Help the DC Snowy Owl's Homeless Neighbors

Over the past few weeks, wildlife enthusiasts in Washington, DC have been thrilled to see a young female Snowy Owl making regular nightly appearances on the plaza outside Union Station. The owl, believed to have been born last spring on the Arctic tundra of far northern Canada, journeyed thousands of miles south to spend the winter with us here, just within sight of the U.S. Capitol, helpfully reducing our rat population and drawing dozens of awed onlookers each night.

 

Unfortunately, the owl is not the only one living outside on the plaza. A large number of unhoused people have been forced by circumstance to spend their nights sleeping outside Union Station in tents, often in temperatures well below freezing. While the owl's presence fills us with joy, that joy is diminished by the reminder that so many of our neighbors don't have anywhere else to go. And while Snowy Owls are well adapted to cold weather, human beings are not -- we need safe, clean, reliable shelter to survive and thrive.

 

You can do something about this. Donations to this campaign will benefit Pathways to Housing DC, an organization that serves unhoused people in DC, including those in the encampment outside Union Station. Pathways provides street outreach to people experiencing homelessness, helping them find food, shelter, housing and employment. Pathways also operates an urgent care clinic and a day services center in downtown DC. Pathways is committed to the "housing first" model, which places people in housing without preconditions, then works with them to meet their health and employment needs. You can learn more about Pathways on their web site.

 

If you're a fan of the owl, please give a helping hand to her human neighbors, who are also your neighbors. Together, we can work for a city where every owl hunts in peace and every person sleeps soundly indoors.

 

(Photo courtesy of Beth Riker Howell)