Volunteer Opportunities and Events
WHAT: Working with several faith communities to provide meals, clothing, and needed assistance for migrant children and their families passing through and settling in our area.
There are many opportunities to help migrants in our city. Email socialjustice@stmarks.net for more information.
For all those who see “home” and all it means disappear behind them,
For all those who cannot see a home in the days ahead of them,
For all those who dwell in daily insecurity,
For all those who are weary and without a safe place to rest their heads,
For all families in migration,
We pray.
May the image of the Holy Family fleeing oppression stay with us as we enter each new day,
And stay with us each night as we are blessed with returning to a home.
May we be blessed with compassion for those still weary, still seeking, still with so far to go.
In the spring of 2022, the governors of Texas and Arizona began sending asylum seekers from Central and South America to northern cities, including Washington, D.C. To date, we believe that more than 11,000 men, women, and children have been bused to our city with little more than the clothes on their back.
Several neighbor churches on Capitol Hill stepped up to be respite sites for these travelers could get a good meal, select from donated clothing items, charge their cellphones, and receive guidance and assistance for the next part of their journeys.
St. Mark’s volunteers have been working at the Welcome Centers providing meals and other needed assistance to those living here in hotels and shelters. Many helped at summer camps for migrant children living in city shelters.
HERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:
Volunteering
Email Julie Murphy at juliaabbotmurphy@gmail.com to receive periodic updates on advocacy and direct service opportunities here at St. Mark’s and around the city.
Email Michael McCabe at mmccabe963@gmail.com to help with the fourth Thursday of the month respite dinner.
Email Holly Kreutter at hkreutts@hotmail.com or Julie Murphy at juliaabbotmurphy@gmail.com to find out how you can receive training to accompany our migrant sisters and brothers to court and immigration check-ins.
Getting Informed
Donating
Food Justice DMV is an all-volunteer organization providing food to the migrant community in Maryland, the District and Virginia. Drivers are often needed and financial donations are welcome.
Congregation Action Network is a local, ecumenical organization fighting for the rights and well-being of migrants and refugees in the DC area.
Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid has been supporting migrants in the Washington area since the buses began arriving from the southern border in the spring of 2022. St. Mark’s has worked closely with this organization to supply their free store with shoes, underwear and socks and to provide a monthly meal.