Dear Neighbors,

Many of you knew Susan Lewis of South Wayne Street who became a victim of domestic violence on Easter Monday this year. Many of us spent time with her three year old son Jamie at Penrose Park. Many of us spent Easter Saturday at Penrose Park with her family as we celebrated the neighborhood egg hunt. For those of you who did not know her, you should know that she was a wonderful, bright, energetic and caring woman who worked full-time in an important position, yet always had time to do more than seemed humanly possible when it came to her son.

When news of her death shocked our neighborhood, many people asked the officers of the neighborhood association what they could do to help Jamie and his family. We wanted to wait to give the family a chance to begin grieving before asking them what they thought would be appropriate. We have recently contacted them and they are very touched that Susan's presence here in Penrose was cherished by so many. They told us that Jamie is being well-taken care of and they would be most pleased if we channeled our willingness to help by following in Susan's footsteps of helping those who are most in need (For Jamie's second birthday party, she declared on the invitation that no gifts should be given and if they were, they would be brought to a homeless shelter - and she followed through on that).

With the family's blessing, the Penrose Neighborhood Association would like to adopt a room at TACTS - The Arlington Community Temporary Shelter - a local safe house for women fleeing domestic violence. TACTS has a program called "caring spaces" which would allow us to make-over a large (20x30 foot) room into a bedroom for a mother and up to four children. My husband and I visited the room today and I can report that this would be a big project, but we are also a big neighborhood and I think we can handle it. If we accept the project, the finished room will receive a plaque which will read "Susan's Room, dedicated by Penrose Neighborhood".

Here is what it would involve -

1. YOU. Everyone reading this should be able to participate in this project in one way or another. You can donate your time, your money or your skills.

2. TIME. We need people who will volunteer on one weekend day (maybe 8 hours, depending on how many people participate) to work together in the room to paint, assemble furniture, assemble and make up the beds, wash the windows, sweep the floor, hang pictures. When that day is, will depend upon the group that steps forward to do this - we will decide the date together. These individuals will travel to the safe house and will need to sign a confidentiality statement pledging not to disclose the location of the shelter. If you have special skills - electrical, carpentry, etc, great! If not, maybe you can use a screwdriver to assemble furniture or a paintbrush to paint the walls! For example, TACTS has a crib for the room, but needs someone to help assemble it.

3. MONEY. We need money to buy some things - TACTS has assembled the room, (a basement room painted a dingy white, with three windows) right now with a mishmash of broken dressers, not so great mattresses, broken window blinds. Their dream is to have a room that feels like a room in your home - with matching furniture, curtains, etc. TACTS will provide us with donation receipts and all monies are tax deductible. Our fundraising goal is a minimum of $1,000 - that would get us nice twin beds and dressers, maybe some rugs, etc from a low cost retailer such as Ikea. We have 5,000 residents in Penrose - I know we can make this happen if everyone just gives a little. You can bring your donation to the neighborhood meeting on June 5th or email me back about other possibilities - dropping the donation off here in Penrose or mailing directly to the shelter. Just remember to provide your full name and address for a donation receipt. To get everyone started and because we feel this is such an important tribute to Susan, my husband and I will pledge $100 toward the room.

4. ITEMS. The reason we hope to raise the money and buy new furniture is to make the room more attractive and comfortable. Nothing in the space right now matches and all of it was used to begin with - so now most of the dresser drawers are broken, hardware is missing, etc. If you, however, are able to donate an ENTIRE set of dressers or headboards or something, that would be welcome as well - just remember we need three or four good condition items of everything.

4. SKILLS. Maybe you can't come to the safe house for the whole work day and can't donate money. Do you know how to sew? Could you make some curtains and a window seat cushion once we gather the money to buy fabric? Do you have a pickup truck to help pick up the furniture and bring it to the safe house for us? Maybe you could just babysit your friend's children on the work day so that they can participate.

Please, everyone, try to be involved in this project as a tribute to Susan. I know that if she were here, she would be the first person to step up.

TACTS hopes that our neighborhood will commit to this project and partner with the shelter longer term as well. They have many basic needs - I will bring a list to our meeting on June 5th. Also, attached is an email from one of the shelter directors explaining the most pressing needs. I am happy to serve as a liaison to the shelter for any of these donations -

If you know someone who is not on the Penrose list serve - please pass on news of this project so that everyone has a chance to participate. There will be more on this, including some literature about the safe house program at our June 5th meeting. Right now, I need to gage community response to the idea so that we can let the shelter know whether Penrose can commit to Susan's room. Please, think about what you can do to help and send me an email soon so that we can move forward. This project will only happen if people step forward and get involved.

