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FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
CONGRESSIONAL CLUB LUNCHEON
WASHINGTON, DC
MAY 15, 1996
TALKING POINTS
[Acknowledgements: Bonnie Livingston, Lois Breaux, co-chairs;
Mary Clement, President; Janet Bryant (gives invocation) ]
I am delighted to hear that the Congressional Club is
helping support House of Ruth. As Washington's oldest and
largest shelter for women and their children, House of Ruth
has provided compassion and hope for tens of thousands of
homeless or abused women and children over the past 20
years.
(and
At a time in our country when politics and Washington are
often derided, each of you embodies the true meaning of
public service. Since its inception, the Congressional Club
has stood for friendship. We see in the Club's work this
year on behalf of the House of Ruth that the friendship
members share with each other is also being extended to the
community around us.
I want to thank you for your generous spirit, for the
friendship you have shown me over the past 3 1/2 years, and
for your ongoing concern for those in need.
###
you are
The Congressional Club
2001 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009
PHONE (202)
FAX (202) 797-0698
PRESIDENT
June 30, 1995
Mrs. Bob Clement
Tennessee
1st VICE PRESIDENT
Mrs. David L. Hobson
Ohio
Fill
2nd VICE PRESIDENT
Mrs. John Bryant
Texas
Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton
may
3rd VICE PRESIDENT
First Lady
Mrs. E. Clay Shaw
Florida
The White House
4th VICE PRESIDENT
51/5
Mrs. Richard H. Bryan
Office of Scheduling and Advance
Nevada
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
5th VICE PRESIDENT
Mrs. Dirk Kempthorne
OEOB Room 185 1/2
Idaho
TREASURER
Washington, D.C. 20500
Mrs. Calvin M. Dooley
5/18
California
RECORDING SECRETARY
Mrs. Bill K. Brewster
Dear Hillary:
Oklahoma
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Mrs. Jim Bunning
I have been given the honor of serving as Chairman of the 1996 Congressional Club First
Kentucky
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Ladies Luncheon. We would like to honor you again next year with this very special
Mrs. Jerry F Costello
Illinois
luncheon. As you may recall, it is attended by approximately 1400 people from all over
the United States including Congressional and Senate spouses, Cabinet Members or their
spouses and spouses of our Supreme Court.
The luncheon has traditionally been held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington,
D.C. and the hotel has just informed us that the only workable date for them at this time
would be May 15, 1996. If this is not feasible for you, please let me know as soon as
possible so that we can make other arrangements. As in years past, there is a reception
from 11:00 am until 12:00 pm and the luncheon from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm.
Looking forward to seeing you.
Always.
For
VIP Reception
100 R5 people
Lois Breaux
committe -donors -
Reference: May 15. 1996
gave $ toward hends
Reception: 11.00 am - 12:00 pm
Luncheon: 12:00 pm - 2.00 pm
$15,000 - 19000
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington. D.C.
House of Run
Contact: Lois Breaux (202) 543-9011
$ 5,000 Building unser T-
130am - 12:15 VIDReeption
5/15
his is the famat
from last year
SCHEDULE FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1995
PAGE 2
FORMAT:
Video #1: Reading Recovery
Video #2: Arkansas Math & Science
Video #3: Juvenile Diabetes - Man of the Year
Award
Video #4: Women Count
NOTE: Each video is approx. 2-3 minutes in length.
Staff Contact: Dave Anderson
456-7150
11:00 am
DEPART West Executive Ave
EN ROUTE The Omni-Shoreham Hotel
[Drive Time: 10 minutes]
Travelling w/HRC:
- Kelly Craighead
- Doris Matsui
- Julie Romfph (Mrs. Gore's Staff)
- WH Photographer
NOTE: Mrs. Gore will ride with HRC to the event.
11:10 am
ARRIVE The Omni-Shoreham Hotel
NOTE: Mark Doyle will meet HRC curbside.
