St. Paul Parish’s Homeless Ministry’s mission is to give comfort to our area’s homeless population by providing a variety of blessings: lunches and healthy
snacks; toiletries and self-care items; gift cards; and seasonal items, such as outerwear and blankets. Perhaps most important, we provide personal interaction with people who are often overlooked. We make it a point to go out each season to provide these items.
Our goals are to conduct these events monthly; to grow and maintain a team of caring volunteers; to maintain an inventory of items for our outreach; and to communicate the results of our parishioners’ donations.
YOU CAN HELP! PLEASE CONTACT US AT ST.PAUL.PHILLY@GMAIL.COM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE
LIVES OF THE LOCAL HOMELESS.
St. Paul Parishioners Serve the Homeless
By Erin Flynn Jay
(Philadelphia, Pa) – On Saturday, June 3, eight parishioners put together 93 brown bags each containing a sandwich, fruit and snacks. We set off from the rectory with two carts, walking toward Center City. We took our usual path—covering South Street, Washington Square Park, Independence Park, Market Street toward City Hall area, JFK Boulevard and Love Park. We interacted with the homeless—some we remembered from past missions—while distributing the food with water bottles.
While some homeless declined what we offered, most were appreciative of what we gave them. Some had a sandwich preference—most preferred turkey and cheese over the other options of ham and cheese or PB&J.
Most of the sandwiches were distributed on Market Street, close to City Hall and Broad Street. By the time we got to Love Park about two hours later, we were able to give out the final supply. There is always a great need at Love Park.
Some did not speak much, while others wanted to share some of their story of how they became homeless. It was a rewarding experience for us as ministers—most of us have done this mission now more than 7 or 8 times.