Formerly Homeless College Student Honored

When recent college graduate Danae Vachata received a call from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty telling her she would be honored with the organization’s 2012 Personal Achievement Award, she was stunned.

“The word achievement stuck out to me,” said Vachata. “I looked up the definition of achievement and it said ‘something achievable by pure talent or by great effort or by great courage.’

“Whatever I have accomplished took a lot of effort and a lot of courage, not an easy road by any means. My achievement and success is not defined by monetary rewards, but to me it’s the dreams I’ve been able to accomplish.”

Vachata was honored at the 14th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on Thursday, Nov. 15, held in a festive ballroom at the Renaissance Washington, DC hotel. She was recognized for her work as president and co-founder of the Bell Fund, a donor-advised, tax-exempt fund that helps give Louisiana homeless and poor youth access to college.

After growing up in an abusive household, Vachata spent time in high school as an unaccompanied homeless youth before enrolling in college. With financial aid, she was able to live like a normal college student until her aid suddenly rescinded a year into school.

Living out of her car, Vachata tried to keep her homelessness as secret, while working 70-hours per week and pursuing her dreams of becoming a pediatrician.

“When I first received the phone call that I was receiving the award, I remembered the day I decided to become homeless to pay for my tuition. I thought I’m not only going to become homeless for myself, but use this as an opportunity to help thousands of kids that don’t choose to be homeless that are forced to be homeless. I want to help increase the gap of education and help them get into college as well.”

The Bell Fund recently became a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Through partnerships with colleges in Louisiana and organizations like Teach For America, Vachata hopes to give children experience in resume writing, applying for scholarships, job shadowing experience, mentorships and financial aid requests.
Since graduating in 2011, Vachata has completed her MBA and is in the process of applying for medical school.

Other honorees at the McKinney-Vento Awards included Food Network star and philanthropist Sandra Lee for her efforts to fight hunger and Rhode Island Senator John Tassoni for his service as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Housing and Municipal government. He was given the Bruce F. Vento award for sponsoring legislation establishing the first Homeless Bill of Rights in Rhode Island last July.

Before Lee was honored with the Stewart B. McKinney Award, individual leaders of New York service organizations God’s Love We Deliver, City Meals on Wheels, The Bowery Mission and Share Our Strength spoke of her immediate response and assistance during Hurricane Sandy.

Lee, however, downplayed her charitable work.

“At the end of the day, our jobs are to serve, no matter how big or fancy our names, we are all shleppers,” said Lee. “I feel guilty being here because there are 300,000 families in the state I call home that are homeless.”

Broadcast journalist and master of ceremonies for the evening Rebecca Cooper said Lee tried to cancel her appearance at the awards dinner. But Lee accepted the award because she knew first-hand what it meant to grow up hungry.

“I have real empathy and compassion for the people we get to serve every day,” said Lee.
Her semi-homemade concept of cooking with 70 percent store-bought ingredients and 30 percent fresh food has won her critical acclaim. She is also known for her work with Feeding America and is the national spokesperson for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign.

The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project, Covington & Burling LLP, a law firm, and Navigant, a consulting firm, were also recognized for efforts to assist the homeless.

Twenty-five percent of funds raised at the event went directly to help children and youth made homeless by Hurricane Sandy have access to education and nutrition in New York City.

“You know we have much more to do,” said Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the Law Center. “But tonight we are pausing to recognize our victories.”

Since 1989, the Law Center has worked to prevent and end homelessness through impact litigation, policy advocacy and public education. Its lawyers specialize in cases involving the recent shortage of affordable housing, insufficient income among clients and inadequate social services. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 was the first and only major federal legislation addressing homelessness. It now provides federal funds for the nation’s homeless shelter programs.


Issues |Education


Region |Washington DC

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