school supplies. Our donors are generous when a need is identified and they understand what is needed to fill that need. Thanks, everyone, for stepping forward with the pencils, backpacks, safety scissors, etc!

And, I’ve also been surprised by the supply lists provided by some of the schools where our clients send their children. Maybe this is the norm, and because I’m not a parent I never knew any better, but there are some crazy suggestions made by the schools. What elementary student will realistically need 10 glue sticks during the year - - in addition to one bottle of liquid glue?

Further, when I was in school, soap was provided along with the running water. (It was actually that gritty, powdered soap that really scrubbed hands clean.) That powder must be a thing of the past, because supply lists are now asking for multiple bottles of liquid hand soap (with a pump dispenser). In addition, students are also requested to bring bottles of hand sanitizer.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, or miserly, but this raises an eyebrow. As a community-based nonprofit we are happy to help the children of our clients have what they need for a productive, educational year. But, these lists seemed excessive. We fell markedly short of filling any student’s backpack with 10 glue sticks or multiple bottles of soap.

This leads me to question how many parents really send all of the items listed by the school? Who can help me better understand this?