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I've been thinking a lot about DC's unhoused community, who are just as much residents of the district as those with fixed addresses but are largely forgotten. I've been especially angered by food drives for the military and police, who are all fed; with the homeless left behind.
I'm of course grateful for protection of the city, but that doesn't mean they need food--and they certainly don't need it as much as the unhoused community. But we're taught as a culture to blame them and laud enforcement, so the donations roll in and the publicity amps up.
I've seen the unhoused population grow each year. I've seen more tents, and terrible laws trying to clear them out when they're not hurting anyone. A church on my walk to work removed its outdoor benches so the unhoused couldn't sit there as they'd done before.
Please consider finding a DC pantry or mutual aid fund to give to instead of the well-intentioned but ultimately unnecessary restaurant drives for the military.
