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CARE works around the world in humanitarian action; gender equality; climate justice; right to food, water and health; and economic justice.

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Our Approach:
Whole Person Care

Our approach is people-centered, trauma-informed and grounded in equity. We help restore our community's health and wellness by focusing on the whole person.

W e help our clients with their immediate and long-term needs by focusing on five key areas: Housing, Emergency and Social Services, Healthcare, Education and Workforce Development, and Advocacy

Our Services

Since 1970, SOME has been a care provider and a beacon of hope to residents in our nation's capital. Our services are available to individuals, families, senior citizens, veterans and those affected by physical or mental illness. Every day, we are working to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness through our comprehensive approach.

If you or someone you know needs care today, SOME can help.

Working in Partnership with the District's Leading Social Service Providers

Nearly one in five DC residents lives at or below the poverty line. To help meet their needs, we work in partnership with a range of DC-based nonprofits and government agencies, including housing, health, education and human services. Together, we are bringing hope to underserved communities. We are creating solutions that offer dignity and opportunity to thousands of our neighbors here in the nation's capital.

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Our approach is people-centered, trauma-informed and grounded in equity. We help restore our community's health and wellness by focusing on the whole person. W e help our clients with their immediate and long-term needs by focusing on five key areas: Housing, Emergency and Social Services, Healthcare, Education and Workforce Development, and Advocacy Since 1970, SOME has been a care provider and a beacon of hope to residents in our nation's capital.

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Read the American Red Cross mission statement. We are a humanitarian organization led by volunteers that provides relief to victims of disaster.

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DROP-OFF HOURS: TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY: 9AM-5PM; SUNDAY: 12PM-5PM.
TO PRIORITIZE SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS, WE ARE CLOSED FOR DROP-OFFS MONDAYS & THURSDAYS.

Everyone is welcome at A Wider Circle; there are no eligibility or referral requirements. Our "no wrong door" approach ensures that everyone who comes to us is met with compassion and served in a dignified and respectful environment. We meet each person we serve where they are - identifying challenges, providing comprehensive support, and pursuing solutions together.

All of A Wider Circle's services are provided free of charge. If you or anyone you know needs assistance, please contact us today.

Essential Support

Our Essential Support program, formerly known as Neighbor-to-Neighbor and Basic Needs Services, is A Wider Circle's largest program. This program provides beds, dressers, tables, chairs, dishes, pots, pans, and other large and small home goods to families transitioning out of shelters, escaping domestic violence, or otherwise living without their basic need items.

Individuals and families call on their own or are referred to A Wider Circle by more than 300 government or nonprofit social service agencies, large and small. After speaking to our staff and scheduling an appointment to visit our Center for Community Service, people have the opportunity to select the items they need, free of charge. Each year, A Wider Circle furnishes the homes of nearly 4,700 families, helping to create the stability and dignity that everyone deserves.

Career Support

A Wider Circle's Workforce Development program has re‑launched as Career Support! This revitalized approach to serving job seekers provides holistic support, focusing on the whole person and partnering with them to translate their unique strengths, skills, and passions to work that generates energy and enough income to live comfortably in our region.

Using a strength-based and customized approach, Career Support clients can participate in a variety of professional development and career advancement activities, including professional workshops, career counseling, and coaching. Job seekers can also engage with our Career Support network, made up of other job seekers, A Wider Circle staff, and volunteers, all working in partnership to explore work-life solutions that align with each individual's values and strengths.
Click here to learn more about our Career Support program.

Job Seekers are also invited to visit our Professional Development Center, where we provide professional attire to wear to interviews or on the job, free of charge.

Neighborhood Partnerships

A Wider Circle's Neighborhood Partnerships Program works to end poverty from within low-income neighborhoods. The program utilizes a collaborative model that focuses on the following areas:

Employment

Housing

Access/Supportive Services

Financial Management

Health & Wellness

Education & Mentoring

Safety & Security

Community Building

A Wider Circle's Ward 8 Hub
In December 2016, A Wider Circle began serving in Highland Dwellings and Additions, a neighborhood in Southeast D.C. that has long held high rates of poverty and violence. The program there engages every sector in the solution to these conditions with a goal of ensuring that every community member can see a path out of poverty. Through this program, residents work side by side with nonprofits, government and for-profit partners to transform the community - from the ground up.

For more information about our work in the Highland communities or to get involved, please email ward8hub@awidercircle.org or call 202-891-7894.

Within our Neighborhood Partnerships Program, we also have our Partnership to Independence (P2I) program, focusing on more intensive individual and family support. P2I w as launched in September, 2018 as an intensive five-year pilot program for 18 families, with the goal of attaining economic self-sufficiency. This initiative supports participants via direct service in employment, health and wellness and financial management alongside network and support system building. Participants are matched with an advocate, A Wider Circle staff member, a volunteer job coach and volunteer financial coach. Each participant develops a customized plan with goals and outcomes.

Information about future cohorts will be advertised at a later date

For more information, please email p2i@awidercircle.org.

Center for Community Service

9159 Brookville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Ward 8 Hub

400-A Atlantic Street SE
Washington, DC 20032

MAILING ADDRESS:
10325 Kensington Parkway, #70
Kensington, MD 20895

Phone: 301-608-3504
Email: contact@awidercircle.org

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DROP-OFF HOURS: TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY: 9AM-5PM; SUNDAY: 12PM-5PM. TO PRIORITIZE SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS, WE ARE CLOSED FOR DROP-OFFS MONDAYS & THURSDAYS. Everyone is welcome at A Wider Circle; there are no eligibility or referral requirements. Our "no wrong door" approach ensures that everyone who comes to us is met with compassion and served in a dignified and respectful environment.

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Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that helps people in your community and around the world build or improve a place they can call home. Donate, volunteer and raise your voice in support of decent and affordable housing.

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This organization provides food throughout the Washington, DC region.

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Food Bank for the Washington, DC, Region | Capital Area Food Bank

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The Capital Area Food serves the entire Washington, DC, metropolitan region, providing meals to thousands of people a day while also addressing the root causes of hunger.

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This organization helps children who are in foster care.

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Presented by Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore

The Fifth Annual Pack-a-Trolley Event to Benefit Comfort Cases!

Learn More

The results are in!

Comfort Cases Has Won a 2022 Top-Rated Award from GreatNonprofits

Learn More

Inspiring dignity and hope to youth in foster care through

Comfort, Community, Character, & Compassion.

Discover Comfort Cases

Fostering Change

A Foster Care Community Podcast

Listen Now

Over 700 children enter the foster care system every single day.

Most are given a trash bag to carry their belongings...

These children have been neglected and often feel like they don't matter. Many do not own a toothbrush or have a pair of pajamas. At Comfort Cases, we believe that every child deserves to feel a sense of dignity. Every child deserves to pack their belongings in a special bag that they can call their very own.

learn more about our cause

Comfort Cases are backpacks filled with comfort and personal care items for youth entering the foster care system.

See what's in each case

Our founder, Rob Scheer

At 12 years old, Rob was given a trash bag to pack his belongings, as he entered his first foster home. Nearly 30 years later when he became a foster parent, his first four children arrived at his home with trash bags. He was saddened that nothing had changed. In 2013, Rob's family and their community founded Comfort Cases and set out on a mission to eliminate trash bags from the foster care system.

Meet our team

Make a Difference in the Life of a Child

We believe in a compassionate community that cares for the most vulnerable among us, and we can all do something to bring comfort to children in foster care. Please join us as we work to eliminate trash bags from the system and show children in foster care that they matter.

Donate Today

Shop our Amazon Wishlist

Show your support by shopping our wish list or by selecting Comfort Cases as your preferred charity using Amazon Smile.

View our Wish List

Our Sponsors

#BAGBUSTERS

Become A Monthly Donor Today!

For every $10 donated, Comfort Cases provides one child entering foster care with a Comfort XL, a large duffel bag where they can store their belongings and not experience the indignity of living out of a trash bag.

Give a comfort case

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Comfort Cases | Providing Comfort to Children in Foster Care

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Skip to main site content Presented by Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore The Fifth Annual Pack-a-Trolley Event to Benefit Comfort Cases! Learn More The results are in! Comfort Cases Has Won a 2022 Top-Rated Award from GreatNonprofits Learn More Inspiring dignity and hope to youth in foster care through Comfort, Community, Character, & Compassion.

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This website describes what Manna Food Center is doing to help distribute food in Montgomery County.

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In our affluent community, hunger is an especially complex issue. Hunger is prevalent yet often goes unnoticed, and its prevalence remains steadily on the rise. Every day, Manna strives to end our county's hunger problem. Collecting and distributing food is a mainstay of our work.