The host-family network already has room for hundreds With the March for Our Lives, the teen-led protest for gun control, coming to Washington, D.C., on March 24, many are expecting a crowd akin to the women?s marches that have taken place across the country over the last year. The event?s permit application estimates that 500,000 will attend.
But there?s one crucial difference, logistically speaking: The teenagers who may be planning to come to the event, organized in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, will have a much harder time traveling and finding a place to stay without their parents.
Four local students believe they have a solution. Friends at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, have quickly organized a home-sharing network with host families for students coming to D.C. for the march. In the space of roughly 48 hours, the group has secured potential housing for hundreds of teens in local homes, churches, and synagogues in the D.C. area, with nearly 100 students already signed up to stay?some coming from as far away as California, and some from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. ?A lot of students are feeling empowered, even though their age might stop them from doing certain things,? says Gabrielle Zwi, 17, one of the four teens organizing housing. ?We?re here to help them do that.?
Talking earlier today during their lunch break, Zwi, Kate Lebrun, 18, Michaela Hoenig, 17, and another cl...