Community Engagement

Basic Needs

These activities address the basic needs of people living in our community – helping them to find jobs, shelter, and sustenance.  To address basic needs in the Greater Washington area and beyond, we partner with Bethesda Cares, Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington, Loaves and Fishes, and Bethesda Help.

Bethesda Cares

Bethesda Cares was founded in 1988 with the help of churches including St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Its mission is “to prevent, ease, and end homelessness in our community.”  Their vision is that “we all have the security of housing to live with dignity, purpose, and community connection”.  Support provided by Bethesda Cares includes a daily meal program, clothing closet, street outreach services, supportive housing services, and an eviction prevention program.  The organization believes in the importance of first housing clients and then helping them continue on their path of life; they have achieved a 97% housing retention rate.  Bethesda Cares is thrilled to announce a new “Street to Home”  project partnership involving Bethesda Cares, Mary’s Center, and The Coordinating Center. They were awarded a three-year $4.32 million grant in federal funding through the HUD Continuum of Care Supplemental Allocation. The project will serve 80-120 individuals on an annual basis with rental subsidy.   St Luke’s clothing drive in January 2024 netted 19 jackets/coats and hooded sweatshirts, 28 hand knitted scarves, 133 pairs of warm socks, and $465 worth of gift cards.

Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington 

Samaritan Ministry is a faith-based community partnership serving the greater Washington D.C. area.  Samaritan brings together participants who face poverty, homelessness, or other debilitating challenges with its partner leaders, donors, paid and volunteer staff in a shared ministry that improves the lives of all, one next step and one program participant at a time.  Through its Next Step Program, Samaritan works with its program participants to assist them in setting goals and taking manageable steps toward reaching them, including seeking employment, obtaining housing, and improving educational advancement.  A component of the Next Step Program is STRIVE Job Readiness Training which assists participants in overcoming barriers to employment, including incarceration, addiction or disconnection from  family.  Samaritan also offers pre-GED courses to allow participants to continue their education with the goal of receiving a Certificate of High School Equivalency.  Parishioners are invited to SMGW’s two annual fundraisers, Next Step Breakfast in the Spring, and The Gala in Autumn. Gift cards are collected for holiday parties in November and December, and toiletry and clothing donations are regularly collected. SMGW has a number of opportunities available for those interested in volunteering.

Loaves and Fishes

The mission and goals of Loaves and Fishes are two-fold: to feed people who are hungry in our community and to educate volunteers and community members about hunger and homelessness.  Begun in the mid-1960s by St. Stephen & the Incarnation Episcopal Church in Columbia Heights, DC, St. Luke’s is one of 11 partner churches that join St. Stephen to serve prepared, healthy lunches to all who come, without regard to their age, race, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religious affiliation, or lack of it.  After an extended pandemic hiatus, a small group of St. Luke’s volunteers has returned to St. Stephen & the Incarnation to pack and distribute meals to-go on the 3rd Sunday of each month.  The program has not returned to in-person serving, but the demand for warm meals during weekends remains high, as other feeding programs are closed then. Volunteers typically leave St. Luke’s at 7:30am and return around 10am.

Bethesda Help

Bethesda Help is a multi-faith, all-volunteer nonprofit organization that provides critical safety net services – food assistance and limited financial assistance for prescriptions and utilities – to those in need who reside within the organization’s service area, which includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington, and parts of Potomac, Silver Spring, and Wheaton.  Volunteers deliver groceries, bread, Giant gift cards and kid snack bags to Bethesda Help clients.  St. Luke’s has been an important ongoing contributor, donating food, time and money. St. Luke’s collects shelf-stable food including canned food, regular donations of cereal boxes as well as items gathered weekly by our Lunch Bunch attendees.  Several parishioners volunteer regularly as drivers or officers-of-the-day, as well as sit on the Board of Bethesda Help.

Human Rights and Dignity

We work with organizations and activities that treat everyone with dignity and respect, working toward universal human rights and social/racial justice. Our partners include Cornerstone Montgomery and Interfaith Works, and we advocate for LBGTQAI+ rights, racial reconciliation, and interfaith understanding.

Interfaith Works

The mission of Interfaith Works is “to support our neighbors in need by providing vital services and a pathway to greater stability”.  IW’s shelter programs serve over 1,000 people, and 2,150 clients who use Drop-In Center Services.  St. Luke’s regularly supports IW’s Women’s Center, which aims to support women’s recovery and stability, by providing meals to the Center’s residents every year during the week starting Memorial Day.  Since 1991 St. Luke’s has also prepared monthly meals for IW’s New Leaf Shelter, formerly Bethesda Men’s Shelter.

