June 19, 2026
Dear Church,
From February 6th to June 12th, we’ve been packing household goods for families sheltering in place, in collaboration with BRAVELY's Food Team. Due to sustained reductions in the number of requests received, the weekly food and household good delivery ended on 6/12, with structures in place that will continue to support families on a 1:1 basis. Many members of the Grace community contributed to this collaboration – from packing bags, to donating physical goods, to donating monetary resources so that we could meet specific requests. Since the model has shifted, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the impact of the past few months! And, we are continuing to support these 1:1 connections as needed.
Between February and June, we packed bags for 239 households (some repeat). Those bags included 122 packs of toilet paper, 112 bottles of dish soap, and dozens of hand-drawn notes of support and resource lists. We made 27 trips up to The Open Door to drop the bags off with our partners, and had a peak of packing for 23 households in a single day.
In addition to this specific mutual aid effort, since December, Grace has had a Community Resource Shelf, initiated after the first round of SNAP cuts and freezes. We’ve had to restock the pre-packed emergency food bags a couple of times, and whenever someone stops by for gas or grocery support, we also take them to our Resource Shelf. The Community Resource Shelf will continue, and if you would like to support our ability to keep gas and grocery cards on hand, you can donate via Breeze with the drop-down “Community Resource Shelf”.
Part of my sermon for Pride Sunday this year (on the phrase Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin), talks about concrete acts of love. These past months have given us ample opportunity to practice concrete acts of love, within our community and with our neighbors – may they continue, and be sustained, even as the landscape of what’s needed constantly shifts.
In Christ,
Pastor Reed
Every Friday, we send an email to the congregation and any others who would like to learn more about the Grace community. The last four Friday emails are posted below.