History

SOME, Inc. (So Others Might Eat) was formed by a group of priests and ministers, one of whom was Father Horace McKenna, S.J. The first meals were served out of the basement of St. Aloysius Church on North Capitol Street in Northwest Washington, DC. From a modest beginning, SOME has evolved into an interfaith, community-based organization providing comprehensive supportive services to meet basic needs as well as to give a sense of human dignity to the poor and elderly. The following chronology summarizes SOME's evolution since its inception: an asterisk(*) indicates a program that is no longer operating.

1970 November	SOME, Inc. (So Others Might Eat) incorporates and moves from St. Aloysius Church to 1101 North Capitol Street. SOME begins serving hot meals.
1971 July	SOME opens its first program - a soup kitchen to feed impoverished persons.
1975 October	SOME's Substance Abuse Program begins. It includes individual and group counseling and vocational training.
1978	SOME moves to 71 'O' Street, NW.
1978 November	SOME's Provide-A-Meal Program begins. The soup kitchen makes a transition to a nutritional meal program serving a breakfast and lunch each day. Fifty-two churches, synagogues, businesses and clubs prepare, bring, and serve hot, well-balanced meals to 350 homeless individuals. Today, over 15,000 volunteers from various community groups and places of worship who participate in this program, serve an average of 850 meals a day
1979 January	SOME's Harvest House Residence* for 12 senior citizens opens.
1979 March	SOME's Harvest House Day Center* opens. The Center offers a hot meal, health screening, scripture sharing, exercises, seminars, arts and crafts, and transportation for senior citizens.
1979 October	SOME's Dental Clinic opens to provide care to the homeless and those unable to afford a dentist. The Georgetown University Dental School partners with SOME to provide care.
1980 July	SOME's Summer Camp for Senior Citizens opens for the first time. Two, one-week sessions are offered for frail, elderly persons who are unable to afford a vacation. Volunteers staff the camp.
1982 January	SOME's Medical Clinic opens. It provides comprehensive health care for homeless and low-income persons. At that time, office dividers were the only clinic "walls" available.
1982 September	SOME's Dwelling Place Residence* opens, providing housing for low-income working women.
1983 October	SOME's Dwelling Place Senior Center opens in SE, DC. The Center offers activities similar to those at the Harvest House Senior Center including hot meals and recreational activities.
1983 September	SOME begins Mobile Meals Program*. Meals transported by truck brought to needy persons in far Northeast and Southeast Washington.
1983 November	SOME begins providing volunteer psychiatric services for homeless persons.
1983 November	SOME's Shower facilities and Clothing Room for the homeless open.
1984 May	SOME's Caregivers Program begins. Case management and volunteer services are provided to isolated, frail, homebound elderly persons in the Southeast Washington Area.
1984 October	A second SOME Meal Program* begins at a site in Southeast Washington for indigent and homeless persons.
1985 October	SOME's Main Dining Room is renovated. The expanded Dining Room seats 155 persons and includes a waiting area for 75 persons.
1985 November	SOME expands its medical and dental services at 71 'O' Street, NW, to serve the growing needs of the homeless.
1986 January	SOME's Isaiah House opens, providing a therapeutic socialization program for mentally ill, homeless persons, in a townhouse in Northwest Washington.
1986 February	SOME opens a transitional shelter to assist homeless men in preparing to live in permanent housing in the community.
1986 August	SOME's Dwelling Place for Abused and Neglected Elderly is opened in SE, DC.
1987 September	SOME's Southeast Center Community Organizing Center* begins helping people in the neighborhood to organize around issues that affect their lives. A Food Club, Food Co-op, and Women’s empowerment group are formed.
1988 July	SOME's Joshua House*, a 90-day residential employment program opens. The focus of the program is to assist homeless men in finding full-time employment and permanent housing.
1989 July	SOME's Shalom House, the organization's first Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residence,opens its doors to 92 formerly homeless and low income men and women, including the elderly and the disabled, in NE, DC. It offers a safe, secure and dignified home for its residents.
