To follow up on a story DCist reported last month, local non-profit Bread for the City let us know that they were able to successfully pick-up 2,000 donated reusable bags from Safeway on Friday, with a promise that 10,000 more would be on their way soon. more ›

On Thursday, February 11th, Food & Friends needs 20 volunteers to deliver meals, especially those with 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Those without cars would be very much appreciated in the kitchen, and it would be great if they could come between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Volunteers may sign up to chenderson@foodandfriends.org. This information is also available on our website at www.foodandfriends.org/winterstorm2010. Without Food & Friends, our clients likely will not eat, so the help of the community is vital. Meals may be picked up from Food & Friends (219 Riggs Road, NE/Washington, DC) between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m., we will provide detailed delivery directions, and routes should take no more than 3 hours. For more information, prospective volunteers may call 202.841.5347.

City Desk recently ran an item about how Street Sense, D.C.'s homeless newspaper, was one of the only local publications thriving during the recession. As a volunteer member of the board of directors of Street Sense, the piece made me cringe just a little bit, even though I get what reporter Chris Lewis was trying to say: more and more people are turning to jobs selling the paper, so circulation is up. But make no mistake, this has been an incredibly shaky year financially for Street Sense, just like every other non-profit in town. Grants and donations are down across the board, and the board has had to make difficult choices to keep the organization, which employs almost 100 area homeless men and women, afloat. more ›

The Save WEAVE campaign may have allowed that domestic violence assistance non-profit to stay open, but with the start of the new fiscal year today, other local groups are facing similar financial problems. House of Ruth, the District's largest nonprofit aimed at helping homeless women and children, most of whom have been victims of domestic violence, this week found out that it has lost nearly $500,000 in city funding, as the Washington Post's Susan Kinzie reported today. more ›

Last week we told you about the Save WEAVE initiative, an effort to prevent local non-profit Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE) from being forced to permanently close its doors as it faced the loss of nearly all of its funding from the District. Today the group, which offers assistance to victims of domestic violence, announced that it has already brought in $85,000, its initial target, two days ahead of schedule, and is now turning its eyes on raising an additional $100,000 by the end of the year. The Save WEAVE folks also say they are now "in serious talks with foundation and government stakeholders to cement WEAVE’s leadership role in the DC domestic violence community." All of this hopefully means that WEAVE will not have to close its doors on Sept. 30 after all, but it doesn't mean the organization is out of danger. You can still contribute to WEAVE's ongoing campaign through the Save WEAVE web site. more ›

Local non-profit WEAVE (Women Empowered Against Violence) is on the verge of shutting its doors. The group, which has helped literally tens of thousands of local women and children escape domestic violence over the last decade, has lost more or less all of its city funding this year, and WEAVE's board of directors were recently forced to move ahead with the process of shutting down. The Post ran a big story about WEAVE's plight last weekend, and buried at the bottom is mention of a last-ditch effort to raise $85,000 by Sept. 30. The money wouldn't solve all of WEAVE's problems, but it would let them keep their doors open for another month while they try to convince larger funders to step up as well. Impressively, the Save WEAVE web site has already managed to bring in over $53,000 since last weekend. If you can afford to make a small (or a large) donation to their cause, click through and find an online method to chip in. There will also be a fundraising happy hour at Topaz Bar in Dupont on Thursday, Sept. 24 from 5-7 p.m. that will benefit WEAVE, so you can stop by there to make a donation as well. If WEAVE doesn't manage to meet its goal, they say all money will be returned to donors. more ›

Despite the weather, it's been quite the unpleasant weekend for local organizations in the wake of Mayor Fenty's newest 2010 budget revision, released late on Friday. Fenty cut approximately $12 million in earmarks for community nonprofits in this version, leaving the budget with a total of $8.3 million in grants for nonprofits -- a significant decrease from the $47 million that was handed out last year. more ›