Janet Dorn
Penrose VP

Letter from TACTS Subject: Safehouse Needs Janet, Hello! I hope this email finds you well. I spent some time with Graciela, the Safehouse Director, talking about their special needs and how we could ensure a great partnership with the Penrose neighborhood. Aside from adopting a room to make-over and hopefully keep stocked in needed items for a dedicated period of time we wanted to see if you thought the neighbors could help us with these items: NEW Cotton sweat suits in basic colors for women of all sizes: xs, s, m, l, xl, xxl, xxxl NEW Cotton underwear in all sizes:5,6,7,8+ NEW Nightgowns in all sizes: s, m, l, xl, xxl, xxxl We ask that these items are donated new because we want the women to feel that they are truly making a fresh start and can have something of their own. There are many instances when women flee with a moments notice in fear that if they do not they will die. Often children are with them and even if they have been thinking about leaving they are not usually able to pack anything as this would cause suspicion and unneeded/wanted attention. Therefore, it is not uncommon for women to come to our safehouse with the literal clothes on their back and nothing else. The items listed above are great for us to have on hand because then at least we can provide them something comfortable to change into until we can work with our Thrift Store to get them more clothes. Let me know if you think these are items that could be collected by the Penrose Neighborhood in Susan’s honor! We want to make sure that the collection is a good fit and will help the community continue healing – knowing that they are making it possible for other women to get a fresh and hopeful start! Rosanne Campbell Director of Community Resources The Arlington Community Temporary Shelter, Inc. (TACTS) PO Box 1285 Arlington, VA 22210 Phone: 703-522-8858 ext 13. Fax: 703-522-4338 Website: www.tacts.org United Way/CFC # 8031

Dear Neighbors,

It has been ten days since I first sent the e-mail announcing that the Penrose Neighborhood Association hopes to adopt a room at TACTS, an Arlington County safe house for women who are victims of domestic violence, as a tribute to our neighbor Susan Lewis.

At this time, the project should be on the Penrose website with a link to TACTS (www.tacts.org) so that everyone can find out more about the safe house.

Here is where we are right now:

Several people have stepped forward to bring this project closer to reality - we have collected and/or received pledges for a total of $900 and about seven people have signed up to participate in the workday (still to be determined). We had set a minimum goal of $1000 to just do the bare bones work in the room - new beds, night tables, mattresses. We are working off of a "wish list" given to us by the shelter's director and if we really want to make the room feel like a home we're probably looking at more like $1200 or $1300 which would allow us to add a much needed dehumidifier for the moist basement room we've been given to work with, as well as some throw rugs, bedding, lamps, pillows, etc to make it a more pleasant place. SO - if you were thinking about contributing, I would like to urge you to do so now so that we will know what amount we have to work with. All donations are tax deductible - and we have already been provided with the donation receipts by TACTS. If you are able to contribute, just respond to this e-mail and I will be in touch with the details.

In addition to the money collected, we have received the following donations : paint for the room, framed photographs of flowers blooming in Penrose this springtime and a pledge from someone to donate the money for fabric and the time to sew the curtains and create the window bench cushion.

We have some people committed to a work day - but we need more. First, it is possible that the project will actually take two work days since the moist room may require a coating of dry lock paint first, which will need to dry before we can apply the interior paint. Second, we could use some muscle to help move furniture in and out and assemble new furniture. As soon as we have our full team(s) of workers, I will let them know which weekends the shelter prefers and we will decide as a group which weekend is most convenient for us to do the room.

Finally, if anyone does woodworking, we would love to have our "Susan's Room" sign be handmade in Penrose.

I am really proud of how far we've come in just ten days. I hope that in just a few more days we will have everything and everyone we need to create Susan's room.

Thanks everyone and please be in touch with more good news -

Janet

Hello Everyone,

I would like to share some fantastic news regarding our project with the Arlington Community Temporary Shelter (TACTS) safe house for domestic violence victims. We have received neighborhood contributions of $1450 plus $75 from the Seven Corners Home Depot - for a total of $1525. We are also awaiting word as to whether the Arlington Community Foundation will give Susan's Room a $400 grant to purchase 4 new twin mattresses. Ikea is giving us free delivery of our purchases to the safe house. We have scheduled two workdays : July 3rd from 9am to 3pm and July 10 from 9 am to finish. If you would like to participate during either workday, please respond to this e-mail. Your help is welcome.

