Burgundy
Crescent Volunteers:
At
Capital Pride and all year long!
by Margaret Maree
“My involvement with BCV has made such a personal difference. I feel connected to my city and community,” said Beau James, who relocated to Washington, D.C. from Missouri in December 2000. “I am constantly reminded about value of service, learning about other folks – their victories and setbacks, and the rediscovery of one’s own gratitude and humility.”
James is hardly
alone in those sentiments. The organization has grown over the past eighteen
months to more than 450 active, committed members. The activities in which BCV
members participate are as diverse as the organizations served: stuffing
envelopes, cleaning up a park, restoring a community center, rubbing elbows with
celebrities at black-tie events, feeding the homeless, ushering, cooking,
hydrating exhausted bicyclists, registering pets (and their owners) for a pet
show, and feeding marathon runners are just some of the activities that are all
in a day's work for BCV.
In a metropolitan area as diverse and work-centered and, yes, often segmented, as is D.C., it’s easy to get into a rut, going to the same places and seeing the same people. Genesis Fischer believes BCV is a refreshing alternative. “At any given Burgundy Crescent event, I find myself surrounded by men and women, young and old, non-profit and private, of different races, all with big hearts.” A parallel mission of BCV is that members have fun building new bridges to a lively social life, while helping the larger community. “Not only can we choose when we want to participate, we can tailor our energy to causes in which we each have a personal interest while being given the opportunity to be challenged by doing something entirely new.”
The wide range of groups that BCV works with includes organizations both within and outside the LGBT community. The group grew out of LGBT community volunteer efforts, and fosters a primary commitment to assisting the organizations that serve our own community. Some of those community organizations include Reel Affirmations, Whitman-Walker Clinic, The Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, Food & Friends, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, AIDSWalk Washington, GLAAD, the DC AIDSRide, the Lyra Chamber Ensemble, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC's Different Drummers, the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, Youth Pride Day, Black Pride, AIDS Action Council, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, PETS-DC, Scouting for All, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network, the DC Mayor's GLBT Community Holiday Party, PFLAG, and Senior Health Resources.
However, BCV also takes great pride in working to
support communities and organizations in need throughout the larger Metro area.
"The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community is a significant
part of the economic, cultural, and political life of our region. Our
community plays a key role in neighborhood redevelopment efforts in DC and
elsewhere, and many of us have the same concerns, as do our non-Gay neighbors,
for communities in need and organizations that need our support," said
David Horowitz, Program Development Chair for BCV. "By working
alongside our friends and neighbors outside the LGBT community, we're also
helping other communities get to know us."
BCV first sprouted from the seed of an idea in 1999, when Eric Cohen and Angela Hunt met Jonathan Blumenthal at a social for an organization known as GLOVES, a volunteer organization that was a singles only group. When Eric and Jonathan, who is now BCV’s president, began dating a few weeks later, they faced a dilemma. This turned out to be less of a problem when GLOVES dissolved soon thereafter. Two years later, the three were once again looking to volunteer, but had difficulty finding volunteer activities with other members of the gay community. The answer was to start a new organization. Unable to come up with a witty acronym for the organization that would sound inclusive of the LGBT community, they hit upon the name Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, because the resulting logo looked good on a t-shirt. A little over one year after they started, the organization has helped over 40 gay and gay friendly organizations, grown to over 450 members, deployed over 1260 volunteers to events in the last year, and has contributed over 4300 hours of service to the community.
Some of the other organizations that BCV has been
working with include the American Red Cross, the Center for Community Service at
the DC Jewish Community Center, the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign,
the Out of the Darkness Walk (for suicide prevention and depression awareness),
the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Fund for Animals, the
Washington Jewish Film Festival, Washington Parks and People, the Adams-Morgan
Day Festival, the Actors' Theater of Washington, WETA Television, the NBC4
Health and Fitness Expo, and the Washington DC Marathon.
In the LGBT community, the personal is rarely not
also the political. Whether in or out, or in the process of coming out, gay
groups can offer much-needed support in critical transitional moments. Close on
the heels of her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, Maryland lawyer Jennifer
Berger faced the break-up with her girlfriend. Tempted to head back into the
safety of the closet, she instead found the Burgundy Crescent Web site, “My
involvement with BCV has helped me fuse my sexual identity with the other facets
of my identity. These social and dating relationships have catapulted me out of
the closet and instilled in me an overwhelming sense of acceptance and pride.”
Along with fellow member James Delloso, Berger
co-chairs the group’s newly formed Social Committee, which has planned
activities such as hiking, kayaking, bowling, karaoke, potluck picnics, happy
hours, and Gay Day at King’s Dominion.
Burgundy Crescent member Jason Hallman admires all of
the outstanding organizations serving the LGBT community in the Washington area.
The financial strain under which many groups operate can be offset, if only a
little, he thinks, with the assistance of community volunteers, “BCV
represents a new and vital niche by assisting with activities on a project-by
project basis, thus providing non-profit groups with a stopgap staffing solution
for specific programs.”
Sometimes that interaction sheds light on just how
much we need each other. Beginning this summer, BCV will be helping to fight
hunger in the region with its new partnership with the DC Central Kitchen, where
volunteers will cook and help DCCK turn donated food into 3,000 nutritious meals
a day for homeless individuals, shelters, and non-profit agencies. Some
other activities that BCV is exploring for the future include working with
additional GLBT teams at sporting events; expanding our work with Washington
Parks and People; crop harvesting at area farms; and volunteering with the at
the Dupont Circle Farmers Market.
For more information about Burgundy Crescent
Volunteers go to http://www.burgundycrescent.org.