It isn’t too often Good Shepherd Housing (GSH) is adopted by a boy scout troop, but when it happens it’s a great feeling.
Boy Scout Troop 1865 of Fairfax/Burke has joined up with GSH to work on several of our housing units. In our first work engagement in July, the Troop carried out and completed a range of maintenance and repair tasks at one of our apartments in Alexandria located near Route One. That day—another one of the many scorching-hot July days this summer—the 30-plus scouts and their adult troop leaders plastered and repaired walls, cleaned the kitchen, and painted all the walls and ceilings in our three-bedroom unit. After the scouts finished their work, GSH had the subfloor replaced and a new carpet installed.
All in all, as the photos show, it turned out to be a top-notch work job.
And here’s the part that makes it the most satisfying. After the scouts and GSH had finished their work, a working but homeless family of five moved into the unit. The family’s last address before our apartment was that of a family shelter on Route One. The family had lived in the shelter for several months. Now the family had a roof over their heads that they could call their own. The scouts had made their apartment a home.
We look forward to many other work projects with Troop 1865. We hope we can give them the kind of work projects from which they can learn solid property management skills and practices. More than that, we hope they will see the value of their work—knowing that their hard work, sweat and effort went to providing secure housing to a vulnerable family in our community.

Good Shepherd Housing owns several affordable housing units along the Route One Corridor, near the flooding that happened last week. Luckily none of our units had any problems with the flood waters. When we did check in with one of our tenants though, we got a very uplifting message in response. Read below to see what she said.

Hello
My family and I are well and did well during the flooding. Praise God. My son went around the Community Rec Center and assist family that where in need with the Fairfax county police and fire department that was giving out water, pizza and other food. I purchase some water and my son distributed the water out to families that did suffer around the corner on Friday, as school was closed.

This post came to me as an email response. I emailed back to Tonuya and she encouraged me to share her words with as many people as possible.  What a great testament to the power of a helping hand offered by GSH!

Hello, this is Tonuya (last name omitted here for her privacy).  I wanted to share a story with you.  Some years ago, I came to Good Shepherd seeking assistance.  I have 2 kids (now 21 & 13) and now a grand daughter, however, for about 2 years now I have been off of housing and self-sufficient. I have a Bachelor’s degree (I will pursue my Master’s next year) and a well paying job. Please let everyone know that furthering their education and consistantly pursuing a job in their particular field will take them further than they ever imagined.  Tell them to never give up. I would like to thank staff members at Good Shepherd and Nancy Taxson (Homestretch) for assisting me.

It is back to school time here! Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services was the lucky recipient of many donated school supplies, from the local Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, Hollin Hall Senior Center, local friends and many more. I have to say though; the most fun we had collecting supplies was at Art at the Center. They had their annual Big Chalk Draw where they close their parking lot and kids and parents go crazy drawing all over the place. As part of the Chalk Draw, Art at the Center collected school supplies and donated them to the clients of Good Shepherd Housing. As I am fond of saying, it takes a village.

On Friday August 19th GSH lost another champion for our mission.  Fran Garman was energetic and endlessly giving in her support of our work. She didn’t let years of battling cancer hold up her volunteer efforts. If she was healthy enough, she was helping.

From Fran’s six years of service on our board to being the Friday afternoon volunteer for years, her commitment to GSH was unquestionable. And for that, we are grateful.

We hold her husband Del and their family in our thoughts as they grieve this loss.

Today we bid farewell to Allie Busching, our summer intern.  During her time with us Allie helped dozens of families in short term crisis stabilize their housing by accessing financial assistance.

We wish her well as she makes her way back to the Midwest for her senior year at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota pursuing a degree in social work.  Um Yah Yah!

Earlier today I attended to the funeral mass for Jeff Todd.  He was a personal friend, as well as an amazing ambassador for the work of GSH.

As I entered the church, I saw another of our volunteers sitting in the back pew and wiping her eyes.  As I greeted her she said, “I just had to come.  Even though I only met and volunteered alongside Jeff twice, once was enough. ”

He was truly a remarkable man, and that shined through even the first time you met him.