Greeters:
- Mrs. Bonnie Livingston, Chairman
- Mrs. Lois Breaux, Co-Chairman
- Mrs. Bob Clement
11:15 am
VIP RECEPTION
Ambassador Room
CLOSED PRESS
PARTICIPANTS: Approx. 180 expected to attend
[See briefing book for further info]
FORMAT:
- Receiving line and official photos {NOTE: A
photographer from the Congressional Club will be
present}
NOTE: Head Table participants will hold in Ambassador's Room for
procession. HRC and Mrs. Gore will be presented last.
SCHEDULE FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1995
PAGE 3
12:00 pm-
2:00 pm
CONGRESSIONAL CLUB LUNCHEON
Omni-Shoreham Hotel
Regency Room
Holding Room: The President's Room
Phone: 202-234-0700
Attire: Business
CLOSED PRESS
PARTICIPANTS: Approx. 1,200 expected to attend
[See briefing book for further info]
FORMAT:
- Mrs. Bob Livingston and Mrs. John Breaux intro
runway participants, HRC will be presented last,
proceed down runway to head table w/military
escort.
- National Anthem & brief invocation given by Mrs.
Jim Bunning
- Mrs. Clement gives brief welcoming remarks
- Lunch
- Mrs. Clement makes remarks and announces the
charity will receive a gift from the
Congressional Club
- Mrs. Clement intros HRC
- HRC makes remarks
- Entertainment
- Closing remarks by Mrs. Clement
- Depart the headtable (exit down runway, do not
work ropeline
Contact: Emily Shaw
202-225-3026 [w]
202-547-1112 [h]
2:00 pm
DEPART The Omni-Shoreham Hotel
EN ROUTE The White House
[Drive Time: 10 minutes]
2:10 pm
ARRIVE The White South Portico
MAY-14-1996 14:33
P.02
House of Ruth Fact Sheet
House of Ruth began in 1976 as a small emergency shelter for women who were homeless
or abused. Today, as Washington's oldest and largest social service agency for women and children
in crisis, we're providing much more than a bed and a meal. Women and children who are homeless
or abused come to us from countless circumstances with complex needs. Crisis burdens them with
anger, hopelessness, addiction, physical and mental illness, unemployment, inadequate skills for
raising a stable family.
Our mission is to help women and children overcome the effects of crisis to secure lasting
stability and independence. We've developed a continuum of services to assist each woman and
child in each stage of recovery. Along with shelter and food, our seven programs provide housing
and employment assistance, legal aid, physical and mental health care, individual counseling, and
support groups. Each of our programs addresses a particular area of need:
Herspace Domestic Violence Program gives refuge and assistance to women who are battered
and their children. Herspace also operates a 24-hour domestic violence hotline and leads
educational presentations in the community to prevent domestic violence.
Madison Emergency Shelter Program provides immediate shelter and meals to 84 women
every night. Individual counseling is available at Madison 24 hours per day.
The Food Service Training Program trains 6 women at a time in food service and employment
skills through 6 months of instruction and on-site job experience.
Kidspace Child Development Center provides developmental day care for children ages 2 to
5 who are homeless, abused, or at risk. Parents work with Family Advocates to build stable
family lives.
Unity Inn Transitional Program houses 25 women for up to 2 years while they secure
employment and permanent housing and prepare to live successfully on their own.
The Mother/Infant Program provides a home and crucial support for 10 women and their
infants while they recover from substance abuse.
Every night of the year, the Van Run Outreach Program takes food, clothing, blankets,
toiletries, and personal attention to men and women living on the streets of Washington.
Funding In Fiscal Year 1995, 26% of House of Ruth's $3.5 million budget was provided
by the local government, 14% by the federal government, and 60% by such private sources as
individuals, foundations, corporations, religious and community groups, and the United Way.
Operation House of Ruth is governed by a 15-21 member volunteer board of directors.
Sixty-five staff members direct programs and deliver services with support from 150 volunteers.
House of Ruth
5 Thomas Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202)667-7001
TOTAL P.02
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
CONGRESSIONAL CLUB LUNCHEON
WASHINGTON, DC
MAY 17, 1995
TALKING POINTS
Nothing pleases me more than to know that the Congressional
Club is helping support the work of Mother Teresa here in
Washington. I had the rare privilege of visiting Mother
Teresa's orphanage in India recently. It was a memorable
experience for me, as I'm sure it is for anyone who visits
there.
