Almost two weeks have passed since St. Matthew's cleared out its undercroft -- and 5 classrooms! -- to make sleeping spaces for homeless children and their caregivers through Project Home, an initiative of Interfaith Action (formerly St Paul Council of Churches).   Every evening at 5:30 the door on Chelmsford unlocks automatically to let in a staffworker from Project Home and 4 or more volunteers who set to work preparing snacks and activities for the families.  A bit after 6 a van arrives carrying 13 children and 8 mothers, fathers, and a grandmother; one family with a working father arrives in a car.  We have had essentially the same 5 or 6 families all month, which provides great opportunities to build relationships. Volunteers come from St. Matthews as well as cooperating churches in the St Anthony Park neighborhood: Corpus Christi, St. Cecilia's, SAP Methodist, and SAP Lutheran.

This is what happens on any given night: activities for children vary depending on the volunteers, but we have had reading programs, trips to College Park and to the SAP Public Library, art activities, an obstacle course, charades one night, and storytelling by our own Duke Addicks. There is constantly at least one parent at the computer looking for rentals. The grandmother studies for her online nursing course. A deaf mom with a Masters' in Public Administration looks for a job. And the parents talk with each other and the volunteers, with predictably frequent interruptions by child crises. At 8:00pm two volunteers come in with pillows and sleeping bags for their beds in the supply room (aka library); at 8:30, the other volunteers depart, the lights turn down, and parents start taking their children into their sleeping areas to settle down for the night.  At 6:00am the alarms go off, coffee starts, granola bars and fruit are distributed, and at 6:40am the van arrives to take the sleepy families to the Family Place in downtown St. Paul, where there are showers, breakfast, laundry facilities, computers, child activities, job/rental support, and dinner.  There are ample opportunities to build relationships with our guests.  In addition to our signed-up volunteers, you are invited to just stop in any time between 6:00 and 8:00 for any length of time to follow up with someone you've met, read to a child or toss a football.

Every day I see God working through such interactions to build social capital across social, educational, and racial barriers.  And our guests regularly express their appreciation for St. Matthews' sleeping rooms with doors & windows. On their behalf, thank you.

The library at St. Matthew's contains over a thousand items:  books, DVDs and CDs.  There are materials for all ages, including a children's section and a new section on the spirituality of Aging.  In addition to works on theology and spirituality, we have a large fiction section and even some cookbooks.  Materials are easy to check out (just sign the library card and put it in the drawer marked "Checkout" in the desk to the left of the fireplace).  There is no deadline for returning books, just bring them back when you have read them.
 
This October 10 and 11 the library will be having a book sale as fund-raiser.  Please save your books to donate and look for a notice in the church bulletin about when to bring them in.  We will also need volunteers to help with the sale.  If you have any questions about the library or the upcoming book sale, contact Elizabeth VanderSchaaf