The purpose of the People-In-Crisis committee is to serve the underprivileged, under-represented, and the under-served in our community. The committee will assist those in need by providing donations to include clothing, food, school supplies, toiletries, and other items of need.
People In Crisis update on the November/December 2020 projects.
Food Distribution for Four (4) Food Pantries:
Due to the tremendous food insecurities of our families in our communities due to COVID -19, we were able to purchase and donate food for the following four (4) food pantries: Rockville Help, Gaithersburg Help, Germantown Help and Manna Food. This was our second round of donations and was truly needed. A ‘thank you’ to Deacons Ken Fleming and David Wiggins for helping us to load and unload at the various locations.
Winter Clothing/Accessory Drive:
Our Section’s Winter Drive was a great success! Our Sisters were very generous in the items donated. We had hundreds, YES hundreds of socks for the whole family. There were many hats, gloves, scarves, men and women undergarments.
We received new coats, jackets, girls dress suits, boxes of masks and hand sanitizers. Special thanks to our “drop off collectors ” and to Kim Boone and Pat Bradley who came out to Mt. Calvary to help us sort and place in baskets for distribution the following week. The items were distributed among our community partners and individual families as follows:
- Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH) Men’s Shelter – men socks, tee shirts, hats, gloves, scarves, several jackets, undergarments
- Interfaith Works Clothing Center – socks, hats, gloves, scarves, undergarments and several coats
- Community Reach of Montgomery County – socks, hats, gloves, scarves and several coats
- Stepping Stones Shelter- basket of women socks, the boxes of masks and hand sanitizers
- Helping Hands Shelter and several community members – came into Church and selected items
Senior Christmas Bags for Community Reach of Montgomery County (35+):
The Christmas gifts bags included items similar to last year: lip balms, Godiva chocolates, hand sanitizers (in gift pouch), tissues, cough drops, and hand lotion Special thanks to Pat Jackson, who helped to assemble the bags and to Carol Praylor who funded many of the items.
Gifts Cards for Home First – Nine (9) $25 Giant Food:
An urgent need to support one of MCCH housing program clients for the Thanksgiving Holiday to help purchase food.
The cards were purchased and given to Sister Jennifer Blackwell who supports this initiative. Please see below Jennifer’ s description of the program:
“Home First is a permanent supportive housing program that services individuals who have had lived experience with chronic homelessness. We collaborate with local case managers to make sure their goals and needs are met and if any concerns arise – we work with them and their supports to ensure they remain stably housed.”
Monetary Donations to PIC:
We are so thankful for the support and the monetary donations to PIC to help us in our efforts. The checks that were sent to our chair have been mailed to our financial person Shelia Stewart. Other folks who wished to donate, were advised to send to our financial folks directly.
Next Project – Purchasing and Assembling of Homeless ‘Welcome Baskets’ :
Our next effort and one of our most critical one is to assemble our Welcome Baskets for those transitioning to housing from homelessness. Our community partners are working very hard in trying to get housing for those in need. When our new budget is approved in January, we will be ready to move forward.
Thanks to everyone for their willingness to help others. We have done a lot in service even during this COVID pandemic, but able to do it in small numbers and as contactless as possible. Special ‘shout out’ to Shirley Wilson and Jennifer Washington in their continued efforts to help us get grants to do our mission!
- Provide Welcome Home Kits, i.e., kitchen, bathroom and bedroom items to the Montgomery County Homeless Coalition and the Helping Hands Shelter to those individuals transitioning from a shelter to a home.
