Academy of Hope

Academy of Hope empowers at risk Washington, D.C. adults through educational classes (reading, writing, math, computers, GED classes) from diverse backgrounds.

Volunteers needed:  tutors and teachers, with or without prior experience, 2 ½ hours one night per week, quarterly training for volunteers provided; Board members.  Material goods such as office supplies, paper, copy machines, and computers.

Archdiocesan Legal Network

The Legal Network provides pro bono legal services to indigent, homeless and low income persons who otherwise would not have access to legal representation, in matters involving domestic relations, landlord-tenant conflicts, employment disputes, government entitlements, bankruptcy and consumer issues, wills and probate, and conservatorships and guardianships.

Volunteers needed:  attorneys to take on cases and help with client intake; non-lawyers for intake, office support; writers and editors; event planners; Spanish helpful.

Bread for the World

Bread for the World works for justice by lobbying our nation’s decision-makers for public policies that serve the needs of hungry and poor people in the United States and worldwide.  Bread is a nonpartisan Christian citizen’s movement which works with parishioners in Holy Trinity and other churches, campuses and individuals all over the US.

Volunteers needed:  Coordinators for offerings of letters during liturgies throughout the year; other lobbying efforts.

Christ House

Christ House provides comprehensive health care for sick, homeless men and women, while assisting them in addressing critical issues to help break the cycle of homelessness.

Volunteers needed:  meal preparation and service; medical, nursing and dental care; tutoring or leading classes and workshops/music/art etc; cleaning and maintenance; and mailings/telephone reception.

Christian Communities Group Home (CCGH)

Christian Communities Group Home provides housing assistance to the elderly, both to seniors who live alone in their own homes as well as to seniors who live in 3 independent living facilities.  Many of the seniors in their facilities were homeless before they were placed.

Volunteers needed:  help to seniors living alone with activities, yard work, and household chores; help to seniors living in facilities with crafts, music and outings; families needed to visit seniors, bring meals and spend time together; physicians, lawyers and nutritionists needed.

Clothing and Furniture Drive Helpers

Over 80 volunteer sorters and drivers deliver hundreds of bags of clothes, household goods, and furnishings donated by parishioners in this yearly event.  Visit the Clothing Drive web page.

Community Council for the Homeless

Community Council for the Homeless helps to enable people in upper Northwest DC who are, have been, or are at risk of being homeless, to rebuild and sustain their lives through community involvement, specifically through outreach, medical care, psychiatric care, job counseling, shelter, case management and housing.

Volunteers needed:  professional dentists and podiatrists; help serving dinners; web design and data entry.

Community of Hope

Community of Hope provides comprehensive services addressing homelessness and poverty.  Programs include:  housing for 30 homeless families, a family practice health clinic for uninsured and low-income people, and an after-school education program for children.

Volunteers needed:  variety of positions from tutoring to photocopying.

For Love of Children (FLOC)

For Love of Chldren has created innovative programs since 1965 that address the needs of DC’s most vulnerable children and families by providing a variety of direct services to approximately 1000 high-risk children each year.  All programs seek to equip children and families with tools and motivation to escape the cycle of drug abuse, crime, illiteracy, unemployment and poverty that has afflicted so many in previous generations.  FLOC offers both crisis intervention and community-based services including educational and housing programs.

Volunteers needed:  mentors, tutors, fundraisers.

Friends of the DC Superior Court

Friends of the DC Superior Court supports children involved in the child abuse and neglect system by making small grants for necessary items.  The Friends also provides financial support to the Court’s childcare center and the Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect.

Volunteers needed:  board members to help organize projects and raise funds.

Gabriel Project

The Gabriel Project offers immediate and practical help to any women faced with a crisis pregnancy.  Every mother is assigned an Angel Friend, a woman who provides weekly contact and support.

Volunteers needed:  recent moms to share friendship and emotional support over phone or through play groups; meet a Gabriel mom at Mass to make her feel welcome/provide spiritual support; material support in the way of diapers, baby clothes, cribs; Transportation drivers for doctor’s appointments; childcare providers.

Gavigan Grant  (formerly Sursum Corda Scholarship)

Holy Trinity School Gavigan Grant Scholarship provides 100% funding for children from the District of Columbia, including uniforms, meals, after school tutors, medical needs (e.g., eye glasses).

Volunteers needed:  tutors after-school for homework, reading and supplemental assistance; grant writers/fundraising; family counselors; ophthalmologists, dentists, other health care professionals; occupational and physical therapists; print and advertising; photographers; lecturers for teen programs; high school scholarship opportunities.

Georgetown Ministry Center

The Georgetown Ministry Center seeks lasting solutions for the homeless and near homeless in Georgetown through aggressive street outreach, resource counseling, placement and coordination of services.

