Margaret Weinstein, a St. Mary's youth and freshman at St. Gertrude, reached out to the Outreach Committee about leading a food drive for GoochlandCARES. The St. Mary's community responded in a big way and collected 766 pounds that Margaret drove out to GoochlandCARES. In addition, St. Mary's contributed $1,200 in honor of the food drive that was sent to GoochlandCARES.

"To the Saint Mary's Outreach Committee and everyone of the Saint Mary's Community -

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the donation to GoochlandCARES. It is overwhelming and heartwarming to see and experience the never-ending love and grace of our church community. I feel so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing group of people to help me grow not only as a person, but also as a follower and child of God. It is easy to stray away from God, but it's acts of kindness like this that strengthen and build my relationship with Him. The pure compassion of our community is so inspiring and I am forever thankful for every one of you. The joy and pride I feel from our donation is difficult to put into words. I am looking forward to participating in similar events/projects in the future.

God bless you all,

Margaret Weinstein"

One of St. Mary's young members, 10-year-old Charlotte Hogeboom, heard about Margaret's food drive for GoochlandCARES. So she held a bake sale in her neighborhood to help support it! In the end, she raised over $168 to contribute to our outreach partner. What an inspiration!

Thanks to the initial response to the Goochland YMCA Snack Bags drive back in February, St. Mary's has been able to pack more snack bags these past two months. Elementary school-aged kids from St. Mary's have been decorating bags with stickers, drawings, and words of encouragement. Then they come to St. Mary's kitchen once a month to pack them for 30 students. There is enough donated food to pack snack bags through the end of the school year!

Gateway Homes helps individuals with serious mental illness (primarily schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) recover, maintain psychiatric stability, return to work or school, and move into housing in the community. Gateway is a model psycho-social rehabilitation program in that it assumes each person is capable of improving their own functioning, and provides the psychiatric care, counselling, skills training, educational services, and employment and/or volunteer service support to help them succeed. 90% of the residents continue their psychiatric stability and maintain their affordable housing.

Historically, St. Mary’s has annually granted money to Gateway based on their yearly grant request, and that will continue, contingent on the church’s financial condition. But St. Mary’s looks forward to continuing its relationship with Gateway Homes and creatively and effectively supporting their ongoing needs as they arise.

Learn more about Gateway's story through the two incredible videos linked below.