There's been a tremendous outpouring of support to help the 160 senior residents who lost their home and most of their belongings in the September 19 fire at Arthur Capper Senior Building. Here's how you can help them.
Donate to the Capper Seniors Recovery Fund: The Capitol Hill Community Fund will be maintaining the Capper Seniors Recovery Fund for a while and could use the community's support -- there are no administrative costs with this fund and 100 percent will go to the seniors.
Volunteer: Thanks to the efforts of ANC 6D, who are organizing ways to volunteer and help our seniors. Now that everyone is safe, volunteers will play a crucial part in helping each senior deal with the loss of community they enjoyed at Capper. Learn more here about how to volunteer.
Gift Cards to local grocery stores: In the short-term, many residents will be receiving meals twice a day and breakfast in the morning. But they each may have their own dietary needs or wish for some extra foods. Gift cards to local grocery stores (particularly Safeway and Harris Teeter) can be dropped off at any hour of the day at:
Insignia on M Residential Building
1111 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Located above the Navy Yard Metro Station at the New Jersey Ave and M St., SE exit.
Background: The fire displaced more than 160 residents, most of whom left everything they owned in the apartment. After many were relocated to King Greenleaf Rec Center for the night, all of the residents have been moved into a hotel for short-term housing. Case managers are meeting with residents to begin assessing both short-term needs (medications, replacing ID, food) and long-term (getting new clothing, finding affordable housing options that meet their needs, and rebuilding).
Arthur Capper Senior Building is a 100% affordable community building offering 1- and 2-bedroom units. When the fire broke out, everyone was able to safely get out of the building, due to the fast response of DC Fire and EMS, Marines from the nearby Marine Barracks, and neighbors who all starting alerting and helping get residents out of the building. We do not yet know the cause of the fire nor the extent of the damage to the building, which looks significant.