Volunteers needed:  student and adult volunteer shelter staff; dinner servers; goods such as toiletries, warm clothing, and duffel bags.

Gift of Peace  (Missionaries of Charity's Home)

Gift of Peace home in Northeast DC ministers to people suffering from AIDS and to the homeless.

Volunteers needed:  visitors and workers to assist those served; medical professionals; social workers; food preparation.

Hands on Housing

Hands on Housing (HOH) is a Holy Trinity parish volunteer group that helps construct housing for needy families in the Washington area.  Since 1989, HOH volunteers have partnered with a variety of non-profit community development organizations (Bethany House, Residing in Group Housing Toegether, Mi Casa, Marshall Heights, Mary House, Manna, Habitat for Humanity, and So Others Might Eat) to bring affordable or transitional housing to homeless and low-income families.

Volunteers needed:  Most volunteers have no previous construction experience but each team is lead by an experienced foreman.  Training, tools and safety equipment are provided.  Five coordinators organize teams of approximately 15 volunteers.  Each team works every fifth or sixth Saturday between 9:00am and 3:00pm.  There are currently 150 active volunteers.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed over 70 % of Bay St. Louis on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Amazingly, St. Rose de Lima escaped major damage.  Based on the recommendations of several Holy Trinty parishioners, Father Shea and the Parish Council committed Holy Trinity’s Katrina relief efforts to helping the St. Rose community recover and rebuild.

Volunteers needed:  Volunteers for hands on work in Bay St. Louis are always needed. There is much to be done and you need only be willing to learn and be physically fit to help.  There are also other opportunities to help.

For additional information and to volunteer, visit the Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts web pages.

Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps (ILVC)

The Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps is a national Jesuit-sponsored organization of women and men, 50 years of age or better, who volunteer in the community two days a week.  They share their talents and life experience with organizations that directly assist the materially poor or that address structural issues related to poverty.  ILVC provides volunteers the opportunity to grow deeper in Christian faith by reflecting and praying in the Ignatian tradition.

IONA Senior Services

IONA Senior Services offers many social and educational programs and seminars (health and nutrition, Reminiscence Group, computer and fitness classes, trips) as well as support groups for Alzheimer’s, caregivers, chronic illness, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, dementia, low-vision, coping with memory loss.

Jubilee Jobs, Inc.

The Jubilee Jobs program provides skilled, compassionate job preparation, placement, retention, and on-going Move Up support to applicants as they advance toward a living wage.  Applicants include the homeless, ex-offenders, immigrants, and persons recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

Volunteers needed:  Persons to serve at monthly Job Friends Dinners, assist applicants with resume creation, mentors for Move Up applicants, leadership of applicant workshops.  Material goods: men’s dress shirts and ties—all sizes desired.

KEYS for the Homeless Foundation, Inc.

KEYS for the Homeless Foundation, Inc. efficiently provides shelters, transitional housing clients, and economically disadvantaged children and adults with basic, everyday household goods and supplies at no cost, through the distribution of such items received from the hospitality industry of Washington, DC.  In 2006, we project we will redistribute goods valued at approximately $400,000.  KEYS has been operating since 1998 and started with a HT youth service initiative that was organized to benefit the homeless.

Volunteers needed:  Prepare contributions for delivery, pick up contributions from hotels, deliver contributions to those in need, provide information technology support.  Wonderful opportunity for students with service hour requirements.

L'Arche Washington DC

L'Arche Washington, DC (L'Arche DC) is a faith-based organization that creates home and family-like community with people who have developmental disabilities and those who assist them.  Since 1983, L'Arche DC has provided housing and support services to people with developmental disabilities (the core people of the community) in two multi-generational homes located in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Volunteers needed:  Do activities of mutual interest with a core person living in L'Arche DC; help prepare dinner or other meals; organize an activity for the community (such as an arts and crafts day); help with chores around the house; help with outreach activites at L'Arche.

Living Wages

Through educational and counseling programs, Living Wages helps prepare low-income residents to compete successfully in the job-market and to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens.  They are remarkably community oriented; program directors have successfully empowered the local residents to take part in the actual development of the programs meant to serve them.

Volunteers needed:  Computer Trainers; Job Counselors; Literacy Instructors; GED Instructors; donation coordinators.

Monthly Food Collection

Holy Trinity collects food donations for Father McKenna Center, Kirwan House, Aged Woman’s Home of Georgetown and the Hermano Pedro Center on the 2nd Sunday of the month at all liturgies (see detailed schedule with list of items needed by each organization).