It was another thought-provoking day at Good Shepherd Housing. Being home from the office, having eaten dinner and pedaled around the neighborhood for a while my head is still processing.  And so, I write.

“Nonprofits need to act like a business,” is the phrase I keep hearing in my head.  What does that mean when it’s said?  And, when we do employ principles and practices familiar to the business community, why does it not seem to earn very much credit or respect.

Earlier today I attended a conference where a panelist from a major corporation voiced a candid thought that he’s heard among some in the business community.  It went something like, “if the business community has done its fair share of feeling pain and downsizing, why hasn’t the nonprofit community?”  Maybe I heard him wrong, but it was decidedly along the lines that because the business community was shrinking, so should the nonprofit community.  And, the man was great to admit that maybe we had done so and it was just an issue of nonprofit not adequately conveying to the corporate sector that we had cut and downsized.  If so, he hasn’t really seen it.

Wow.  The thought never occurred to me that we should mirror the corporate community step by step.

Here’s why:

- as a sector, we take on market failures.  By definition we do things that a market-based approach can’t do.  If the markets could do it and turn a profit, they would.  That’s why we only see the nonprofit and governmental sectors tackling issues like homelessness, hunger and the like.  There isn’t a profit to be made there.  So, to assume that what corporations are doing is the right thing for nonprofits immediately raises my suspicion.  The things that we focus on are very different.  Don’t get me wrong, I have HUGE respect for people running private companies, but they have a clear definition of success and it is measured in financial terms – - profit.  That is decidedly tough work, but different than nonprofit work, for sure.

- and, acting like a business includes expanding when your potential market expands, and contracting only when there isn’t the ability to raise the capital needed to operate at the same or expanded levels.  When for-profit companies want to expand, they seek capital and grown when they can get it.  This sounds familiar to nonprofits.  Conversely, as corporations are shedding jobs and downsizing, it is likely a product of slower business and less revenue.  Contrast this with human service nonprofits in the last few years.  Yes, we struggled to raise the needed capital to operate, but we also saw an explosion of people needing the service or product we produce.  To me, it seems like we should get credit for trying to operate like a business in this environment.  We are responding to the “opportunity” to housing, feed and care for more people than we’ve had as potential customers before.

For both of these reasons, I’m thinking that we nonprofits need to do more to message what we are doing and why. We need to partner effectively with the corporate sector. They have the ability to have pronounced positive impact on our work.

Based on what little you’ve heard so far, what am I missing?

Quick quiz: What was Millard Fuller famous for?
Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t know that he founded the renowned Habitat for Humanity International. I didn’t either, until I took an online quiz about how millionaires spend their fortunes. Many expenditures like Fuller’s were laudable. Others were laughable, such as the $2 million tab a businessman paid for a birthday party.
Now let’s get real here…
Most of us, I suspect, can ill afford to burn hundreds or thousands, to say nothing of millions, to mark turning a year older. Nor for that matter, can we give all we have to charity. However, I think we can all afford to take advantage of a limited-time opportunity to indulge ourselves while still spending wisely and supporting a charitable cause.
Throughout July, any time you order a party pack of 8, 12, 16, 20 or 50 pieces of chicken from an Alexandria Roy Rogers, the restaurant will donate a portion of the sale to Good Shepherd Housing & Family Services. The more you buy, the more Roy Rogers will give.
A good time for you means a good night in their own home for a family in Alexandria’s Route One corridor who might otherwise not get that chance. So don’t break your bank, but do have a party! We would hate to see the story of your spending spree in the papers, but we would love to call you one of our supporters.

Two days ago I sent an email message to our supporters and posed the question of how people first heard about GSH.  Kudos to Geralyn Trujillo for being the first to reply:

“Well, Shannon – I first learned about GSH when I was searching for an internship a few years ago.  While my interest was initially captured by the project, it was the people, the services, and the spirit that is GSH that has kept me interested.  While I’m not as engaged as I would like (that darn work!), GSH continues to have a special place in my heart and is always on the top of my list of organizations to support!”

Stay tuned.  We’ll keep posting responses.  If you’d like to offer how you first learned, send it to me via email and we’ll put it up here.