1990 October	SOME's Mickey Leland Place, a second 90-day residential employment program, opens for homeless men.
1991 June	SOME's Exodus House, a 90-day residential substance abuse treatment program for homeless men, is opened on a 45-acre mountaintop plot in West Virginia. It is designed to provide a retreat from the urban environment that fostered homeless men's addictions.
1991 September	SOME opens Thea Bowman House, a 12-unit, 2 year transitional apartment house for women with children. Located in NE, DC, serves not only the formerly homeless but also those who currently occupy substandard dwellings.
1992 July	SOME's Ghandi Place, a house for long term volunteers, is opened. Located in Northeast Washington, this former rooming house is home to lay volunteers who serve at SOME for periods ranging from one month to a year.
1993 April	SOME's Anna Cooper House, the second of three SROs operated by SOME, opens. It provides permanent, dignified housing to 50 formerly homeless men and women.
1993 May	SOME's Jeremiah House, the organization's third SRO, opens in SE, DC. Like Anna Cooper House, Jeremiah House provides permanent housing to 54 homeless in an environment that fosters respect, dignity, and independent living.
1994 Summer	Citizens About Real Empowerment (C.A.R.E.) is founded by a group of Shalom House residents trying to preserve their local housing subsidies. With time, the group expands to all three SOME SROs, and continues to advocate for safe neighborhoods, affordable housing, and fair policies in our community.
1996 January	SOME's Maya Angelou House for women is dedicated on the grounds of 45 acres in West Virginia that were donated to SOME. The program provides a 90-day substance abuse treatment program for homeless women.
1996 February	The Harvest House Residence* moves to Shalom House and becomes the Shalom House Senior Center*.
1996 June	SOME renovates and opens a new facility for the homeless. This facility at 60 'O' Street, NW, is a 16,000 square foot building housing a new medical clinic with six exam rooms, a minor procedure room, x-ray clinic, a full eye clinic, a dental clinic, and social service and addictions counseling offices. In addition it houses administrative offices that are necessary for running SOME.
1996 August	SOME's Harvest House Women's Program opens as a 12-bed transitional housing/job readiness training program for homeless women
1997 May	SOME's Women and Children’s Dining Room on 'O' Street is opened next to the Main Dining Room to better meet the needs of the growing number of homeless women and children.
1998 June	SOME's Center for Employment Training (SOME CET) opens as an employment training program that will incorporate support services, human development, basic education, and skills training in a program lasting from 4 to 6 months. The goal is for adults to find full-time jobs with benefits, at a living wage.
1998 September	SOME's Townhouses at 68, 70, 74 and 76 'O' Street, NW (across from the Dining Room) are opened for two-year transitional housing for formerly homeless families. This is an extension of the Thea Bowman House program.
2000 January	SOME's Behavioral Health Services (BHS), 60 'O' Street, NW, begins with the goal of combining SOME's addiction services with mental health and dual diagnosis treatment. BHS provides comprehensive interdisciplinary services including: outreach services; intake and assessment; psychosocial evaluation and treatment; individual and group therapy; case management; addiction outpatient and residential treatment; and, dual diagnosis services.
2000 August	SOME’s Social Justice Program is created to increase community awareness and education of the interlaced social justice issues that affect poor and homeless individuals and families. The program provides on- and off-site workshops, presentations, education packets, and service learning opportunities.
2002 April	The Jim Kozuch Building is dedicated and opens for multi-program use. The new building affords beautiful improved space for Isaiah House, Clothing and Household Goods Donations, the maintenance department, records storage, and office space.
2002 October	SOME's Jordan House* opens in the building vacated by Isaiah House. This new program provides a safe and structured alcohol/drug free residence for homeless clients who are awaiting access to SOME's residential treatment programs.
2003 September	SOME's Leland Place annex project is completed by volunteer construction crews from Holy Trinity’s “Hands on Housing.” The expansion provides needed space for clients and counselors. Clients from Joshua House move into Leland Place in order to increase program efficiency.
