3/1/2010

When Times are Hard…Wellness is More Important than Ever. Donate to the Wellness Center today and NSV Volunteer Cynthia Dahlin will match your donation (up to $5,000). DONATE NOW and enter "Volunteer" in the Designation (Optional) entry.

N Street Village’s Wellness Center is serving more clients than ever before.  This brutal DC winter has not helped matters; hypothermia season brings additional physical health risks for all of our clients, especially the 40% who have chronic physical conditions such as heart disease, severe asthma, and other pulmonary diseases. Cynthia Dahlin, a longstanding N Street Village Wellness Center volunteer, invites YOU to make the difference by contributing any amount possible to the Wellness Center through this matching campaign, to help support the services provided in the Wellness Center.

Cynthia began volunteering at N Street Village in July of 2001, leading an autobiography class and quickly adding a poetry class based on client feedback.  Each class is offered weekly through the Center and serves as a very popular outlet of expression for our clients.  “I know I can't build community or close relationships without coming regularly, and I can't do that if there is not enough time and space for the women to bring their stories and personalities into the room,” Cynthia says.  But once the women come, the rewards are great.  I never feel I am alone in life--I always write and share something, and the women support me when I am troubled, and join my joys heartily. “

In 2009, the Wellness Center provided nursing care and wellness consultations for 216 clients, and more than 300 clients took part in Wellness Center activities and classes (many of which are volunteer-led) such as yoga, music, art expression and crafts, chiropractic therapy, massage, reiki, dance, meditation, knitting, poetry, autobiography, sexual health and HIV education, smoking cessation, and self-defense. 

Please join N Street Village now in this Volunteer Appeal, initiated by one of our loyal volunteers. Please help us as we creatively think of new ways to raise money and to continue to offer a place for our clients to come to heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

"Women on the street develop a thick shell to protect themselves.  The Wellness Center programs provide a chance to express feelings, develop creativity and explore spirituality.  All of these help the women to break open that shell and show strength and have fun.  I hope you will all support this wonderful part of N Street Village that makes it a home, rather than just housing." -Cynthia Dahlin