The recipient organizations of our domestic giving vary somewhat from year to year. The general rule is that one or more Seekers are personally involved in these organizations in some way. Recipients are chosen by consensus during an open meeting of the congregation at the start of every year.
Seekers Church donates generously to missions and ministries within the United States, with an amount this year that equals nearly 21% of expected offerings for the year. The community has agreed to several conditions to ensure that our giving is connected to and reinforces our personal efforts and passions. These connections should reinforce Seekers values, involve significant personal support from Seekers’ members, and foster a change from charity to solidarity. We want to support systemic and lasting change. Smaller grants may be given to incubate new ideas for mission, support emergence of call, bear witness to God’s work in the world, or support Seekers’ members living out their call to mission. Once the Domestic Giving budget is determined by Stewards of Seekers Church each year, all members of the faith community are invited to request support for missions or ministries in which they are personally involved, and all are invited to come to an annual meeting to determine the final giving budget, usually in the first quarter of each year.
For 2023 the community affirmed support for 23 domestic missions and ministries listed here. For easy access to more information on each group, the name of each organization is linked to its website.
ADVOCACY
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
Silver Spring Justice Coalition
Texas Nicaraguan Community
CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
Dayspring Overlook Retreat House
EDUCATION/CULTURE
Museum of the Palestinian People
HOUSING
OTHER
Here is a brief description of each organization and its connection to Seekers Church. To visit their web sites, click on the name of the organization.
ADVOCACY
The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. is a national non‑profit, non-partisan organization that provides education, advocacy, and legal assistance to help elders and people with disabilities obtain Medicare and necessary health care. The Center was established in 1986. The Center focuses on the needs of Medicare beneficiaries, people with chronic conditions, and those in need of long‑term care. The organization is involved in writing, education, and advocacy activities of importance to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. The Center’s central office is in Connecticut, with offices in Washington, DC and throughout the country.
The Center’s work is in keeping with Seekers’ values, especially our commitment to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need, and with our affirmation a few years ago for policy advocacy concerning the social safety net. It is also in keeping with our ongoing conversations about aging under the rubric “Down the Road”. Sustaining Medicare as a strong social insurance program is a justice issue because the program’s core design is one that promotes equality of opportunity and access to healthcare for all older people and people with disabilities. Moreover, about half of all Medicare beneficiaries are poor or near poor. The Center’s work to ensure fair access to Medicare, a social insurance program, is in line with Seekers’ commitment to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need. Trish Nemore worked at the Center from 2000 – 2012 as a Senior Policy Attorney and continues ties with the program.
The Congregation Action Network (CAN) is a network of faith communities in Washington, DC, and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. The Network acts in solidarity to end detention, deportation, profiling, and criminalization of immigrants, demanding and upholding justice, dignity, safety, and family unity. CAN was created in 2017 primarily to defend undocumented immigrants from detention and deportation. Since then, this collective of more than 70 Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Humanist, Hindu, Buddhist, and other congregations, has brought its faithful resistance to bear in the DC/MD/VA region to provide support and solidarity to neighbors, friends, and family who fear being detained, deported or profiled.
The Montgomery County Cluster of CAN, to which Seekers belongs, has also focused on various actions needed to help Afghan refugees. MoCo Cluster joined other groups in successfully lobbying the MD General Assembly to pass The Dignity Not Detention Act to keep ICE detention facilities out of Maryland and the Maryland Driver Privacy Act to prevent Maryland Vehicle Administration from sharing information about Maryland drivers with ICE or other federal immigration enforcement entities. Late in 2021, the General Assembly overrode Governor Hogan’s veto of those bills.
Seekers Church has been a member of CAN since its inception and members of the community are active in the Montgomery County Cluster of congregations. Trish Nemore and the Eyes to See Ears to Hear Peace Prayer Mission Group nurture our partnership with CAN.