I think we all feel fortunate that the boundless love and
compassion we associate with Mother Teresa -- a love and
compassion that transcends geographic borders, political
ideologies, religious beliefs, and cultural attitudes --
will now be shared with disadvantaged men, women and
children in our nation's capital.
Since its inception, the Congressional Club has stood for
friendship. We see in the Club's gift this year to the
Missionaries of Charity that the friendship members share
with each other is also being extended to the community
around us.
I want to thank you for your generous spirit, for the
friendship you have shown me over the past 2 1\2 years, and
for your ongoing concern for those in need.
###
Page 8
19TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1986 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
November 24, 1986, Monday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; PAGE B1
LENGTH: 823 words
HEADLINE: Bittersweet Anniversary at House of Ruth
BYLINE: Peter Perl, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
Life hit bottom for Cheryl K. Barnes on March 14, 1984. Jobless, homeless and
struggling to overcome dependence on marijuana and PCP, Barnes said, she gave up
on her future at age 34.
On that snowy day, she left her cramped room in a friend's house in
Hyattsville and found herself walking five miles to D.C. General Hospital. She
told them that she needed help or she was going to kill herself.
"I had no place to go, so I came to the House of Ruth," Barnes recalled.
Her arrival at the District's oldest and largest shelter for homeless women
marked the turning point in a life headed nowhere.
Thirty-two months later, she has a $ 5.76-an-hour job that she enjoys, an
apartment and a solid group of friends, "and I have a sense of self- esteem
I am happy. The happiest I have ever been," she said.
Barnes is one of more than 20,000 women whose lives have been touched by the
House of Ruth, which yesterday celebrated its 10th anniversary with a joyous but
bittersweet party.
The celebration filled the already overcrowded shelter in the abandoned
Madison Elementary School at 10th and G streets NE.
Celebration was perhaps the wrong word for yesterday's event, said Sandra
Brawders, the executive director of the four-shelter House of Ruth women's
network.
The gathering proudly marked a decade of helping women whose lives were
shattered by poverty, joblessness, illness, drugs, alcoholism, divorce and
sexual abuse. But the event also was intended to draw attention to the claim
that growing numbers of homeless people are over- whelming shelters and the
budgets of social service agencies.
"How do you 'celebrate' a homeless shelter?" asked Brawders as she guided
visitors on a tour of cramped classrooms-turned-dormitories with beds three feet
apart and women's belongings crammed into metal lockers. "We want to work to get
rid of this place. We want people to have homes, and our advocacy is for
Page 9
The Washington Post, November 24, 1986
low-income housing."
At the Madison shelter, 119 women are sleeping in an 84-bed shelter, Brawders
said, with 35 women using cots, couches or mats on the floor to try to grab a
night's sleep. "Overcrowding not only wipes out programs and wipes out the
ability to really serve people," she said, "it also wipes out dignity."
"We need to maintain a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week set-up. You can't have
a line-up-at-night-serve-em-a-cup-of-soup-and-put-em-out-again program," said
Brawders. Too many shelter programs, she said, are only Band-Aid approaches
because they do not work full time with the women, who Brawders estimated need
at least six months of residential stability to begin patching their lives
together.
"We are talking about people who are broken, in complex ways, and are
disconnected," she said. =
You need some time."
The House of Ruth was named for the biblical widow who was homeless. In 1976,
the average age of the women served was 54, and many were the stereotypical "bag
ladies." But today, younger women are filling the shelters, often those who had
dead-end, low-wage jobs and unwanted pregnancies. The average age today is 25,
Brawders said.
Brawders whose background includes teaching English to New Jersey migrant
children, studying ethics for a degree at Princeton University, counseling the
criminally insane at Trenton State Prison and working with victims of
Alzheimer's disease said the shelters' burden has risen dramatically in the
1980s. Roughly 1,000 women per year stayed at the House of Ruth in the late
1970s. But the figure mushroomed to 3,000 in 1982, and the four facilities are
expected to serve an estimated 7,000 for 1986.
