Walk, clean up benefit Woodbridge homeless shelter

About 100 people showed up at the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center Saturday to walk along U.S. 1 and clean up the side of the road, but only about 30 wound up going outside, said Gayle Sanders director of Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center, Volunteers of America Chesapeake.

The walk and cleanup was scheduled to begin at noon, which was about the time the rain turned started turning to ice and snow.

“They showed up and that was pretty amazing considering there was a winter weather advisory,” Sanders said of the 100 or so who showed up in spite of the weather.

Sanders said she kept a lot of the people inside.

“We didn’t want the little kids to go out and we didn’t want people who may have had health conditions to go out,” she said.

The event, sponsored by AfterShare, raised money that initially goes to Fannie Mae and is subsequently redisbursed to the the homeless shelter.

“AfterShare is a program under Volunteers of America Chesapeake made up of formerly homeless residents who volunteer to give back to the Center and the Community,” Sanders said.

Registration for the event was  $30 for adults 25 and older. Those younger than 25 paid $20 to walk.

Former homeless center resident J.D. Glass was one of those who showed up to help out.

Glass said most of the people promised to show up on another day to walk and clean up along U.S. 1

“Before this weather, we were going to try to go for about a half an hour up and down Route One,” Glass said. “Now we’re going to do it on a sunnier day.”
Glass said those who did go out in the rain, sleet and snow only cleaned up close to the shelter.

“We cleaned up in the general area,” he said.

Glass said it’s important for the homeless to be good neighbors. It helps dispell stereotypes.

“It’s important because there’s a stigma attached to homeless people as being shiftless and useless and worthless and all of this,” Glass said. “What we’re trying to do is to prove to the general society that even though we may be in the situation we find ourselves in, we still have caring and respect for the neighborhood that we live in.”

“If we can make it better by picking up someone else’s trash, we’ll do that,” Glass said.

Sanders said the volunteer walkers don’t have to pick up trash. They just want to.

“We could just walk, but the Aftershare volunteers want to clean up too,” she said.

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.