Organizers hope to purchase tents for homeless
U.S. Flags were flying in the wind and passersby were honking their car horns in front of soon-to-be-closed Kmart store.
Organizers on Saturday gathered in the parking lot of the 34-year-old store to show support and gather needed items for the homeless who live in camps behind Kmart and along Dale Boulevard and Interstate 95 in Dale City.
During the rally, volunteers with the Dale City Civic Association’s Homeless Outreach effort collected food, desperately needed water, blankets, and other goods to be donated to those who live in the camps – people whom activists say are Dale City residents, too, and should not be forgotten.
“I believe some people don’t know there are homeless camps here. If you want to know, you’ll find out but we’re here to tell you so now you can’t say you don’t know,” said Ashley Antley, with the Dale City Civic Association.
The Kmart store will close Dec. 7 and there is no word yet on what will happen to the property on which it sits. The land behind the Kmart store is owned by the Americans in Wartime Museum which hopes to develop a destination, to be marketed alongside the nearby National Museum of the Marine Corps, where visitors can learn about life is like for war fighters and for those left to defend the home front during battle.
Volunteers at the rally said someone recently placed “no trespassing” signs in a wooded area near the store to send a message to homeless to get out.
The situation is reminiscent of March 2011, when homeless campers in the same woods were evicted by Virginia State Police. Many locally elected officials said at that time they didn’t know the homeless were being evicted. The Virginia Department of Transportation then cited safety concerns as the homeless were living on state-owned property along I-95, and becuase many of the homeless had to cross busy Dale Boulevard to get to a warming shelter for a shower and a hot meal.
The warming shelter is still open, but some of the same locations where homeless camps were in 2011 are no more as trees have been cleared for utility lines for the 95 Express Lanes Project.
Volunteers on Saturday said they were working to purchase tents for the homeless in the event they have to relocate. Some are fearful the tents in use today will fall apart if moved.
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