St. Mary of Sorrows Hypothermia Prevention
Thank you for your interest in helping with St. Mary's Hypothermia Prevention Shelter. It is MLK week, Jan 17-24, 2021. This year due to covid 19, we are not hosting the homeless at St. Marys. The county government is furnishing a large building (old Container store) at Tyson's for a 24/7 shelter (1 Dec --> 31 Mar) - 8508 Leesburg Pike (northside of Rt. 7 between Westpark and Springhill). This hypothermia site will be staffed only by FACETS personnel. It is anticipated to accomodate 58 guests a night but the building is very large so there should be no overflow issues.
We are providing food, 3 meals a day plus snacks, for all the guests and FACETS staff. We are splitting our Hypothermia week with St. John Neumann so our days to provide meals are just M-W-F although the snacks we provide may get eaten anytime. We do have a number of needs. We will provide hot restaurant dinners along with a continental breakfast and a lunch of hearty sandwiches. These hot meals all come from locally owned, small business restaurants as we want to support them in this difficult time. We will also provide snacks and drinks aside from those just for the meals. Hence, we will need money (to pay the restaurants), some volunteers, and some food items. We will provide the transportation to deliver the hot restaurant meals along with the sandwiches and such by 5:45 pm on each of our evenings. Traffic at Tyson's is likely to be a factor for our drivers, and weather might also be an issue.
We will have a large box labeled "HYPOTHERMIA" in the foyer of the worship center for donations of coats, hats, gloves, new socks and underwear, and toiletries. Please do not leave any such donations elsewhere.
All of our needs for food and funding and volunteers are detailed below. All volunteer jobs except drivers may be filled by either an adult or a youth. As usual, all roles and requested donations are on a 'first come, first served' basis. If anyone needs help with SignUp Genius, email [email protected]
FINANCIAL DONATIONS: Mail or drop off Hypothermia donations (checks or cash) in an envelope to St. Mary's receptionist in the worship center. Make checks out to 'St. Marys' and label the envelope 'Attn: Hypothermia'. Parish address is 5222 Sideburn Rd, Fairfax VA 22032.
FOOD: Any questions contact Christine Martinson at [email protected] or 703-951-7132. Please note the requested drop off time when signing up for any food items.
NON-FOOD DONATIONS: Contact Carolyn LaRosa at [email protected] with any non-food donation questions. Leave such donations in the large labeled box in the foyer of the worship center as convenient. Leave no donations at the new church!
OTHER QUESTIONS: If you have any questions about the hypothermia shelter in general or the duties of any of the jobs listed below, please contact: Tom McIntyre (Hypothermia POC) at [email protected]
Please pray for all the homeless over this winter season (Thanksgiving through the end of March), for our volunteers and donors, and for a success to our Shelter week.
