Serve
Volunteer Opportunities
Interested in learning more about serving others through Western Presbyterian Church? Get in touch with us at info@westernpresbyterian.org.
RCAN (Returning Citizens Assistance Network)
In partnership with the DC public defender service, Western 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.
The Way Home is a campaign to end chronic homelessness in D.C. There are 2,671 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in D.C. – which means they've been homeless repeatedly or for years and struggle with a long-term health condition. These individuals, as well as 432 families, need Permanent Supportive Housing or they are at risk of experiencing homelessness for another year.
Interfaith Action for Human Rights
Interfaith Action for Human Rights (IAHR) needs pen pals to connect with men and women scattered throughout the country in Bureau of Prison facilities. Some of these are participants in Free Minds “Write Night” who are looking for more personal communication. Jesus asks us to remember those in prison (Matthew 25:36). If we can’t visit, we can write.
Free Minds hosts a monthly On the Same Page: Write Night where community volunteers gather alongside Free Minds Poet Ambassadors home from prison to provide feedback on the writing of Book Club members still incarcerated. It is a simple and powerful way to support members’ processes of self-awareness and change, as well as read great writing and meet other volunteers! During the COVID-19 pandemic, Write Night events are held virtually.
Know of a mission opportunity that you’d like to share with Western members? Email [info@westernpresbyterian.org]
Our 2021 Partners
Calvary’s services ensure women have access to the proper trauma-informed healthcare 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.
Founded in 1983 as a soup kitchen, Miriam’s Kitchen has evolved over the years to provide more than meals. Three organizations – Western Presbyterian Church, Unity Church and the George Washington University Hillel – banded together to serve our neighbors. Today, Miriam’s Kitchen is a critical player in the fight to end chronic homelessness in DC. For more information, please visit miriamskitchen.org/morethanameal or call (202) 452-8926.
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.
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses the literary arts, workforce development, and violence prevention to connect incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their voices, their purpose, and the wider community. By mentoring and connecting them to supportive services throughout their entire incarceration into reentry, Free Minds inspires these youths to see their potential and achieve new educational and career goals. Free Minds serves more than 1,000 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults each year in the DC Jail, juvenile detention center, federal prison system, and reentry.
Project Create
Since 1994, Project Create has been promoting positive youth development, through arts education and enrichment, to children and youth in families experiencing homelessness and poverty in Washington, DC. By working in partnership with social service organizations (like So Others Might Eat and Community of Hope) that offer housing to homeless families, Project Create delivers important services to children in DC’s communities of greatest need. Through collaboration with our like-minded partners, Project Create is working to break the cycle of chronic homelessness and poverty one child at a time.
Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) is the leading national organization advocating for the rights of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children in the U.S. They work to address the multi-faceted needs of unaccompanied migrant children once they are in the U.S. Over the past decade, KIND has expanded their services to develop a holistic strategy for addressing the needs of these children and the systemic causes of forced migration, including mental and social services, advocating for new law and policy in the U.S. and countries of origin, and educating policymakers and the broader public about these issues.
COVID-19 Relief with Unity Health Care
As the largest network of community health centers in Washington, D.C., Unity Health Care provides a full-range of health and human services to meet the needs of our communities through a network of over 20 traditional and non-traditional health sites. Deeply rooted in the District’s neighborhoods for over 35 years, Unity strives to promote healthier communities through compassion and comprehensive primary and specialty healthcare and wrap-around services, regardless of ability to pay, to over 101,000 patients through 457,000 visits annually.
Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) Farms are 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 of East of the Anacostia River.
Foggy Bottom West End Village is a nonprofit membership organization that provides services for its members to help them comfortably age in their community by supplying social events, health support, and many other offerings. The Village’s work goes beyond just neighbors helping neighbors, as members get to know one another and enhance and enrich each other’s lives.
Frontera de Cristo is a Presbyterian border ministry located in the sister cities of Agua Prieta, Sonora and Douglas, Arizona. As one of five binational ministry sites of Presbyterian Border Region Outreach (presbyterianborder.org), 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.
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.
St. Mary’s Court in Washington, DC is a nonprofit corporation 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.
Seeking the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA). See MLP’s 2019 Annual Report here.
Sanctuary DMV is a feminist, anti-imperialist, all-volunteer group standing in solidarity with immigrants and marginalized communities in the DMV area (DC, 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.