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The Welcome Table
The number of men, women, and children coming for food each Sunday continues
to grow. If you can help us feed the homeless, send your donation to:
The Welcome Table
c/o The Church of the Epiphany
1317 G St., NW Washington, DC 20005
All donations are tax deductible.
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Background
The Welcome Table Breakfast and Outreach Program is a program of The Church of the Epiphany, a 250-member Episcopal congregation located in downtown DC. The breakfast program began in the 1950s and now provides counseling, outreach services and a hot breakfast to as many as 200 men, women, and children each Sunday morning. Working in partnership with Samaritan Ministries, The Downtown Cluster of Churches, DPAH, Catholic Charities, The Salvation Army, SOME and other non-profits, Epiphany's program provides support to the homeless on a Sunday, when most other services are closed. Our program provides emergency counseling and food and is one of the only walk-in counseling centers open on a Sunday. There is, of course, no requirement that any of our Welcome Table guests participate in the activities of our parish.
Our Program
Eighty percent of our guests are homeless, the balance are the very poor, who without food and support, would be homeless. As our guests arrive, our social worker and volunteers assess their status and the services that they currently receive from other agencies. From there, our staff and volunteers work to set up referrals for new guests that are newly homeless. Churches are often the first place a newly homeless person will come to and Epiphany often is the weekend agency that begins the whole process of assistance. Many are already working with Samaritan Ministries and other large homeless service agencies that are not open on Sunday. The balance of our population is the elderly, the unemployed and the working poor of our area, many of whom are on the very brink of homelessness. Weekly they come to Epiphany for counseling, AA and NA meetings, social security and disability advice, bus tokens when in need of travel to a doctor's appointment, job placement and food that allows them to spend the money they do have for rent. The church is open to the homeless during the weekdays as well.
Knowing that providing a hot meal only solves a problem for a few hours, our program, along with our partner agencies, looks to address the root causes of homelessness. We address the following: Substance Abuse Addiction, Mental Health Issues, Physical Health Issues, Employment Problems, Education.
Substance Abuse Counseling
Weekends are difficult for those facing addiction problems and there are a limited number of meetings on Sunday. Our meetings are a vital link to the services our guests receive on the weekdays from other service providers. Those who are addressing addictions issues will readily attest that having AA and NA meetings over the weekends are crucial. Our guests sometimes arrive in a debilitated state and must be brought to DC General. The Church of the Epiphany provides a vital function in weekend crisis intervention. This intervention prevents an escalation of a situation that could cause a person to sink deeper into their homelessness. Referrals are made to DC General, SOME and other service providers that work with clients during the week. In addition, AA and NA meetings are also held throughout the week at Epiphany. These meetings provide support for those who are no longer homeless but need to continually address the addiction issues that initally contributed to their homelessness.
Mental Health Issues
Many of the guests suffer from mental health issues. Epiphany's staff works hand in hand with mental health services in the city, to provide support. We work with the mental health programs at SOME, Coalition for the Homeless, Samaritan Ministries, Catholic Charities and DC General, when necessary. Epiphany's small and inviting atmosphere establishes an atmosphere of trust. Some individuals with severe mental illness initially will refuse to move into a shelter. Our open-door hospitality is often what helps them to take that first treatment step. Our Sunday guests are encouraged to attend our free noonday music concerts offered every Tuesday by a wide range of musicians. The homeless often attend and it is amazing to see the impact. Music can often reach those that words cannot.
Physical Health Issues
A sudden onset of a physical issue for one with no family resources can cause homelessness. Our staff is well connected with the medical health services in the city. Referrals are made when necessary to DC General and other health providers that support the poor. Many of our members have a relationship with Christ House which seeks "to provide comprehensive health care for sick, homeless men and women, while assisting them in addressing critical issues to help break the cycle of homelessness."
Loss of Employment
Those will little or no education are struggling to maintain their homes and are becoming a part of the ever-growing homeless population in the city. Epiphany provides information about job fairs and employment opportunities. We post job vacancies and work to match up those ready to return to the work with jobs.
Education
For many of those we serve, being illiterate and/or not having a high school diploma severely inhibits their ability to move out of homelessness. Experienced in working with illiterate adults, our social worker coordinates with the Washington Literacy Council to support those adults wanting to learn to read. For those seeking to pass their GED, practice and tutoring sessions are offered at the Martin Luther King Library. The Welcome Table has its own library where guests take books with them. Members and local downtown workers donate the books to the church.
Conclusion
The Church of the Epiphany Welcome Table is a small, grass-roots program. Our program is one of the few available on a Sunday, a time that is difficult for many of our guests. We work with up to 200 individuals every Sunday, 52 weeks of the year. During the week, staff stops immediately whatever task they might be doing for the church itself, to sit and talk with a homeless person in need as they wander into our church, both on Sunday and during the week. Although we are small, we are an integral part of the multi-pronged approach that marshals all the resources of the city to support the homeless. Within our modest program, we know our guests by name, listen to their stories share some scrabbled eggs and coffee, and reach out in a very personal way to support them. Epiphany is by no means the place where all the needs of our guests will be met. We are a vital weekend bridge between the streets and the more comprehensive homeless providers. Our success stories are in fact the successful statistics of the larger non-profit homeless providers who take the groundwork we have laid, the trust we have built, the hunger we have alleviated and the support we give every Sunday morning and move forward with it during the week. With Samaritan Ministry, we work to support our guests in becoming whole again, working to create homes and stability. But make no mistake about it, we also seek to solve the problem of the moment, and that problem is hunger. Without our meal program, our great music and good conversation, the homeless would simply not come. The assistance we provide, which complements the programs provided by others during the week, would go untapped.
Remember to collect travel-size toiletries (except mouthwash) when you travel and to save those detergent samples that arrive in the mail. Our Welcome Table guests are always grateful to receive them. Encourage your co-workers who travel to contribute as well.
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