Calvary in the Community

Calvary’s Annex Project

Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, to shelter the stranger, to care for the poor and downtrodden. These are not platitudes: they are how we live our life in Christ. For Calvary, there is a moral imperative to love, to care, to share the gifts with which we have been blessed and to do so in a material way. It is incumbent upon us to do what we can with the resources we have.

Here, Calvary has a true opportunity, a blessing, to share our resources with those who are struggling.  Family Promise works with families who need the kind of help we can provide: a safe, secure place to lay their heads as they work to regain their sense of dignity and independence in a time of great personal turmoil.  We know that housing stability is critical to enabling people to live healthy and productive lives, leading to better health, education, and employment outcomes.

But it is also how we show love to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is how we live the gospel in the most everyday kinds of ways: being present, sharing our gifts and resources, and treating with compassion those who need our help.  We sometimes call this caritas: the love for all.  Working with Family Promise is an expression of our love, even for people we do not know.  People who find themselves in profoundly difficult circumstances. People who are deserving of our love and support. 

We recognize that this kind of work is not easy. There is a fear of the unknown, of the stranger. We cannot know for certain if our efforts, if our love, will succeed, but we are called to try. We make this effort as an expression of faith, of hope, of love. We hope that our community will join us in this effort.