Also, if you have any other items you would like to contribute to the safe house, you can bring them to my home at xxx x xxxx [Ed. Note: Please email Janet at keudo@juno.com requesting drop-off location] the day before and we will take them with us on the workdays (again, all donations are tax deductible). Items always on the wish list include groceries (even fresh items like milk, eggs, meat, etc) and gift cards in small denominations to local retailers such as Target or Giant. Also, a special request has been made for new cotton nightgowns in the four sizes S-M-L-XL and new cotton underwear in the same four sizes.

On Monday evening, June 28th, TACTS will hold a volunteer appreciation evening at Common Grounds Coffee Shop on Wilson Boulevard from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The plaque for Susan's Room will be dedicated during the evening and anyone who would like to come is welcome - but you must rsvp by responding to my e-mail because we need to give TACTS a head count.

Here is the breakdown of how we have used the money :

Ikea (the room was designed by their free home furnishings consultant service):

• $396 4 Twin Beds
• $129 1 Desk/Nest of Tables
• $428 4 Complete Wardrobes
• $116 4 Nightstand/Laundry Basket/Seating Wicker Boxes
• $20 1 Mirror
• $10.50 Clothes Hangers
• $18 Coat racks, Knobs and Hooks
• $5 Wall Clock
• $160 4 Twin Duvet Sets and 4 Bottom Sheets
• $2 Small Rug for Dressing Area

Target:

$15 4 Standard Pillows

Home Depot (purchases will be made next week):

• $100 2 5x7 indoor outdoor carpets
• $160 1 dehumidifier
• $20? paint brushes, rollers, etc, painters tape
• $30? 2 cans of dry lock paint

Donated Items :

• 4 wonderful framed photographs of flowers blooming in Penrose this past spring
• curtain and window bench fabric and materials and the necessary sewing
• 3 gallons of paint for the walls and ceiling

If anyone would like to beat us to any of the Home Depot items, please let me know. We are just a little bit short right now. Any extra funds will go to the safe house to be used at their discretion. If anyone would like to provide sandwiches or other lunch for the volunteers (about 8 each day so far) for the workdays, that would be a great idea too.

Finally, the Arlington Connection Newspaper is going to do a story on our efforts to work with the safe house in Susan's Memory.

Thanks again everyone -

Janet

Dear Penrose,

Thank you everyone for making Susan's Room a reality.

Our friend and Penrose neighbor, Susan Lewis, became a victim of domestic violence in April of this year. In her memory, the neighborhood association adopted a room in the Arlington Community Temporary Shelter (TACTS). The large, musty and dingy basement room had last received an update in 1984 and was in very poor condition. We would like to thank the more than forty individuals who came forward to make this effort a stunning tribute to Susan. A total of $2225 dollars was donated, absolutely ALL of which ($2225.19 !) was spent to create a welcoming and comfortable bedroom with four twin beds and one crib. Sixteen volunteers worked non-stop on two Saturdays for a total of 138 work hours to apply drylock paint, repaint the entire room, build cabinetry and assemble furniture. There were donations of items such as paint, a dehumidifier and sewing skills. Thank you to Mary Schultz, the home design consultant at Ikea Woodbridge for her wonderful services and Jon Collazo, Manager of the Seven Corners Home Depot, for a gift card. Finally, we would especially like to thank Susan’s family for their support and encouragement during the creation of Susan’s Room.

Susan will be sorely missed by everyone her life touched. For many of us, this project offered a concrete way to grieve and heal. Anyone who was involved will tell you how good it felt to make that room look beautiful and hang up the Susan's Room sign. I am extremely proud to be a member of the Penrose community where people come together in times of need and crisis. Thank you everyone.

Within a few days, there will be amazing before and after pictures of our project on the Penrose website - check them out! Also, please visit the TACTS website at www.tacts.org for more ideas on how to help the shelter, including information on making donations to the TACTS thrift store (no furniture due to space constraints) at 5643 Lee Highway and participation in their September charity golf tournament, October walk for the homeless and holiday giving opportunities.