The Annunciation Homeless Ministry
CURRENT AND UPCOMING HOMELESS MINISTRY PROJECTS
2025 Holy and Great Lent Agape Bag Project
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Acts of service are important for everyone, from the youngest to the eldest! In addition to other benefits, acts of service help build empathy and compassion and show even the youngest that they can make a difference. Working with others to do something meaningful helps them improve their social skills, develop a sense of responsibility, and encourage community.
This past Sunday, our 1st and 2nd grade Catechism class helped the Homeless Ministry fill more AGAPE Bags! When asked if they remembered helping last year, one student joyfully announced: “I’ve been waiting all year to do this again!”
Thank you for your helping hands and hearts! Remember to pray for those who don’t have a home and food, and remember:
May God continue to guide and bless you
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THANK YOU!!! to our bright, curious, and eager-to-learn Pre-K and K catechism students who engaged in meaningful lessons and activities this past Sunday, filling more AGAPE Bags. Remember to be kind to others and to pray to God, asking Him to help those in need!
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A special message and big shout-out to our 3rd and 4th grade Catechism students and their teachers: THANK YOU for giving your hearts and hands to help fill AGAPE bags for our church family to give to people in need. Not only did you “GIVE ALMS” by helping our Homeless Ministry fill the AGAPE bags with your kind notes, food, water, and socks, but you also helped by providing a bag that someone from our church family could give to someone they see who is hungry and thirsty.
Remember, Lent is a good time for all of us to work on our three-legged stools! Let’s keep working!
We look forward to working with our Pre-K & K class next!
May it be blessed!
Lent is a time for remembering God's great love for us in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a time for almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. These disciplines help free us from things that prevent us from loving Christ and help us enter into a deeper relationship with him. Jesus spoke of love and showed compassion. He taught us by His example to love one another and to be compassionate toward those in need.
As we deepen our relationship with Him, we also deepen our relationships with others. The Homeless Ministry thanks our catechism students and teachers for offering their time, help, and love in filling our annual Lenten AGAPE bags. Through your generous donations, the bags include food/snacks, a small water bottle, and socks. Bags will be available throughout Lent in baskets in the hallway outside Father's and George’s offices and by the exit from the social hall to the parking lot. Please take as many bags as you would like to have on hand. Keep some in your car or carry one on your commute. When you see someone in need, you can give them this small gift of hope and love.
During this sacred season of love, may we all continue to grow in our relationship with Him while sharing His love with others.
Καλή Σαρακοστή
Prayers for a Blessed Lent
ἐλεημοσύνη: eleemosyne/alms, charitable giving
Great Lent is almost upon us. During Great Lent, we are encouraged to take forty days to prepare ourselves and our families to be spiritually ready and worthy of celebrating and worshiping the Resurrection. We are encouraged to fast, pray, and practice intentional charity (almsgiving).
Almsgiving is an act of love that can deepen our prayer life and bring a greater sense of meaning to fasting. When we give alms, we make a concrete donation of ourselves through money, time, talent, or service to others. Almsgiving helps us say, in crystal clear terms: “Here is what I can offer, and I offer it out of love for you and God because I care about your welfare.”
Throughout Lent, the Homeless Ministry and our Catechism students will prepare our “AGAPE” bags. We will fill each bag with a water bottle, a protein shake, Belvita breakfast bars, boxed chicken salad, individual applesauce, beef jerky, peanut butter crackers, a bag with hard candy, and packs of wet ones and socks.
Please consider making a financial contribution towards items for this drive online through Vanco to the Homeless Ministry. Please don't hesitate to contact Angela Godshall with any questions.
As we continue through the Triodion and prepare for Pascha, let us abide by the Hymn from the Matins of Forgiveness Sunday:
“The arena of the virtues has been opened. Let all who wish to struggle for the prize now enter, girding themselves for the noble contest of the Fast, for those that strive lawfully are justly crowned. Taking up the armor of the Cross, let us make war against the enemy. Let us have faith as our invincible wall, prayer as our breastplate, and as our helmet almsgiving; and as our sword, let us use fasting that cuts away all evil from our heart. If we do this, we shall receive the true crown from Christ the King of all at the Day of Judgment.”
In Christ's service,
The Homeless Ministry
HOPE/JOY + Homeless Ministry January 2025 Project
As we begin 2025, our HOPE/JOY is collaborating with the Homeless Ministry and collecting “Grab & Go” foods for local college students experiencing homelessness. Depaul USA, a national homeless services nonprofit organization, currently houses these students in Germantown.
Homelessness among college students has existed almost undetected for years. Homeless students blend in with other college students wearing jeans and T-shirts. There’s a lot of shame associated with being homeless, and students try to hide it if they can. Homelessness can strike college students at any time and for a variety of reasons: Financial aid is delayed. A poor choice is made. A car breaks down. A parent gets sick. Sometimes, a door has been shut. Most are students who have had very challenging lives and see education and college as the way out. And that’s the marvel, the miracle, and the hope. They show persistence and tenacity to keep going despite all the obstacles. If we don’t help those students get through whatever challenge they’re experiencing, we’re doing a disservice to them and the broader society. Education is key.
Someone can take away your home, money, and physical possessions, but they can’t take away your knowledge.
Please sign up HERE to help. Thank you!
Prayers for God's blessing of Happiness, Health, Peace, Faith, and Love in 2025!
Merry Christmas! Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Thank you to those who donated toys for the homeless men sheltered at Whosoever Gospel to gift to the children in their lives. The toys were received with immense gratitude and joy!
As we celebrate Christmas with our loved ones, remember that some people are alone without family. For those experiencing homelessness, getting through the holidays is one of the most heartbreaking times of the year. So many of these people once had happy families and celebrated much like we do. Instead, a personal tragedy and lack of support have brought them to the streets. Some will be able to pull themselves out of being homeless, but others will not. In either case, those moments when someone helps to bring back the spirit of this season during their most difficult days will remain with them forever!
Here are just a few ways we can help:
Have you ever noticed someone huddled up and sleeping against a building or curled over a street vent, trying to keep warm? Consider keeping hand warmers, hats, gloves, or a gently used blanket in your car that you can gift to someone you see living on the street. You could also pack a few bags with socks and snacks or a gift card to pass out when you come across someone in need.
As we did during Lent, the Homeless Ministry provided Agape Bags for our Nativity Retreat guests and church families to take and give to those in need! Please take one if you haven’t already done so.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to lift the spirits of people experiencing homelessness is kindness. Do you usually walk by a homeless person as if they were invisible? Homeless people need food and shelter, but the loss of dignity is far more hurtful than the loss of material things. Please take a moment to look at them and smile. A kind word and a quiet prayer cost nothing; they take only a minute of your time and go a long way!
There are many ways to give love and spread joy to help make this blessed season brighter for others. Let’s all give in whatever way we can!
A big heartfelt thank you for all your prayers, love, and support in serving others during 2024 and for sharing the spirit of Christmas throughout the year!
Praying you and your loved ones have a Joyous Nativity, and a New Year filled with many more blessings!
The Homeless Ministry
MISSION
As a ministry of people helping people, our mission is to serve the homeless in our neighborhood and in Philadelphia in various capacities.
We offer food and clothing to those in need who stop by the church during the week; we feed college students who are experiencing food insecurity; we collect and provide clothes, dry goods, and books to local shelters; and we provide backpacks to local youth in need.
PARTICIPATION
Check our Weekly Bulletin and Community Calendar for current and upcoming projects.
CONTACT
Angela Godshall