by Cliff Davis, Assistant Communication Director Over Media Relations, Chesterfield Stake
About 20 volunteers between ages 18 to about 30, from the
church’s James River Young Single Adult (YSA) branch
(congregation) put together 40 care packages for the Richmond-based
Homeward program – the region’s “data-driven authority on homelessness.”
About 16,900 Richmond residents lived below the
poverty line, as of 2019, even before COVID, and thus experience “food
insecurity,” according to richmondconfidential.org. That’s fifteen percent
of the city’s population. And then there’s the often-terrifying choice between
food or prescription medication, or paying basic bills, or skipping other
necessities just to get by.
“This is our Young Single Adults at their best,” said
Geoff Harper, president of the James River YSA. “They are a great group and
they like to do things that are meaningful.”
(Leaders in an LDS congregation, such as a branch president,
who is like a pastor, serve temporarily and unpaid on a voluntary basis).
The care package idea began with a discussion in the
congregation’s organization for women, the Relief Society. “What started
out as a simple lesson of being welcomed or being a welcoming person, turned
into something so much more,” said Veronica Harper, President Harper’s
wife. Five women in the group launched a plan – and it soon involved most of
the congregation.
“We decided on the care packages … not only because of
wanting to give or knowing that people need help during these times of COVID,
but because of things brought up in that class,” she said.
The packages contained snacks, socks, bottled water and
other things that someone struggling with poverty or homelessness might need,
Pres. Harper said.
Now celebrating 20 years of outreach, Homeward “serves
as the regional voice on homelessness and related housing and human services
for the Richmond region,” according to the Homeward website. That includes
Chesterfield and Charles City counties, and from Hanover to Powhatan, said Jen
Johnson, Homeward Lead Care Navigator.
Homeward is not a shelter but rather the “leading agency” in
the area “to implement government guidelines” in the fight to end homelessness,
Johnson said.
During those 20 years, Homeward has sought to focus on
housing stability -- reducing the length of homelessness that people
experience, prioritizing affordable housing; and increasing the pool of
available resources.
Donations such as those YSA care packages are welcomed, she
said, and other groups who want to help can check Homeward’s online list of
in-kind donations, or directly contact the shelters in the area that Homeward
works with, she said.
“Serving others and putting your life on the back burner is
a huge deed. We could easily say we don’t have time. But stopping and
serving, gave us a feeling of helpfulness, a feeling of hopefulness, a
feeling of acceptance, a feeling of genuine care and giving, and more
important, the feeling of “loving thy neighbor,” Mrs. Harper said.
It won’t be the last time they help out the community, she added.
