MicroGrant Project: Astoria FUMC

Grace always goes last. At times we are called to step forward and be agents of that redeeming force in our world. And at times we are called to wait, pray and to be expectant.

If there’s a take away message for me from this work it’s a healthy new found respect for our limits. And I’ve learned that real solutions have to come from the people living intimately with the problem. 

When we attended a homeless protest and asked people how we should spend the money and listened that was the seed of this project. An ethos of looking to people who have a problem as being the experts has greatly deepened in me and I hope in all of us who worked on this project.

Good intioned people like myself and my brothers and sisters at Astoria FUMC have a role to play. We have access to resources and an honest desire in our hearts to do right by these folks. And I believe that together we can do mighty things.

To date with this project we have more money than we started with and a substantial amount of donated supplies that we haven’t yet passed out. The greatest bottleneck came down to time and volunteers.

Many parishioners choose instead to show their support financially and by donating supplies.

In doing this work we shook people’s hands, looked them in the eye and told them that we’re here and it’s not

about the things we’re handing you we just wanted an excuse to come out and meet you. 

I know that meant a lot to people because they told me so. 

We have seen more people from different walks of life in the pews on Sundays. And we’ve deepened our identity in our community as people committed to coming together to find solutions. 

We’re proud of the work we’ve done and as expectant servants of Jesus Christ we’re very well positioned and provisioned to continue.

Respectfully,

James Cook, Astoria FUMC 

For more information contact Rev. Rebecca Patterson