CreatureKind is a nonprofit organization that invites Christians to love God and their neighbors—all of them—by attending to the welfare of factory-farmed animals. CreatureKind meets Christians where they are for conversations about the treatment of animals who are farmed for human consumption. It encourages Christians to consider what they, as members of the body of Christ, believe about God’s creatures and how they might move toward living out those beliefs more fully. CreatureKind supports a network of partner organizations, providing information, prompting discussion, sharing stories, and offering recommendations for flourishing as human creatures without denying the flourishing of animal creatures. CreatureKind inspires vegans, vegetarians, omnivores, farmers, fishers, and friends to learn from each other about how each can be part of a church that follows Christ into the reconciliation of all creatures.
Seekers Church became a CreatureKind partner organization in March 2022. As a partner community with CreatureKind, members of Seekers formed a ministry team to help us carry this dimension of our commitment to care for the natural environment by supporting community educational activities and conversations. In 2023 the CreatureKind Ministry Team conducted a class on vegan cooking in the School for Christian Growth, and has begun a new blog, Living Vegan! As part of an effort to support community conversation about this part of our commitment to caring for all of Creation.
Equality Virginia, is an organization which educates about and advocates for policies to support the human rights of LGBTQ people of all ages in Virginia. Equality Virginia has worked on local and state policies concerning safety for LGBTQ youth in schools, marriage equality, housing discrimination, police violence against transgender persons, employment discrimination and harassment, and services for older LGBTQ persons. Last year, Equality Virginia helped to suggest and support bills building specific programs and rights in housing, health and employment to take advantage of the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates.
The organization staff helps coordinate events for education and advocacy around the state, leading up to a highly respected lobby day which combines education of the many volunteers who come to lobby and sessions for legislators on particular issues. Particular groups are organized to help gather energy around an issue which will be focused on in the future. Last year, there were ” Bills and Bagels” sessions every Monday morning, which were well attended by Delegates and Senators. Energy is a bit lower this year, as the new governor is eliminating many advances by executive order, but EV will continue to push on the key components. Cynthia Dahlin has been an active participant in the work of Equality Virginia since 2013.
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake (IPC) educates, supports and inspires people and communities of faith to advocate for the land and waters of the Chesapeake through policies and practices that promote a healthier environment and healthier people, aiming to fulfill a commitment to environmental justice by (as author Wendell Berry says): Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.
IPC continues to grow a network of congregations committed to its Partner Congregation Pledge (now 100 congregations!), which Seekers endorsed last fall. Through this action faith communities commit to serve as good stewards of the land and waters of the Chesapeake, and sustain the life and health of all creatures.
IPC’s work, supported by Seekers, bears witness to God’s restoration of the world by engaging diverse faith communities in environmental stewardship, strengthening congregation green teams through its Faithful Green Leader Training, equipping them to plan actions and projects which will reduce water pollution, foster wildlife habitat and conserve energy. IPC offers ways for Seekers community to “put our faith into action” by participating in actions and advocacy that support the healing and flourishing of God’s Creation, rooted in our own watershed of the Chesapeake Bay. Through our support of this work we are fulfilling our Commitment/Call to care for every part of God’s creation. Kolya Braun Greiner, who served on the IPC staff from 2014 through 2022, maintains our link to IPC.
Silver Spring Justice Coalition
Silver Spring Justice Coalition (SSJC) is a community response for Montgomery County, Maryland to end profiling, brutality, and other misconduct by police. SSJC envisions a state and county where community and individual needs for safety are met while harm by police is eliminated. They aim to create a paradigm shift in police-community engagement. Race, class, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, and mental health status must never again put people in Montgomery County at risk of state-sponsored discrimination and violence.
Together with other advocacy groups, SSJC works on a range of police reform issues in Montgomery County and the state of Maryland. Last year’s achievements included: helping to pass Anton’s Law to ensure public access to complaints of police misconduct; expanding the use of body-worn cameras; and Repealing the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.
