WASHINGTON POST: April Veney joined the staff of Miriam’s Kitchen in 2018, where she works to find permanent homes for people experiencing homelessness. She was herself without a home from age 16 to 23.
April Veney is a permanent supportive housing senior case manager at the District charity Miriam’s Kitchen. That means she helps people who have been homeless find homes.
“That to me is the biggest joy of my job: to see somebody who’s been homeless for five or 10 years get the keys to their place and going over their lease requirements so they won’t run into any lease violations and be back on the street,” Veney said.
Veney has hard-won experience of what it is to be without a home. From the age of 16 — when she gave birth to her son — to the age of 23, she could never be quite sure where they would be spending the night.Sometimes it would be in the home of a friend or a family member, a bit of floor space stolen in the corner of a room. Even this came with expectations of some sort of payment.
“You’re giving what you can, and when you can’t give it’s always an issue,” Veney said.
Veney said her now-grown son has some memories of those days, scattered recollections of time spent in different houses. He doesn’t remember the night he and his mother spent in a bus shelter in Congress Heights.
“I cried the whole night. I was so scared,” said Veney, 45. “But it felt like I had an angel over me, man. This man was there at another bus bay. He just stayed there watching us. But when the sun came up, he was gone, nowhere.”
“That was it for me. I said, ‘I cannot jeopardize my baby being out there.’”
[Homeless after years in prison, he turned to Miriam’s Kitchen for help]Veney took her son to live for a while with her mother in Atlanta and returned to Washington. She completed high school. Took part-time jobs. Worked as a security guard. Earned a college degree. She did advocacy work for victims of domestic violence. And when she saw a job opening at Miriam’s Kitchen in 2018, she applied. The nonprofit is known for the meals it serves every weekday in the basement of Western Presbyterian Church in Foggy Bottom, but it does a lot more than that.
“Once I read about their mission and their vision, it was like a ‘wow’ to me,” she said. “When I experienced homelessness, I wasn’t aware of any services besides the shelter.”
Veney’s first role at Miriam’s Kitchen was helping clients apply for Social Security disability benefits they were entitled to. Then she joined the permanent supportive housing team as a senior case manager. If she feels the time is right, she’ll share her own story with her clients.
“I often let them know that I relate,” she said. “If I see someone who’s like really struggling, who feels like there’s no way out of their situation, I will share my story.”
She tells them the road she traveled wasn’t an easy one. “But I was always told something that you really want won’t be easy to get; it’s going to be hard,” she said. “I took the blows life was throwing at me. I stood my ground like a palm tree: Push me, punch me and I refuse to break. I had a choice. I could either be nothing or be something and give back and help.
”Veney knows a lot of people are hurting. She sees the men and women who come down the stairs into Miriam’s Kitchen’s dining room. She hears their stories. When they’re ready for more than a meal, she tries to help them.
“To me, this is a partnership,” Veney said of the relationship she forges with her clients. “We are partners. I am your partner in maintaining your housing. Whatever obstacles come up, we’re going to remove them together. Whatever you need to learn, we learn together. It’s not what you do. It’s not what I do. It’s what we do, until you get to where you can do it on your own.”