District Mayor Marion Barry proclaimed yesterday House of Ruth Day to honor
the "House of Ruth family" of hundreds of volunteers, 36 staff members and
thousands of women who have gone through the shelter. The D.C. Department of
Human Services provides nearly half of the organization's annual budget of about
$ 900,000, with the remainder coming from foundations and donations.
Cheryl Barnes, a 1972 graduate of McKinley High School, had lost her parents
and her home and had been laid off from a night janitorial job in 1984. After
psychiatric treatment, counseling and "the inspiration of friends," she now
works as a "life coach" helping other homeless women at the shelter.
"It was a miracle what happened to me here," Barnes said. Around her, the
high-ceiling school rooms were strung with colored streamers and filled with
blue balloons. Volunteers carried trays of cold cuts, cookies and snacks, as
women and their children packed the rooms. Barnes was able to donate $ 50 for
the cake.
Barnes hugged Brawders, and both women wiped away tears.
The key event that pulled Barnes out of the pits, she said, was meeting
Brawders. "She helped me get my self-esteem. She is kindhearted, and she
believes in fighting for the right to help other women," Barnes said, "She saw
something in me, and she brought it out."
Page 10
The Washington Post, November 24, 1986
GRAPHIC: Photo, Cheryl Barnes a former resident of the House of Ruth, joined
Sandy Brawders, the shelter executive director, for 10th anniversary
celebration yesterday. ( Cheryl Barnes and Sandy Brawders of the House of Ruth),
Fred Sweets; Photo, House of Ruth resident Mary Hughes, left, embraces director
Sandy Brawders during 10th anniversary observance. Said Brawders, "We want to
work to get rid of this place. We want people to have homes.", ( Mary Hughes and
House of Ruth director Sandy Brawders), Fred Sweets
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 3
9TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1991 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
December 23, 1991, Monday, Final Edition
SECTION: STYLE; PAGE B1
LENGTH: 1936 words
HEADLINE: The Peaceful Corner of Their World;
Respite for Children of Chaos At House of Ruth's Kidspace
SERIES: Occasional
BYLINE: Elizabeth Kastor, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
They stumble up from the cots and wander to their seats, still wrapped in the
softness of sleep. Lights blink on. The bathroom is visited. Shoes are tied.
Nap time is over at Kidspace, and all the 25 nappers wear that crumpled look
that makes groggy children seem simultaneously very young and very old.
Soon the electricity of their personalities will seep back into them and they
will once more be raucous 3-year-olds and giddy 5-year-olds, but now they are
closer to the babies they used to be. One girl walks over to a stranger and
curls into her lap. She does not know the lap, but she knows the warmth of a
female body. Silently, she molds her body to the surrounding arms.
It is the most routine ritual of childhood, napping, but here the two hours
of uninterrupted sleep sometimes seem like the greatest gift these children can
be given. "We never sleep," the mother of one has said, "because of the sound of
the rats overhead."
Look around and there is no sign that Kidspace is different from any other
small day-care center. The younger ones wear peanut butter mustaches after their
snacks and the older ones are learning the alphabet. The walls are hung with
paintings and collages. Hooks hold snow jackets and hats.
But Kidspace is something different. In a church basement in the middle of
Shaw, a mile north of the Capitol, it is a sanctuary. Founded by the House of
Ruth, Kidspace daily welcomes children who are homeless, whose mothers have been
abused by their husbands and boyfriends, whose short lives have been defined by
chaos. A large majority of these children live with their mothers in city-run or
private shelters or in transitional housing managed by the House of Ruth and
similar organizations. A handful of the families Kidspace serves have moved past
the hard times, but still seek the nurturing this day-care center provides. For
the mothers, it brings six, eight, 10 hours in which they can look for a job or
go to school. For the children, it brings two meals, two snacks, games and songs
and books and much that is far less tangible.
"It gives the kids some peace," says Pat Fitchett, who fled a shelter in
Page 4
The Washington Post, December 23, 1991
Delaware for one in Washington earlier this year to escape a husband she feared.
