We have the following opportunities to help our neighbors in need. These may also count toward service hours!
1. Our next drop off date for items needed by Grassroots and the Day Resource Center will be Saturday, September 25, from 10 am to 11:30 am at the Church of the Resurrection parking lot (behind the Pastoral Center, closest to the outdoor Stations of the Cross). The following items are needed:
Hotline Pantry Needs (for community members)
- Dinty Moore Compleats meals
- Dinty Moore stew
- Canned chicken
- Canned turn
- Pasta sauces -- all varieties
- Chef Boyardee canned ravioli, shaghetti, mac & cheese, beefaroni
- Saltine crackers
- Ritz crackers
- Grape jelly
- Variety of snacks (chips, cookies, etc.)
- Pop tarts
- Kid-friendly cereal
Pantry Needs (for shelter residents)
- Bottled water
- Individual liquid coffee creamers (Half & Half, Coffee Mate, Nestle, Carnation, any flavors)
- Individual instant oatmeal variety packets
- Individual packets of Cream of Wheat
Family & Men’s Shelter Hygiene & Cleaning Supplies
- Packaged toilet paper for residents moving out
- Packaged paper towels for residents moving out
- Diapers, smaller sizes (newborn, 1, 2) and larger sizes (5, 6), but 3 & 4 ok, too
- Body lotion
- Body wash
- Deodorant
- Dryer sheets
Gift Cards
Day Resource Center Summer Needs
- Canned Meats: Tuna, Chicken, Salmon, Vienna Sausage, SPAM
- Canned Meals: Chili, Chef Boyardee, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Corned beef hash
- Juice pouches
- 12 packs of Soda: Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sprite: No Diet
- Cases of bottled water: 16.9 oz bottles
- Canned Fruit
- Men’s underwear: all sizes & styles
- Men's jeans: sizes 28, 30, 42, 44+ only
- Women's underwear: all sizes
- Women's jeans: all sizes
2. Drop off religious items for Apostleship of the Sea. If you have religious items in good condition (Magnificats, rosaries, scapulars, prayer cards, reading material, etc.) you'd like to donate to the crew members of ships docking in Baltimore, please drop them off on Saturday, September 25, from 10 am to 11:30 am at the Church of the Resurrection pastoral center rear parking lot (same time/place we are collecting items for Grassroots, see item #1 above).
3. Welcome kits for children coming into the Grassroots shelter. Are you interested in putting together some welcome kits for children coming into the Grassroots shelter? These are shoebox-type containers labeled with age appropriate items from ages 1-12 or 13. For example, a box for a child 1-3 could have Play-Doh, a small box of crayons, a coloring page/book, a car, a little doll, etc. A box for an older child would have things like a wooden puzzle and little party favors or items they have in the $1 bin at Target, hair ties, etc. Ask the kids in your life for help in making the boxes -- they will know what they would like if they were receiving a welcome kit.
These kits have been wonderful to hand out to kids just coming into the shelter after living in their car or other precarious situations. According to Monteith Mitchell, volunteer coordinator at Grassroots, "I just helped a mom and two kids walk into the shelter and I don’t have any boxes for them. It was hard for groups to make them during the virtual school year and I’m hoping now that people are meeting in-person this would be something they’d like to do. We’ll take as many as possible. Thanks to all for considering!"
If you would like to put together welcome kits, there is no deadline. Drop off welcome kits at our monthly collection on September 25 (Resurrection parking lot, 10-11:30 am, see item #1 above) or bring them, at your convenience, directly to the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center at 6700 Freetown Road, Columbia, MD 21044. Thank you!
4. Shelter Meals
Grassroots has a Sign-up Genius for preparing dinner meals for shelter residents. More info can be found at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040d4 caeaa2fa3f94-dinner.
5. Upcoming Events Supporting the Homeless
In the Jonestown and Douglas neighborhoods of Baltimore City, the number of folks who show up for the hand-outs keeps growing, and we are quickly reaching our pre-COVID numbers. We do these every Sunday 9 am to 11 am at two locations, so if you are interested in volunteering, donating food/toiletries and/or making lunches, please contact:
John Gilbert, St. Paul Grassroots Ministry Lead, 443-583-9650 or [email protected]
Thank you for your time and generosity!
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