Home - Foggy Bottom West End Village

Foggy Bottom West End Village

Dealing with COVID-19

The Foggy Bottom West End Village has taken a number of steps to help mitigate the effect of the novel coronavirus on our members. This has including providing grocery shopping services and delivery, converting to zoom programming, checking in on members by phone and most prominently providing lunches to a number of seniors across the community.

As many of you know, we partnered with World Central Kitchen on the lunch delivery initiative and they were providing lunches for our members and other seniors in the Foggy Bottom West End area. The Foggy Bottom Association and our Village teamed up to make this project work for our community. Our volunteers delivered thousands of lunches since March to seniors, thereby enabling those most vulnerable to COVID-19 to reduce the amount of time they would need to spend in crowded grocery stores. In some cases, the lunches also helped stretch tight budgets and/or made it easier for those who had difficulty preparing meals for themselves.

Unfortunately, World Central Kitchen has ended our lunch program as of the beginning of July. We are incredibly grateful to them for their generosity over the past four months. We are also grateful to the Foggy Bottom Association for their tireless support.

The village continues with our innovative online programing including a new series of Art Thursday talks on wide ranging topics in the art world. The first talk, an exploration of Henry George and Gwendolyn Brooks through their featured pieces in the National Portrait Gallery, is up on our YouTube now. Other events on YouTube include an artist talk with prominent local artist Helen Zughaib and a book talk with Fanchon Silberstein on her book ‘Art inSight: Understanding Art and Why It Matters.’ All of our events will be uploaded to our YouTube the morning after the event.

While we have started offering some services again, rides to essential medical appointments, the village itself stays mostly shut down. We encourage our members to stay safe, stay socially distanced, and to reach out if there is anything we can help with. We look forward to the day when we can all meet up in person again.

Check Out Our New YouTube channel!

Welcome to our amazing new social media presence! We will be recording and uploading events from here on out, so stay tuned to our page!

Here is the link to our FBWE channel and here is the link to the first Art Thursday recording.

Check Out Our Latest Newsletters

Have Fun With the Village

We have more than 230 events a year, from exercise classes and educational programs to happy hours. Click here to see your friends enjoying Village events.

Put yourself in the picture by signing up for one of our upcoming events below.

Click to Register for Village Events

Meet Some New Members

John Abowd

John moved to the West End in early 2016, when he started his present job at the Census Bureau, determined to live in the city and commute to Suitland, MD. His wife Janet, who joined the Village in 2016, followed a few months later after finishing her school year at Ithaca High School and selling their house.

John decided to join the Village not long after Janet was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“The Village really delivered the community support that we needed,” he said. “We decided that we would both join, and make a contribution. We're pretty independent right now, but we need a circle of DC-based friends to make retiring here manageable.”

An economist and statistician by profession, John is the Associate Director for Research and Methodology and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Census Bureau. He spent 27 years on the faculty of Cornell University before joining the Census Bureau.

“I'm deeply involved in the 2020 Census, both the job I signed up for and the several that have fallen on my plate since 2016,” John said. (You can use Google to learn more, if you wish.)

“When's that over, I'll come up for air, and we'll have at least one more grandchild.”
John was an avid cyclist during his three decades in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. (He sometimes describes himself as a recovering Lance Armstrong fan.) He decided that learning urban bike-handling skills wasn’t safe, so prior the pandemic, he substituted studio cycling--spin classes. He also enjoys collecting wine and cooking, especially Lebanese delicacies.

“Most of all, Janet and I have settled into being comfortable, active grandparents,” John said. “It’s a role we knew was coming but couldn't have imagined would be so much fun.”

Meet Our Members

Meet Our Executive Director

Denise Snyder has 40 years of experience running small and mid-sized nonprofits in the Washington area. She brings experience with volunteers, program development, organizational management, and fundraising. She has been involved with villages for several years and is energized by the sense of community they create. Denise joined our village in April 2019.

...and Our Assistant Director

Welcome Jonas Frumkin, our Assistant Director, who is a 2020 graduate of George Washington University. Jonas was a part of the Human Services and Social Justice at GW where he focused on older adults. He worked with us as an intern before starting as Assistant Director. He previously interned at IONA Senior Services.

Village Office Hours

The Village has open office hours:
Mondays through Thursdays from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

The office is located at:

2430 K Street NW

(202) 333-1327.

We're here to help. Drop by or make an appointment.

Proud Member of:

:: Foggy Bottom West End Village: 2430 K Street, NW : Washington, DC 20037 : 202-333-1327 ::