This year’s efforts will focus on:
- Expanding and strengthening mental crisis outreach teams, rather than armed police, to respond to people experiencing mental health crises;
- Adding investigatory powers to the Police Accountability Boards;
- Policies and practices to limit use of force and to mandate de-escalation;
- Opposing a lawsuit from the Fraternal Order of Police that tries to shield records of police misconduct;
- Strengthening data regarding police misconduct and helping to ensure police accountability;
- Ending police stops and searches based solely on the odor of marijuana; and
- Assisting persons who are trying to file a complaint against police working in Montgomery County.
Support of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition supports the Seekers commitment to “Foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need” and will help Seekers better understand and struggle to address the racial disparities and injustices that persist right here in our own community. Paul Holmes is the Seeker most actively engaged with SSJC, though individual Seekers sometimes sign on to action alerts.
Texas Nicaraguan Community
Texas Nicaraguan Community (TNC) helps immigrants and refugees crossing the Mexico-US border. They support asylum seekers and refugees with information, translation, paperwork documentation, support with transportation, clothing, food, lodging, and money for telephone use in detention centers. This request will help cover expenses incurred by the Texas Nicaraguan Community (TNC) as they assist and accompany political asylum cases.
Seekers members Oswaldo Montoya and Rosa Campos are part of the wider network of Nicaraguans living in the US who are supporting Nicaraguans refugees and have coordinated different efforts with leaders of the Texas Nicaraguan Community with whom they are in constant communication.
CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
Dayspring Overlook Retreat House
Overlook Retreat House (at Dayspring) is available for individual and small group self-guided retreats, and is open year-round. Retreatants share a 3-bedroom living space (sleeps up to six people) with a kitchen and dining area, as well as a small library of books and art materials for soulful and playful exploration. Overlook is near the farmhouse on Dayspring Farm, overlooking Lake of the Saints, in the midst of 210 acres of natural beauty. The Banksons and Kolya Braun-Greiner sponsor this request.
The Festival Center is an organization rooted in a faith that compels them to be a meeting place and a participant in the struggle for the common good. Through hospitality, education, spiritual development, and practice, the Festival Center serves as a hub for all people to work against all forms of oppression and to strive for a just city and a just world.
Festival Center has undergone a major building renovation centered on making space to fulfill its mission, which includes making the building as green as possible, and including a teaching kitchen that will also serve as an incubator for small food businesses to get started, and improve its ability to rent event space by accommodating a space for caterers. Through relationships of trust, patience, listening and support they provide space for individuals to pursue growth through reflection, meditation, and spiritual practices. Their educational courses and events offer opportunities for critical thinking, creativity and dialogue with others. When the Center reopened in June, 2023, more than 70 local organizations were using the space to support their operations.
The Festival Center shares with Seekers a deep commitment to inclusivity and shared leadership empowering others within the normal structures of our daily lives. Sandra Miller has served as Board Chair and Board Secretary, and currently serves as the art coordinator, as well as an ad hoc advisor. Additionally, members of Seekers have taught in its School for Liberation (formerly known as Servant Leadership School) and participated in many Festival Center events.
The Potter’s House is a nonprofit café, bookstore, and event space in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. As the very first Church of the Saviour mission (in 1960), The Potter’s House has been a key place for deeper conversation, creative expression, and community transformation. In our rapidly changing city – one in which development so often means displacement – The Potter’s House has birthed many other CoS ministries over the years. It bears a strong family resemblance to Seekers Church as another place of support for creative, inclusive people working for peace and justice. Marjory Bankson and Sandra Miller provide active, ongoing support.
EDUCATION / CULTURE
Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) unites teaching artists, arts advocates, artists who are or have been incarcerated and their allies, harnessing the transformative power of the arts to reimagine justice. Through the sharing of resources, stories, and learning opportunities, JAC is building a nationwide collective of people who are committed to increasing opportunities for creative expression in carceral settings, amplifying the voices of those most impacted by mass incarceration, and shaping public dialogue around the intersection of the arts and justice. Initially formed by veteran teaching artists, JAC has remained a grassroots, volunteer-led project throughout its recent transformation into a national 501c3 nonprofit organization.
The work of Justice Arts Coalition is grounded in the beliefs that:
- Creative expression is both a human need and a human right;
- Creative expression is essential to healing, reconciliation, and community-building;
- Participation in the artistic process significantly affects a person’s self-worth and sense of purpose and meaning;
- Art is an individual expression of universal human experience, increases empathy and serves as a bridge between diverse groups.
Justice Arts Coalition recently moved from a small studio space into its own space, around the corner from Seekers Church, with its own gallery space! “Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) and the School of Musical Traditions have relocated to Takoma Park and will share 7112 Willow Avenue.”
JAC also has an artist support pen pal program that has two avenues of engagement. Much like Free Minds Book Club, people have the opportunity to gather and respond to artists by commenting on images of the work that is then sent to the artist. It is also possible for artists in the community to become a pen pal to incarcerated artists by engaging in a letter writing relationship.
Sandra Miller has been involved with JAC as an advocate for the organization and the artists they serve for about 4 years. Currently, there is a small number of the artists engaged with JAC on the Seekers gallery website page, and we hope to find ways to work together in the future. Sandra is continuing to explore working with other venues to showcase the artists’ work and the mission of JAC, including The Festival Center and Potter’s House so that the wider Church of the Saviour community has the opportunity to engage with this important work.
The Maryland Choral Society (MCS), founded in 1971, is a community choral group dedicated to quality performance quality performance for music enthusiasts in the Greater Washington area. A mixed chorus of approximately 40 members, MCS is based in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and has members from throughout Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, it raises most of its operating funds through ticket sales, fundraisers, individual patrons, and selling business ads that are printed in its concert programs. The work of MCS is as much about community as it is about the chorus. Music is a shared language, transcending politics and economics, overcoming warfare and personal tragedy.
Katie Fisher and Lucy Slater sing in the chorus, and a number of Seekers attend and appear to be uplifted by the concerts!
Museum of the Palestinian People
The Museum of the Palestinian People is the first museum in Washington D.C. devoted to preserving and celebrating Palestinian history, arts, and culture. For decades, the story of the Palestinian people has been told by others; until now. The Museum of the Palestinian People is here to tell their stories; stories that encompass the rich history, vibrant arts and culture, of a people who thrive even in the face of adversity.
The Palestinian people hail from an ancient land with over 4,000 years of history. Empires have come and gone, only to make Palestinian culture richer and more colorful. The Museum of the Palestinian People started in 2015 as a traveling exhibit, visiting over 50 locations across the country, and has now found a home in the heart of the nation’s capital. By sharing the stories of the Palestinian people with those who walk through their doors, they invite the world to discover what unites us all. Immigrants to the United States yearn for a space to tell their stories, yet for Palestinians there has been no such space. In fact, the story of who they are has been told by others; until now.
Bshara Nassar, the founder of the museum, first came to the attention of Sandra Miller, and hence the Eyes to See Ears to Hear Peace Prayer Mission Group when he was a participant in the New Story Leadership program in 2011. Since that time Sandra has met with Bshara three or four times a year, including by phone during the pandemic, to offer support and encouragement. Eyes to See met with Bshara once a year for 4 years through 2020, including meeting at the museum.
Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center is a nonprofit community arts center serving the DMV with an international reputation for nurturing artists of all ages and skill levels, fostering the creative disciplines of papermaking, printmaking, and book arts within a collaborative community. A center for the arts since 1981, Pyramid offers shared studio space and workshops in papermaking, book arts, letterpress, and printmaking, as well as limited private rental space for artists. Through extensive community engagement, Pyramid takes classes to public schools and museums, and brings students from public schools to Pyramid. They also host a bi-annual, internationally recognized Book Arts Fair that helps to educate artists and the public alike about the best in traditional and experimental book making.
