On a recent Monday St. George’s midday Food Panty served 75 clients, including 12 children. The next day 63 people received food from us. Our evening hospitality program for homeless individuals, HOST, operated in collaboration with ASPAN, is regularly serving 20 to 30 clients on the three evenings a week it operates. Despite the increasing affluence of Arlington County, or perhaps because of it, food insecurity and lack of permanent shelter are evident right around us.

Both programs provide an opportunity for St. Georgians and other supporters from the community to serve directly and interact with our neighbors who have needs those of us with more comfortable lives can barely imagine. Those involved will testify that the givers benefit at least as much as the recipients.

St. Georgians have also served for many years as volunteers at the Arlington County Winter Shelter. Now that the shelter is operating year round as a twenty-four hour service center in a recently opened brand new facility managed by ASPAN, the shape of that ministry may evolve.

St. George’s has been a long time participant in the annual local CROP Walk, to raise funds for both Church World Service and local food ministries. Whereas once the emphasis was on recruiting large numbers of walkers who solicited individual sponsors, in recent years many individuals have contributed directly, without walking. Next year, St. George’s contribution may be rolled into the annual operating budget as part of our overall stewardship, similar to the way we support a few other selected local organizations through our pledges. 

We have been a partner parish with Samaritan Ministries providing an annual financial contribution for about a decade, but with the HOST program we moved into a more direct relationship, as the clients at HOST were offered direct access to the services provided by Samaritan Ministries to take the “Next Step” into structural changes to improve their own situations.

This year St. George’s entered into full membership in VOICE, an ecumenical organization that uses the principles of community organizing to empower members of the community to advocate for themselves. Together with members of our partner parish San Jose our participants in VOICE are delving deeper into issues like affordable housing to seek broader solutions to systemic problems.

St. George’s is not a newcomer when it comes to addressing the needs around us. This summer’s Christmas in July drive to equip children with school supplies and backpacks carried echoes of the naked dolls and bears that populated the parish hall each fall for many years, asking to be dressed as a Christmas present for a child whose parents might not be able to put much under the tree. Before the Food Pantry, a former rector kept granola bars in his desk drawer so he’d have something to offer a hungry supplicant. The ways we serve have changed and will continue to change. Hands on help to individuals in need reminds us that Jesus told us that insomuch as we serve others, we serve him. But we also serve when we seek to change institutions, social structures and attitudes that divide us into haves and have-nots.

All of our outreach ministries need helping hands and money. Ask how you can help.