2004 January	SOME launches its Affordable Housing Development Initiative. Through the initiative, SOME aims to develop 1,000 new units of safe, affordable housing to meet the needs of 2,000 homeless and extremely poor men, women and children.
2004 February	Harvest House Women's Program moves into the space previously occupied by Joshua House.
2005 March	SOME's Michael Kirwan House opens in a building that is donated to SOME, assuming the functions of the Jordan House* program. A "safe house," the program provides a safe and structured alcohol/drug free residence for homeless clients who are awaiting access to SOME's residential treatment programs.
2005 April	SOME's Jordan House Crisis Stabilization Program opens. This program provides seven beds of residential supportive services to DC residents who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis. It provides comprehensive assessment, intensive individual counseling and case management support.
2005 September	SOME's Independence Place opens and offers safe and dignified affordable permanent housing for 21 low income and formerly homeless families. SOME Place for Kids is also opened at the same location to provide nutrition, recreation, mentorship, and academic opportunities for the children of Independence Place each afternoon.
2005 October	SOME's Southeast Center* is renovated to provide 10 units of affordable housing in the Oxford House model. The new program is called the Joseph Smith House.
2006 May	SOME's Freedom House opens to become SOME’s fourth SRO housing 30 single men and women. Like our other SRO's, Freedom House provides permanent housing to formerly homeless men and women in an environment that fosters respect, dignity, and independent living.
2006 September	SOME's Mary Claire House opens, providing safe transitional housing to 11 adults with chronic mental illness as they leave SOME’s Jordan House Crisis Stabilization Program.
2006 December	SOME places a contract on a property on Good Hope Road. The building will provide affordable housing to 45 seniors in SRO and efficiency units.
2007 March	SOME opens Msgr. Ralph Kuehner House four blocks away from SOME’s Center for Employment Training to provide transitional housing for six women enrolled as students at the Center.
2007 March	SOME opens Reverend Griffin Smith House* in West Virginia which provides transitional housing for five men who have completed residential treatment at Exodus House.
2007 April	SOME closes on a property on Texas Avenue in SE, DC which will provide 48 efficiency units for low income single adults. The new program will be called Gasner House.
2007 April	SOME opens Fr. Horace McKenna House in Winchester, Virginia, which provides affordable housing in the Oxford House model to 10 men recovering from addictions.
2007 April	SOME closes on a property on 50th Street in SE, DC that will provide 76 single adults with affordable housing with supportive services. The new program will be called Bedford Falls.
2007 April	SOME closes on a property on South Capitol Street in SE, DC that will provide affordable housing with supportive services to 51 single adults. The program will be called Chabraja House.
2007 June	SOME's Barnaby House opens. An affordable family housing program in SE, DC, Barnaby House provides safe, service-enriched housing to 10 low income and formerly homeless families.
2007 June	SOME signs a contract to purchase two buildings on Chesapeake Street that will provide 22 two and three bedroom apartments for families.
2008 February	SOME's Zagami House opens. An affordable family housing program with supportive services, Zagami House is home to 12 formerly homeless and extremely low income families.
2008 July	SOME purchases a property on Naylor Road in SE, DC that will provide affordable apartments with supportive services for 19 single adults and 25 families.
2008 September	SOME closes on a property on Mellon Street in SE, DC that will provide safe, affordable housing for 55 single adults.
2010 August	SOME closes financing and begins construction on five properties that will provide 245 units of affordable housing for homeless families and single adults. They properties are Chesapeake Street, Kuehner House, Gasner House, Chabraja House and Bedford Falls.
2010 December	SOME's Chesapeake Street opens to provide 22 safe, affordable apartments for low income and formerly homeless families.
2011 May	SOME's Chabraja House opens to provide homes for 53 formerly homeless men and women.
2011 September	Kuehner House, SOME's first affordable housing program designed specifically for the elderly, opens. This property includes emergency housing for abused and neglected elderly and features a spacious community day center.