When Ms. V speaks to you her entire persona is serious. However, her every word is what can easily be understood as “dry humor”. She has a gift. You cannot be in her presence without having an extremely serious and hilariously funny conversation. You will be the only one laughing. There are so many days […]
Domestic Violence is Impartial
Halloween marked the end of National Domestic Violence month. I am writing this blog post now because it is important to focus on domestic violence not only in October but every month of the year. The majority of our residents have a history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. However, domestic violence occurs in all […]
What We Can Learn About Ourselves From Budgeting
This week we had our fourth class in the personal financial management series at Hyacinth’s Place. We talked about budgeting and welcomed a new interpreter, James, into the class. The class was designed for me to teach the residents of Hyacinth’s Place about taking control of their personal finances and learning to budget their money, […]
I Do Not Have a Mental Health Diagnosis
Her thick wavy hair was pulled back in a puffy pony tail and her face was plain without any make-up. No lipstick, no earrings, nothing. She was dressed in a T- shirt and slack fitting blue jeans. She appeared to be about thirty years of age. Lucille was interviewing for one of Hyacinth’s Place affordable […]
Why I Volunteer
It wasn’t long after I moved to the DC Metro area that I started looking for volunteer opportunities. There were several reasons for this: I had few friends and thought it would be a good place to meet people, and it looks good on a resume – no denying that; but the main reason that […]
A House is Where the Heart Is
The shadows of the house were awash with the eerie glow of the street lights as they filtered through the window. There was no cacophony of street sounds. No metro bus rumbling through the streets, no trucks, no plethora of cars riding past the house. All was dead quiet. And all of […]
Dinner Time at Hyacinth’s: Our M’s
Michael and Mollie answered our call. They are our chefs. I’d like to add, our volunteer chefs. Our M’s, as I like to think of them, prepare the most amazing meals. The first time Michael cooked, the most savory aroma found itself up through three floors to my office. Like a zombie I moved from […]