Cornerstone Montgomery

Cornerstone Montgomery, the largest and most comprehensive provider of behavioral health services in Montgomery County, was established with the 2012 merger of St. Luke’s House, established in 1971, and Threshold Services.  An independent, nonsectarian, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with the capacity to serve more than 2,500 adults and transition aged youth, Cornerstone specializes in the provision of comprehensive, community- and evidence-based mental health and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder treatments and interventions. Cornerstone Montgomery works with people throughout the behavioral health spectrum of acute crisis through long-term support.  As a co-founder, St. Luke’s has maintained its relationship through a longstanding partnership, including a position on its Board of Directors.

Human Rights and Dignity Campaigns 

Equity is a creative process, where we intentionally, consistently and systematically create the conditions for all people–particularly those who are structurally and historically marginalized–to experience holistic liberation.  At St. Luke’s, we strive to contribute to a world liberated from the harms of oppression and situated in beloved community.  In recent years we have advocated to reduce gun violence, welcome refugees, reduce mental health stigma, advance racial reconciliation, eliminate hunger, and recognize LGBTQAI+ rights.

St. Luke’s is a welcoming space for the LBGTQAI+ community and a safe space for transgender youth and their families. Our Episcopal worship is affirming to those of any sexual or gender orientation regardless of whatever faith you believe or don’t believe. We regularly participate in June DC PRIDE parades with the Diocese and share outreach booths with County churches at Rockville PRIDE festivals.

St. Luke’s is committed to racial justice, and to uncovering, understanding, reckoning with, and acting to dismantle racism within ourselves and our faith community.  In recent years St. Luke’s has participated in the Scotland Juneteenth Festival, an extraordinarily successful cultural event supporting the historic Black communities of Montgomery County.  St. Luke’s is now a member parish of the Scotland Juneteenth’s Interfaith & Social Action Pavilion, a committee of faith communities committed to building relationships and continuing to work together after the festival.

The Looking to Our Future cluster supports organizations and activities focused on education, youth, human development, and creation care. Our partner institutions include Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys, Episcopal Relief and Development, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, and Small Things Matter.

The Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys: Doing the Work of the Modern-Day Saints in Education

Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys (BWS) opened in September 2008 in southeast DC as a tuition-free, Episcopal K-5 school whose mission is to alter the educational and social trajectories of boys of color from traditionally underserved communities, preparing them for leadership and service both inside their communities and beyond.  We at St. Luke’s are fortunate to be part of this important work.

Episcopal Relief and Development

Episcopal Relief & Development is the compassionate response of The Episcopal Church, which provides relief in times of disaster and promotes sustainable development. In 2021, their programs reached more than 3.5 million people in the U.S. and worldwide.

In 2022, St. Luke’s and Episcopal Relief & Development celebrated 15 years of shared ministry—lovingly known to us as Holy Cow. In 2023 St. Lukers again contributed generously, with $11,983, including $2,503 for the Middle East Fund, bringing our cumulative total donated to Episcopal Relief & Development to more than $269,000. 

St. Lukers also made generous Christmas offerings in 2023 of $2,638 for Doctors Without Borders’ work in the Holy Land.

Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake

Creation Care cuts across several ministries at St. Luke’s, from Community Engagement to the Garden Guild and pollinator garden to the Buildings and Grounds Ministry.  Partnering with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, St. Luke’s engages its parishioners in environmental advocacy and lobbying, creation care awareness and commitments to environmental stewardship and emission-reducing behaviors, and eco- spirituality. A highlight in 2024 was our celebration of Earth Day with an outdoor service in our beautiful labyrinth.

Small Things Matter

Small Things Matter is a local, grassroots non-profit founded on the idea that small acts of kindness have a large impact on the lives of others.  Their core program provides fresh produce, donated from grocery stores and other partnerships, to nearly 7,000 food-insecure individuals across Montgomery County. St. Luke’s regularly provides home-made baked goods for Small Things Matter’s bi-monthly community food distributions in Takoma Park and supports their holiday toy drive. There are SSL opportunities available for MCPS students.  

During each month that has a 5th Sunday, we gather for Eucharist and then go out into the community to put our faith in action and be of service to others together. We also have plenty of on-site servant activities! Come join us!