Representative success stories of Anne Frank House residents.

David Harris

David Harris, an Anne Frank House resident, has been called "the best of Washington DC's street poets."

David says the most interesting years of his life started in the Winter of 2001, when he found himself homeless on the streets of Washington, D.C., cold, hungry and scared. After a few weeks on the streets, David discovered the creative writing group at Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen that serves breakfast to the hungry and homeless in D.C. The group provided David with a network of friends, who were also homeless and wrote poetry. Anne Frank House gave him a safe and stable place to live and pursue his poetry. Our partner, Friendship Place, gave David the social services and support he needed.

In Blue House (Wisconsin and Chesapeake), David Harris evokes the struggle to leave the streets, seek support at the Blue House (Friendship Place) and find a new home.

Ken Smith

Ken Smith (the fictionalized name of a AFH resident) was a Florida high school teacher and coach when he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Believing that President Clinton was asking him to move to the capital, Ken came to Washington in 2000.  His story since then is one of Moving from Homelessness and Disability to Residential and Psychiatric Stability with help from Anne Frank House and its partners. Ken is absolutely thrilled at having his first real home since 1995.

Victoria Lowell

Victoria Lowell (not her real name) was in her mid-30s and working successfully at a major international organization when her mental illness presented its first symptoms. It would eventually cost Victoria her career and land her in a decades-long cycle of joblessness, poverty and homelessness. In 2007, an apartment and support became available to her through Anne Frank House. Victoria's years of struggle to regain her dignity and self-respect reached a turning point. In Victoria's Story she tells how “Anne Frank House restored the middle-class life I’d lost to mental illness."

George Siletti

George Siletti, once homeless himself, is now working with the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place in their initiative to find homeless people and help get them off the streets and in to a support system. His story is one of going from homelessness to Finding a Home and a Sense of Self Worth with the help of Anne Frank House and its partner organizations. George now is surmounting not only the challenges posed by his own difficult childhood and years of homelessness but also helping to address the problems of those still homeless throughout our city.