On Saturday, September 15th, DASH hosted a group of volunteers from Clark Construction to work on making the DASH playground safer and more beautiful. The volunteers met at 7am with DASH staff to drink coffee and eat delicious cheese and bacon muffins generously made by a 
talented Clark volunteer. Due to the hard work of the Clark volunteers, DASH now has fresh wood chips to ensure the children’s safety; a freshly cleaned playground; more durable, stained, outside furniture; beautifully hung murals that were created by DASH children during our playground build 
with KaBOOM!; and no more weeds! The volunteers from Clark Construction also spent time putting in colorful stepping stones painted by DASH children in the Red Derby sponsored Art Group. They look absolutely beautiful! A huge thank you to Clark Construction for providing the manpower, the materials and the expertise for our playground re-beautification. We are so grateful for Clark’s continued support of DASH and look forward to working together again in the future!
poverty
Back to School!
On August 22nd, DASH held a Back-To-School Party to give out all of the amazing backpacks and schools supplies that were donated by the Red Derby and Eagle Bank, and to get the children excited for the new school year! In total 37 elementary school students, 8 middle school s
tudents, 11 high school students and 4 college students were provided with all of the materials they needed to start the school year off right and be ready to learn. Our parents/guardians were extremely grateful for this support given how expensive starting a new school year can be, and all of the kids were absolutely thrilled! Thank you so much to the Red Derby and Eagle Bank for making such a huge difference in the lives of DASH’s families. We are so grateful for you!
SPOTLIGHT ON ALLIES IN CHANGE AWARDEES: A WIDER CIRCLE AND MARK BERGEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Thanks to the leadership and support of Mark Bergel and A Wider Circle, families moving into housing with DASH had their new households fully furnished and equipped, ready for them to easily and quickly move into their new homes and begin rebuilding their lives. When DASH doubled the number of families housed through our Empowerment Project, A Wider Circle provided everything needed to help them move into their apartments seamlessly. With the simple mission of helping children and families lift themselves out of poverty, A Wider Circle does so much more. They ensure that families who have escaped abuse, leaving everything they had behind them, not only have a safe place to live but everything need to make it a home.
We would like to honor Mark Bergel, the Executive Director of A Wider Circle, with our Building Brick Award. In construction, the building brick is that which makes up the substance of the structure. A Wider Circle’s help to ensure that the families at DASH are provided with more than just a safe place to run, but the ability to establish new homes – quickly, easily, and comfortably, the way a home should be – helps change lives. Read the interview with Mark Bergel below, and remember to buy tickets to the Allies in Change Luncheon here:
I believe that we can end poverty, that it is the single greatest blight on our society and on our world. I believe that poverty leads to so many other destructive forces and I am deeply devoted to working to end it.
My relationship to our nation’s capital is simply that it provides the perfect opportunity to show what is possible when people come together to address a major problem. I have spent many, many days in all parts of our capital city and am always shocked that we allow poverty to endure and two worlds to exist side by side in the same land. I think we owe it to every ideal on which this nation was born and every ideal we hold sacred in our lives to end poverty. To me, DC is a metaphor for the connection that is needed in this world.
If you are doing anything of importance in this city, you will hear about DASH. It was
fairly early in the life of A Wider Circle, the organization I founded in 2001, that I came across DASH and forged a relationship with its leadership.
I believe that the work that DASH does – and the way it is done – is a real uplift. DASH and its leadership represent truly the best in social service, and we need to serve in an extremely high-quality and dignified way. That is what I see with DASH.
A mutual desire to serve well – that is what brought us together. A Wider Circle’s relationship with DASH is a true partnership. They provide support in many ways for our work, and we respond with urgency when a family from DASH is in need of our support.
While it may not sound unique, what stands out about DASH to me is the exceptionally
professional manner in which is it is managed and in which its programs run. It may not seem unique to be a consistently high-quality and first-class operation, but the way in which DASH is managed makes me feel good about how the women and families they serve will be supported.
Unfortunately, domestic violence is almost synonymous with poverty, so I am connected with domestic violence much more than I expected to be. In fact, I always say that it would be difficult to meet a woman who was born and raised in poverty and did not face some form of violence. Every conversation is heartbreaking, but at the same time, motivating. So, to be a part of what DASH is doing, and to partner in the effort is among the most important things that I and A Wider Circle do. We are deeply committed to confronting the issue of domestic violence and to making sure that those who have been victims of it can realize a future filled with positivity and joy.