Her 2 1/2-year-old son, Keyondre, has been attending Kidspace since June and she
has been a volunteer and now is a teacher at the day-care center. "If the kid
sees the mom always upset, then the kid's going to be upset. But here the kid
has a time to relax and run wild and get his frustrations out."
Stand still for a moment and children hurt themselves at you. They leap on
your back, cling to your legs, squeal with reckless joy as they pull you down to
the floor. It is an instant affection that contains both violence and yearning.
You do not yet know their names and they do not know yours, but by entering the
door to this basement room you have become theirs part jungle gym, part
friend, part punching bag.
Perhaps they are even more hungry for affection than the average kid.
Oh yes, Fitchett says with the laugh of a woman who has been climbed upon
herself.
"They get so much love here," she says. "They're learning to love people, not
to abuse people."
What do you do here, Quoran?
"Cereal. Milk. Toast. Juice," says the 4-year-old. That is breakfast.
= 'Twinkle, Twinkle.' 'Ring Around the Rosie.' 'London Bridge.' = she says.
Those are the songs.
"Read our books. Go outside. Come back inside. Wash your hands. Sit down.
Then eat," she says. That is the schedule.
The day is orderly, and deliberately so. "They need to know every day when
they walk through the door that the same person is going to greet them in the
same way," says acting director Abby DeLong.
It is a cliche of child-rearing that children thrive on continuity,
predictability, the security of knowing that what was there last night will
still be there this morning. But for these children, the teachers believe, such
things are particularly important.
"These are children who don't have, in many cases, a room of their own
because they've been taken away from their home, they've been moved," says
Stanley Kulewicz, a psychology PhD who consults with the teachers. "In just a
physical sense, their lives are subject to a lot of change. Just in terms of
their relationships with people, when there is so much change going on, it's
hard to establish consistency, so the boundaries that might be there for
example, between a mother and a child -- that boundary is not there."
The kids are, in that sense, older than many of their peers. They have seen a
lot and often play a role in their families that is closer to an adult's than a
child's.
"There are kids here who are out running the house," says DeLong. "I have
moms call and say, 'My son doesn't want to come, so he's not.' This is a
Page 5
The Washington Post, December 23, 1991
3-year-old telling the mother what to do! I think some of these mothers feel
they have put these kids through so much, they can't say no."
But many of the children here also lag developmentally. Their language skills
are often poor DeLong thinks they have spent too much time in front of the
television, shunted away from the disarray preoccupying their parents.
The kids fight a lot. They bite. They have trouble sharing toys. No parent of
a small child can say such behavior is unfamiliar, but Kulewicz says that at
Kidspace it is more "intense." More fighting. More biting.
"Some kids don't know how to play," says DeLong. One girl has grown up at the
Community for Creative Non-Violence homeless shelter. "She's never left. She has
a great vocabulary she's been around nothing but adults. She's terrific, but
she's never had a chance to be with other kids.
"It's so basic, but it's stuff they've never been exposed to."
So for that 3-year-old, the ability to sit with another child and do a puzzle
is a triumph in her teacher's eyes.
There are other more tangible problems that point to the realities of living
in shelters.
"Lots of diarrhea," says DeLong. "This is really down and gross, but it's a
real problem."
Just getting some healthy food and milk into them is an accomplishment.
"These kids have grown up on sweets. When those kids come in, they look at that
stuff on their plates and say, 'You expect me to eat that?' " DeLong says.
DeLong believes that bringing the children into the center every day offers
something to the mothers beyond the free time to look for a job or go to school.
"I think often the day care stabilizes the family situation," she says. "Asking
them to have the kids here at a specific time and pick them up at a specific
time -- it's helpful."
The fact that some mothers manage to get their children to Kidspace at all is
worthy of notice. Isibat Idris, her 5-year-old son and twin 2-year-old girls
must travel 90 minutes by bus in each direction from their home in Southeast
Washington.
"I just bring them to school and go to the library or something," Idris says.
