Homeless veterans in the Washington, D.C., area have been given a big hand from Marymount University.\u00a0 Marymount donated more than $250,000 worth of used furniture and other items to help furnish transitional or permanent housing for them.<\/p>\n
\u0093Marymount has really been great,\u0094 said Elliot Duvall, outreach coordinator for the D.C. Office of Veterans Affairs. \u0093This is really good starter furniture.\u0094<\/p>\n
The donation included more than 400 surplus beds, 80 chairs and 45 dressers, along with desks, filing cabinets and carpeting from the university\u0092s Ballston Center, which is being redeveloped. According to Meg Dalmut, Marymount\u0092s associate director of community engagement, the top one and a half floors of the building had been used as storage for years.<\/p>\n
Coordinating the logistical aspects of the furniture pick-up was challenging, said Anne Vor der Bruegge, director of the Marymount University Nonprofit Resource Center in Partnership with the Arlington Community Foundation.<\/p>\n
Dalmut and a group of volunteer veterans spent a Saturday moving kitchen equipment from the building affectionately nicknamed \u0093The Blue Goose.\u0094 Last semester after a final exam, all of the students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program helped load furniture for two hours. Altogether, more than 35 Marymount volunteers worked 300 combined hours moving furniture from the Ballston Center to a warehouse so it can be sent, as needed, to area veterans facilities.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u0093I\u0092m just so happy it\u0092s all going to good use,\u0094 Dalmut said. \u0093So far we\u0092ve already furnished 40 or 50 apartments.\u0094<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Duvall said his office has helped 360 people get off the street in the past two years.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u0093We see a lot of veterans from the D.C. area who are homeless \u0096 a lot more than people realize,\u0094 Duvall said. \u0093And if they live in D.C., we can help them out, whether it\u0092s with supportive services, claims or benefits.\u0094<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0For more information or to donate furniture, contact Duvall at elliot.duvall@dc.gov.<\/p>\n
\nPHOTO CAPTIONS:<\/strong><\/p>\n Photo 1:<\/strong> Marymount alumna Barbara Dalmut and Elliot Duvall, community outreach coordinator of the Office of Veterans Affairs, move bed frames from Marymount\u0092s Ballston Center. The university donated more than $250,000 worth of surplus furniture to the Office of Veterans Affairs. (Photo by Bob Brown)<\/p>\n