A mother on Capitol Hill has organized a Christmas pajama drive for foster kids in the District. You can drop off new pajamas at Evolve Property Management (1344 H Street), or have them delivered to The Family Room 411 8th St., SE 32, Washington, DC 20003.
Full press release after the jump.
Area Mom Mobilizes Christmas Pajama Drive for Kids in DC Foster Care
Earlier this year, DC resident Kathy Jackson lay in her hospital bed, wiped out from leukemia treatment. She couldn’t see her three children, Joseph, Sam, and Tyler (ages 12, 8, and 7, respectively) because exposure to their normal childhood germs would have made her sick at a time when a simple cold would have been disastrous. A bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy had destroyed her immune system.
One of the few bright spots in those days was when a nurse would deliver a package sent by a friend that contained a pair of brand new pajamas. She says, “few things are as comforting as a new pair of pjs” when you are really feeling lousy.
It was then that she came up with the idea to sponsor a Christmas pajama drive for children in the foster care system. It is a cause near to her heart.
Jackson’s sons were all adopted from the DC foster care system and she recalls that, “not one of them owned a pair of pajamas when they came to me.” The idea of the pajama drive was one of the things that kept Jackson going through her illness and staved off self-pity on tough days. She stayed strong and determined to get back to her boys, her work, her life---and to run her pajama drive.
Early response to the pajama drive has blown her away. So far, she has received dozens of pairs of pajamas (with commitments for many more en route) from as close as her own neighborhood, and as far away as her home state of Maine. Two networks that she has mobilized for support include her former high school classmates in Maine and Moms on the Hill, a list serve of some 3,000 families on Capitol Hill and beyond.
Kathy invites all area residents to consider donating new pajamas, robes, and/or slippers in sizes from toddler to adult (for teenagers). She is particularly passionate about making sure that the many teens in the DC foster care system benefit from this drive. “There are so many teens, especially boys, who will never be adopted out of the foster care system,” she notes, and the holidays can be an especially tough time for them.
There are several ways to help, for those who do their shopping on-line, pajamas and other items can be sent to The Family Room 411 8th St., SE 32, Washington, DC 20003 and a drop box available for walk-in donations. Another Hill business, Evolve Property Management at 1344 H St, NE, Washington, DC 20002, will also have a drop-box.
The drive runs through December 20th, at which time all donations will be delivered to DC Child and Family Services for distribution to children and teens throughout the foster care system.
6 comments:
Thanks so much for featuring this, FT! It's a great cause. Don't forget adult-sized PJs for the teens!
Thank you, Kathy, for giving folks like me such an easy and gratifying way to give back this holiday season. My daughters were proud to pick out and purchase some snazzy new pjs that hopefully make a few teenage girls feel a little cozier this Christmas.
folks,
please take a moment and help out with a VA for Xclusive.
hstreetgreatstreet.blogspot.com/2011/12/7th-st-neighbors-seek-your-help-in.html
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/text-135441628.html
What Do You Want at 1351 H Street?
A pair of up-and-coming developers is crowdsourcing for a solution on what to do with a small commercial space on H Street.
Brothers Ben and Dan Miller are website Popularise "as a kind of demonstration project for their development philosophy," CityPaper reports. They're are asking people to submit their ideas to the website, and vote for the ones they like best.
The Millers are the sons of Herb Miller, the developer behind the Verizon Center, Washington Harbour and the Georgetown Park mall, but the next generation is thinking smaller scale, focusing on dining and retail locations in emerging neighborhoods.
The two-story space at 1351 H St. NE, between Rock & Roll Hotel and Star and Shamrock, is currently gutted. Twenty-one "build its" (votes) are in favor of a DURKL flagship store -- DURKL is about to be squeezed out of its own gentrifying neighborhood -- and 20 root for a RedRocks Pizzeria.
Almost a dozen user-submitted concepts include a local diner, a bagel shop, an urban fitness center and the ever-important "craft donuts" and "lettuce wraps beer music."
You can vote, or submit your own idea, here.
Anon 3:51 -- Inked already posted a front-page story about that. If you go back to the front page, scroll down just a little bit -- it's under Tuesday December 6.
A mother on Capitol Hill has organized a Christmas pajama drive for foster ... frozenpajamas.blogspot.com
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