Bill Duggan is the owner of Madam’s Organ, a popular bar in the heart of Adams Morgan. Duggan has offered a summer camp for about 50 children living in surrounding impoverished neighborhoods for the past decade, bringing them to three adjoining homes he owns in Dewey Beach. Duggan also holds an annual Christmas party for the neighborhood kids. Duggan grew up poor himself, the second-youngest of 17 children.
What inspired you to start bringing the neighborhood children on vacation?
Years ago, coming back from the beach, I was driving throughdowntown and I passed the Kennedy playground in Shaw. It was July, and there were junkies and bottles and stuff, and I thought of what summer vacation meant for me when I was a kid, and what it must mean for these kids. … I wanted to give them something to look forward to every year.
How does it work?
We always do it the first Monday they get out of school. We take them down for four days. We take about 50 kids, and we give them boat rides, we take them crabbing, they swim in the pool. We treat them like kings for four days.
Who helps you take care of the kids?
The employees who work for me volunteer to come out and help. Now it runs like clockwork. It’s still a tremendous amount of work. When the kids get there, they have the run of the place, girls in one house and boys in the other house. They are at my door at 6 a.m. in the morning, waiting for me to get up so they can go swimming.
What impact do the trips have on the kids who participate?
In a continuously gentrifying D.C., these kids more and more find themselves on the outs. We just want them to realize that they don’t just live here but are important to the neighborhood.