"He knows everybody's name. The girls learned to count to five. He wants to sit
down and read a book. I'm not comfortable doing that, but he wants to. I stopped
coming because I felt it was too much, catching the two buses, but he wanted to
come to school so I do it."
Kids tell their truths through oblique hints, actions rather than words.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Nancy, articulate beyond her years, plays with a
puzzle as she is asked questions that soon prove to have been ineptly direct.
Where does she live? "With my mommy," she says. Does anyone else live there? She
is silent, concentrating on the puzzle, and then she tells the intruder, "I
don't want to play with you anymore. Go back to your office." "
Page 6
The Washington Post, December 23, 1991
Some forbidden barrier has been breached, some nerve touched.
As with all children, you hear adults' voices filtered through these mouths.
Three-year-old Chris shoves a visitor against the wall, shouting, "You're in
jail, you're in jail." Why? "Because you said a cuss word. Because you're
hotheaded."
The teachers remember moments that felt dense with significance. Mary Waters
talks about seeing one particularly sad girl climb on a seesaw and smile for the
first time. Abby DeLong tells of 5-year-old Clark with a toy house and a fire
engine. How nice, she said with a teacher's pep, the fireman was saving the
family inside. "The police never do anything to help anybody in our
neighborhood," he said, and then went on with his game.
But the temptation to look at these kids as small symbols of society's ills,
to hear in their every comment the weight of a child's pain, is dangerous.
"I think we have to be careful about what our assumptions are," says
Kulewicz. "You might go into that setting thinking these are going to be
'disturbed' children, and I think that would be underestimating the capacity
people have to rise above adversity and to develop strength when you might have
expected them to develop weaknesses or crumble."
The mothers also refuse to let an outsider make any assumptions.
"Are you going to say these children are homeless?" asks Kimberly Ferrell.
For her the word is weighty with past pain and implied judgment.
"Some people are working mothers," she says. She is, in fact, and wants this
noted.
"Once we were living in a shelter. We just stayed for a month. It wasn't that
we got put out for not paying the rent. It was because me and my mother couldn't
get along.
"People are homeless, but then they get on their feet. Kids are living in
shelters do you think they like living in there? I don't think so. I think
everyone has feelings."
Ferrell pulled herself out. "We came a long way," she says. "I'm really proud
of me and my children. I wouldn't have done it without them. If they weren't
there, I wouldn't have done anything."
Look in the face of any child and inevitably you start to seek hints of the
future. Will his smile always curve at the corner? Will she always be curious?
Will he always be funny? What will they be in 10 years?
At Kidspace, the questions take on a pressing poignancy. These are the
children social service agencies file away with the dry formulation "at risk."
But who will come through and who will be lost?
In the dialect of a psychologist, Kulewicz talks about "resilient" and
"vulnerable" children, concepts that include within themselves a certain
Page 7
The Washington Post, December 23, 1991
fatalism.
"I think there are different factors that can play into how a child does --
one is what kind of support they're getting, and what kind of support their
mother is getting. Another is a child's temperament. We can't do much to change
a child's temperament, but we can provide help."
The children are not penalized if their mothers are able to reorder their
lives; they can continue to attend the day-care center after the crisis is over.
Several of them have moved on to kindergarten, and a few have even kept in touch
with their teachers, but sometimes they just vanish with no warning and no
goodbye.
"When I first came to this, every little thing bothered me," says DeLong. "If
a child had to leave for some reason, it would affect me for a long time. I hope
I'm not immune to it now, but you can't let it bother you as long."
There is no way, of course, to keep your imagination from playing across
those faces.
"When they're out there asleep, I wonder what's going on in their minds,"
says teacher Carol Barnes. "Sometimes I wonder, what are they going to grow up
to?"
As she talks, soft music is playing in the next room. Each child holds a toy
chosen upon arrival at Kidspace and each child sleeps under a soft quilt. It is
very still here. It is very peaceful. But soon nap time will be over.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, KIDSPACE ACTING DIRECTOR ABBEY DELONG, RIGHT, WITH LATOYA AGEE,
LEFT AND ROMEO HAYES. DAYNA SMITH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH