Calvary Baptist Church

120 W. Pennsylvania Avenue

Towson, Maryland

Telephone 410-825-3360

Visit Calvary on the Web, point your browser to:

http://www.calvarybaptist-towson.org

From the Pastor:

When we go to the Eastside Women’s Shelter on July 28^th it will be under new management. As many of you have heard St. Vincent de Paul Society is no longer running the "Sarah’s Hope" program. There has been a great deal of anger expressed in many congregations because of what was believed to be the heavy handed treatment of St. Vincent’s by the Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation. Others are angry because Community Conservation didn’t make contact with the Congregations involved in this program.

Let me inform you of what I know has taken place. First, the County was not at liberty to address their concerns about the shelter to the Churches of Abraham’s tent, because we were not one of the contracting agencies. The contract was between Baltimore County and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. So legally the County could not address the issues of the contract with the religious community, and I was told that St. Vincent de Paul discouraged them from doing this.

The County’s major concern was that Sarah’s Hope day and night programs were contracted to be an emergency sheltering program and people were being turned away from the center when there were empty beds. The major fall out began in late January when a letter was sent from St. Vincent’s to the County stating: “Because of the level of accommodation available in the services offered at Sarah’s Hope, persons meeting the following criteria are deemed inappropriate for placement:

· Require supervised psychiatric care or are currently experiencing mental health crisis (must be stable and able to function independently).

· Require medicine storage or distribution.

· Are in advanced or pre-hospice stages of disease.

· Require life-sustaining apparatus (including intravenous medications, oxygen, etc., 24-hour care, or home health services.

· Without immediate health care intervention, would experience irreversible damage and/or death.

While some of these conditions sound reasonable there are many people needing shelter who suffer from untreated mental health conditions, and are diabetic… etc. I think St. Vincent’s saw this as a way to make the County provide space for these most vulnerable people, which is a commendable concern, however it meant that many people with serious needs had no place to go. St. Vincent’s and the County went back and forth on these issues, and in March tempered some of these restrictions, but still were functioning more like a transitional shelter than an emergency shelter. For that reason, the County said the contract would be rebid, and St. Vincent’s said they were unwilling to bid on an emergency shelter proposal.

This is how we ended up where we are. Caring for the poor is not a simple process. It would be nice if we could heal them all and make them normal conforming adults, but it isn’t that easy. I hope that you will not lose your desire to help our neighbors in need.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday Evening Programs will resume in the Fall, on Wednesday, September 3^rd

SUNDAY July 6th Communion.

WEDNESDAY July 9th 7:00 p.m. Deacons’Meeting.

MONDAY July 28^th Sarah’s Hope 10:00 – 1:00. Come when you can.

SUNDAY July 27th Pick-up cakes for Our Daily Bread and return by Saturday August 5^th.

Saturday August 2^nd at 3:00 p.m. Swimming at the home of Patrick and Melissa Hillman followed by a covered dish meal at 5:00 p.m. Come for swimming, or the meal, or come for both. Everyone is invited. Please let us know by signing up on your attendance card or the poster in back. There will be a rain date of Sunday the 3^rd.

August 3rd 118^th Anniversary Sunday

Communion. Lemonade and refreshments will be served.

Come and celebrate our congregation’s birthday on this Sunday morning.

August 7^th Shelter Meal preparation 3:00-7:00p.m. This meal is for the west side men’s shelter.

August 8^th 7:30 p.m. The Friendly Coffee House will be providing music in the Social Hall.

August 9^th 7:30p.m. Drew Wright's band Asbestos will be performing in the Social Hall.

Don’t stop learning this summer; come to Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and join one of the following classes:

(1) Nursery & Class for all children on the first floor.

(2) The Adult Classes will all meet in the Social Room, studying the early history of Christianity.

SANCTUARY FLOWERS

Phone Mary Lou Doty, 410-252-1862, to reserve a Sunday for your tribute of flowers in

memory of loved ones or to honor family and friends on special occasions.

Thanks to our childrens’ classes program at Toan’s anniversary celebration and to all who participated. The ideas for the service and performance were outstanding. Susan Edwards is the Deacon for Children and Youth; Don Romano the musician.

July is our month to collect food for the Assistance Center pantry. Enclosed is a current list of their needs. Please deposit your contributions in the box at the back entry way. If you prefer, you may contribute cash.

From Annie Armstrong Circle:

This is the 13^th year Annie Armstrong Circle has made health kits for migrant workers and disaster victims as well. Thank you again for helping to fill 71 brightly colored cloth bags with health needs. God bless you.

Members of the Circle

Special Thanks:

Our thanks go out to Jason Wagaman for performing two miracles to keep our ailing air conditioning system operational. We will still need to replace the system soon, but he has helped us survive the summer. Bruce Edwards was also helpful in this.