The 2009 “Giving Tree and Beyond” program made great strides in achieving its goal of involving the entire parish and focusing on homeless men, women and families.  We are pleased to report that the parish through the combined efforts of the Social Justice Ministry’s Giving Tree, the Religious Education Program, the Holy Trinity School and the Young Adult Community (YAC), contributed approximately 1,300 gifts to 14 different agencies, all of which are part of the parish’s grant tithing program.  Remarkably and admirably, every wish submitted by the organizations was fulfilled!  The organizations, their missions, and parish gifts are as follows:

GIVING TREE

·    Christ House:  This agency, which provides services to sick, homeless adults after release from hospitals, clinics or shelters, received over 100 items such as sweaters, pants and shoes, and boxes of toiletries.

·    Christian Communities Group Homes:  This organization operates residential group homes for previously homeless or at-risk seniors.  The parish fulfilled their 40 requests for clothes and household goods.

·    Georgetown Ministry Center:  The Center serves homeless individuals in the Georgetown/Foggy Bottom area.  They requested and received over 100 pieces of long underwear and socks, as well as boxes of toiletries for the center’s guests.
 
·    N Street Village:    This organization offers a wide variety of services and advocacy for homeless and low-income women.  Thanks to the parish, they received close to 150 items ranging from gift cards to umbrellas.

·    New Endeavors By Women: New Endeavors is a 24-hour residential facility that assists women return to independent living.  The parish responded to its wish for 25 sets of sleepwear for the residents.

·    Our Place:  Our Place provides a variety of services to assist 700 incarcerated women and their families bridge back into the community.  Holy Trinity contributed around 200 items of clothing, toys, etc. to the women and their families.  

·    McKenna Center:  Located at Holy Trinity’s sister parish, St. Aloysius Church, the Center operates a drop-in center for homeless men and provides a myriad of other services to the community.  Holy Trinity fulfilled their request for 50 items including clothing and toys.   

·    Northwest Church Family Network:  NCFN provides semi-permanent housing and services to 27 formerly homeless families.  Another church handled the toy requests.  Thanks to the Giving Tree, almost 100 household items such as comforters, rugs, lamps, curtains, etc. were contributed.

·    Mary’s House:  Mary’s House operates 13 sites in the DC/MD area that provide shelter and services to homeless families and distressed women and children.  This is one of the groups whose wishes were met through the giving tree and by specific parishioners who adopted a specific family.  The outpouring was wonderful and almost 100 items were contributed to 9 families and the organization.

·    A Wider Circle: This group assists families with basic needs and to transition out of shelters.  The Giving Tree granted the wishes of two 10-member families, and a number of families adopted five more families.  All in all, over 100 items were contributed.  

·    Catholic Charities:  Thanks to the outpouring of the parish (through the Giving Tree and adopt-a-family), older foster children who rarely receive attention at the holidays were given a variety of gifts (totaling around 150 items) to help them transition out of the program, to pursue careers, or to enhance their education.    

AND BEYOND

·    Hope and a Home:  This agency provides affordable transitional housing and services for approximately 20 families each year.  Through the organization and generosity of the Holy Trinity School Association, the wishes of 18 families were fulfilled during the 2009 Christmas holiday.

·    Spanish Catholic Center:  The Religious Education program of Holy Trinity filled a room full of gifts – too numerous to count – to met the requests for toys, clothes, and household items of over 30 families supported by the Spanish Catholic Center located in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.  (RE has indicated that they hope to continue the association with the families throughout the year.)      

·    Capital Interfaith Hospitality Network:  The Network provides emergency housing food and supplies for families to live on their own.  The Young Adult Community (YAC) worked directly with the group to respond to their wishes for a variety of household goods.  (The coordination of YAC and the Network worked so well that they have expressed an interest in continuing to work together.)  

On behalf of the organizations and the parish coordinators, we would like to once again thank Holy Trinity for their continued interest and generosity.   Any comments or thoughts on the program can be directed to Joyce Forrest fjoycer@msn.com or Susan Crawford (crawfordsm@aol.com).