Volunteers needed:  coordinators to sort and carry the food to the Parish Center; drivers to deliver the food to the beneficiaries; volunteers/families to visit with and get to know the beneficiaries.

Northwest Church Family Network

The Northwest Church Family Network serves families willing to work towards self-sufficiency.  It houses families at subsidized rent while supporting them holistically in defining goals and empowering them to achieve independence within five years of residency.

Volunteers needed:  Childcare one Friday evening a month; specialist to support computer hardware network; corporate fundraiser; grant proposal writer; student in fields such as child development, social work, sociology and education to work as intern; administrative assistant; attorney for landlord-tenant issues for approximately 3 hours per week.

The Northwest Center and Maternity Home

The Northwest Center and Maternity Home provides practical assistance such as free counseling, material aid, educational services, resource referrals and housing in the Maternity Home for adolescents, women, women with children, homeless and struggling families.

Volunteers needed:  Center--Crisis Counselors; Reception; Material Assistance Room organization of material goods,e.g. diapers, formula, clothing and car seats; Handyman for ongoing repairs, shed building, painting etc.; Plant and Garden, group to plant a garden in spring and clean up in fall.  Maternity Home--overnight volunteers; tutors; Mentor Moms to advise and support new/learning mothers.

Perry School Community Services Center  (Perry School)

Perry School provides medical, educational, social and vocational services to impoverished, low income and homeless individuals and families in its neighborhood.  Specific programs include: child development program; ambulatory medical services; pharmacy services; youth tutoring; big brother/big sister partners; youth art and dance classes; college bound assistance; non-violent dispute resolution; youth and adult job training and placement; addiction prevention, treatment and referral; counseling; and crisis intervention.

Volunteers needed:  in all areas.

Prison Outreach Ministry

Working with Brother Lou this ministry provides assistance, support, love and care to incarcerated individuals.

Volunteers needed:  advocates to increase awareness on DC prison conditions; correspondence with prisoners; material goods such as office supplies, court and exit to society clothing, and toiletries.  Brother Lou will guide volunteer activities.

Rachael's Women's Center

Rachael's Women’s Center makes available to homeless women the basic daytime needs of food, shelter, showers and laundry facilities, as well as a locus to establish community among themselves to foster independence, sense of self and hope.

Volunteers needed:  fund raisers to reduce real estate debt; landscapers to advise on facility beautification; computer specialists to upgrade internal system and to train clients; board members; dentists; physicians; psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and counselors; beauticians to cut hair; babysitters; art teachers/therapists; breakfast and lunch meal preparation; gardeners; and goods such as toiletries, towels, adult women’s clothes, living room furniture.

Rebuilding Together

Rebuilding Together has been working to serve D.C. families since 1983.  ReBuilding Together is the DC affiliate of a national group that utilizes volunteer teams to rehabilitate homes year-round for families with children, low-income elderly, and disabled homeowners and nonprofit facilities such as schools and shelters.  The repairs help those in need to live independently in warmth and safety.  ReBuilding Together strives to revitalize whole communities by targeting neighborhoods for development.

Volunteers needed:  build and rehab projects.

Refugee Ministry Network (Catholic Community Services)

The Refugee Ministry Network partners a group of volunteers with an incoming refugee family to assist them with the initial resettlement process. Volunteers help with one family at a time, and commitment levels are based on volunteer availability. The Refugee Ministry Network assists families with transportation, employment, accessing and distributing donations, and mentorship.

Volunteers needed:  Transportation; volunteers familiar with registering for benefits and accessing government services; employment mentors; ESL tutors; volunteers to help access and coordinate transportation for donations.

So Others Might Eat  (SOME)

So Others Might Eat (SOME) attends to the needs of homeless and poor individuals.  It continues its initial mission to provide food for the needy twice a day, and provides job training, drug and alcohol counseling and treatment, transitional housing, and medical and dental services.

Volunteers needed:  to prepare and serve food during the week; GED tutoring; medical and dental services; substance abuse counselors.

Spanish Catholic Center and Mount Pleasant Dental Clinic

The Center assists the Hispanic community in the process of adaptation and integration into North American society.  It serves low-income and limited English proficient immigrants in the areas of education, health and social needs.

Volunteers needed:  dentists and dental hygienists; social workers for case management and violence prevention and parenting skills; teachers for ESOL, literacy, basic education, citizenship and computer use; fundraisers, clerical support, accounting, financial, marketing, administrative and personnel services; food distribution (individuals and groups).

Washington Jesuit Academy

The Washington Jesuit Academy provides full-time sixth to eighth grade education with a view to success in high school and college for young men challenged by economic and social conditions in the most disadvantaged areas of Washington, D.C.

Volunteers needed:  Notices for volunteer opportunities will be placed in the bulletin.