Our Story

HUGS (Help Us Grow Strong) was founded to help the chronically homeless living in tent communities throughout Prince William County. Our belief is that people do NOT belong on the ground. Currently, there is a dire need for affordable housing in PWC. Nearly all shelters and most “rooms” do not allow pets, and those that are barely affordable do not have the ability to cook food in (which further isolates those in need). This is compounded for homeless folks looking to re-integrate, which takes much longer than those recently housed. The bottomline: More choices are needed to alleviate the suffering of people. In the PWC area alone, too many have been living in the “rough” since before 2008. To help, we hold a weekly outreach on Saturdays where volunteers sign up to provide a hot lunch. We also provide clothes, sleeping bags, water, nonperishable food items, blankets, socks, and more at our outreach. Our ultimate goal is to create a self sufficient affordable housing community where our unsheltered friends can be safe, heal, and reach their full potential through a program called Housing First. We believe tiny homes offer safety, better health, and are overall more cost effective to the PWC community.