Serve
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Looking to put your faith into action? Join us by volunteering at:
Miriam’s Kitchen, by preparing and serving meals to people experiencing homelessness. Located on the lower level of our church building.
Calvary Women’s Services, by preparing and serving meals to women experiencing homelessness. Located in southeast Washington, D.C.
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, by gathering to read poems written by incarcerated people and providing them with feedback. Located in our church building.
For more information about how to get involved, contact us at info@westernpresbyterian.org.
YOUR GIFTS AT WORK
Financial giving through our congregation helps to support the following efforts and organizations:
Building Bridges Across the River
Building Bridges Across the River is a collaborative urban agriculture network made up of THEARC Farm & the Bridge Park Plots. Each farm or garden was inspired and built by neighborhood residents. Collectively, the network aims to increase healthy food access, educational resources, and workforce development opportunities to residents east of the Anacostia River.
Calvary Women’s Services
Calvary ensures women have access to the proper trauma-informed health care and educational support they need to take positive steps toward independence. Their programs include transitional and permanent housing, personalized case management, life skills and education opportunities, job training, health and wellness services, on-site therapy and daily addiction recovery meetings.
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop builds community to foster personal development and systems change for justice-involved youth and adults through the literary arts, workforce development, trauma healing, peace-building, and member-led advocacy. Free Minds hosts gatherings where community volunteers read writing penned by people who are incarcerated and then provide feedback. It is a simple and powerful way to support members’ processes of self-awareness and change.
A Presbyterian border ministry located in the sister cities of Agua Prieta, Sonora and Douglas, Arizona. They work with churches, presbyteries and secular organizations on both sides of the border to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Supported efforts include a community center, migrant resource center, church development, and family and health ministries. Western Presbyterian has taken a mission trip to the border with Frontera de Cristo, and on Sundays we serve Cafe Justo coffee.
HIPS
HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services — including syringe exchange, condom distribution, access to overdose prevention services, and connection to other support services — advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.
A national nonprofit headquartered in D.C. with sites across the U.S. Its mission is to break the cycle of poverty by investing in parents. LIFT’s one-on-one coaching program empowers parents to set and achieve goals — such as going back to school, improving credit, eliminating debt, or securing a living wage — that put their families on the path to economic mobility. They advocate policy that centers the voices of low-income families and partner with health systems, colleges, and local and national governments to deliver services across the country.
Offering safe, compassionate, inclusive, and radical collective care in the heart of Ward 7. Mamatoto Village is devoted to serving Black women through the creation of career pathways in maternal health; and providing accessible perinatal support services designed to equip women with the necessary tools to make the most informed decisions in their maternity care, parenting, and lives.
A nonprofit that operates out of Western Presbyterian Church, the Miriam’s Kitchen team utilizes a comprehensive approach to eliminating the housing crisis in Washington, D.C. Through engaging guests with healthy, made-from-scratch meals, they connect them with personalized social services that assist them with rebuilding their lives. Beyond intensive program offerings, they regularly engage community leaders and elected officials who fiercely advocate on guests’ behalf.
Seeking the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
National Capital Presbytery Unified Mission Giving
The Unified Mission enables the National Capital Presbytery to support churches, ministers, and communities. Examples include Allyship and Dismantling Racism trainings; grants for a variety of leadership development opportunities; seed money for community gardens; grants for our churches partnering to assist refugees and immigrants; CAT (church assessment tool) facilitated sessions and so much more.
The mission of People for Fairness Coalition is to end housing instability for individuals who live on the streets and in shelters in the nation’s capital through advocacy, outreach and peer mentoring. PFC is a leader in forming strong leadership skills in individuals who have experienced or currently experiencing housing instabilities through our advocacy platform. PFC was instrumental in the passage of the Public Restrooms Facilities Installation & Promotion Act of 2018, among other successful advocacy initiatives. Western Presbyterian has hosted the coalition’s annual memorial service for people who have died experiencing homelessness.
Project Create is a community-based nonprofit that promotes creative youth development through multi-disciplinary arts education, arts enrichment, and art therapy. Students participate in out-of-school-time art classes, workshops, open studios, field trips, and exhibition and performance opportunities. Project Create offers free creative classes and workshops at studios in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast D.C. in Ward 8, as well as at locations in underserved neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. Courses include visual, performing, and digital media arts classes such as drawing and painting, illustration, photography, collage, spoken word, fashion, music production, and theater.
Returning Citizens Assistance Network
In partnership with the D.C. public defender service, Western Presbyterian has joined a network of congregations assisting those returning from incarceration. The network has donated clothes and gift cards, provided games, books, and puzzles to incarcerated youth and helped others stay connected to the outside world.
Sanctuary DMV & Food Justice DMV
Standing in solidarity with immigrants and marginalized communities in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. They work to resist policies and policy proposals that target and aim to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and discriminate against Black, Indigenous, Muslim, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ people. Sanctuary DMV works closely with the Congregation Action Network, a coalition of houses of worship that includes Western Presbyterian Church, and Food Justice DMV, a volunteer collective delivering food and standing in solidarity with thousands of immigrant neighbors.
A D.C.-based nonprofit helping youth facing or at risk of homelessness and their families.
A nonprofit operating an apartment building for persons at least 62 years old or individuals with accessibility needs. Opened in 1979, the project serves the community as well as its residents, and is located just down the street from Western. Run by a board of directors, St. Mary’s Court seeks to assist residents in living here as long as possible by facilitating support services and activities.