Seekers is committed to fostering the many facets of connection to the Grateful Soaring Spirit through the arts. Additionally, Seekers is committed to education. Both of these guiding principles are in direct relationship to the work of Pyramid Atlantic Arts. Sandra Miller is a member of Pyramid, helping to feed the creative spirit shared with Seekers Church, as well as volunteering with the organization, working with the Artistic Director, to connect artists involved at Pyramid with pen pals through Justice Arts Coalition.
Vita Poetica grew out of a longing for community among artists of faith and a desire to journey with others who experience God’s presence through their creativity. This vision partly stemmed from the felt need of Seekers member Julie Wan, who sees the creative process as a spiritual journey, and one that can oftentimes be quite lonely. The hope of Vita Poetica is to create a space where creativity and spirituality can co-exist as an invitation to encounter divine mystery. To that end, the community offers opportunities to engage with others through salons, workshops, and open mic nights, as well as collaborative projects such as their quarterly online journal. A number of Seekers are also on Vita Poetica’s Board of Directors, and many Seekers are frequent participants in Vita Poetica.
HOUSING
Center for Wisdom’s Women and Sophia’s House
In the middle of Lewiston, Maine lies one of the poorest census districts in the state, one of the poorest in the country. Forty percent of the residents live at or below the poverty line. Within that neighborhood the Center for Wisdom’s Women is a safe and sacred space run by and for women. At the Center, local women from the neighborhood learn social skills and job training to help them in recovery.
Now Sophia’s House, an updated convent, has added small apartments for low-income residents and returning citizens post-incarceration. Klara Tammany, the visionary director, visits Seekers when she comes to DC. The Banksons and Cynthia Dahlin have been long-time sponsors.
Direct Support for Immigrants (DSI) is a non-profit, volunteer organization working to assist the local immigrant communities in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The mission of DSI is to assist immigrants to the United States In many ways, such as:
- Educating them about the local resources available to them:
- Connecting them to those resources;
- Providing social, emotional, material, financial, and other types of support;
- Advocating for immigrants’ rights and needs in the local and broader communities;
- Providing transportation for various activities including medical appointments and court appearances;
- Obtaining legal consultation for every immigrant;
- Navigating school registration to enroll children;
- Helping to locate and secure child care, and Connecting families to medical services.
DSI can also connect families to short-term housing, often through the network of volunteers who offer to house families until they are able to secure permanent housing. Once a family is in permanent housing, DSI helps secure donations of household goods including furniture, kitchen items, clothing, strollers, car seats, etc. Volunteers are organized to pick up and deliver these items to families in need.
Since its creation in 2017, DSI has helped more than 300 families. Elizabeth Gelfeld, a Steward of Seekers Church, has been volunteering with DSI to provide transportation, driving pregnant mothers to prenatal care appointments; and, delivering donated furniture and supplies.
L’Arche, is an international non-profit organization that creates multi-generational faith communities with people who have developmental disabilities. In the Washington, DC area there are now four homes, two in Adams Morgan and two in Arlington, with a total of 16 core members and 15 live-in assistants.
In L’Arche homes, people with developmental disabilities live in family-like relationships with people who assist them. L’Arche is unique among residential service providers in that core members and assistants (people without intellectual disabilities who support core members) choose to live life together like a family. L’Arche fosters mutual respect, love and understanding between people with disabilities and people without. L’Arche welcomes people of different faiths, races, gender and sexual orientations and supports each person’s spiritual journey.
L’Arche of Greater Washington, D.C. is a member of the worldwide federation of autonomous L’Arche communities. Emmy Lu Daly worked for L’Arche as an assistant and home life coordinator for over 7 years and is still involved. Her son Fritz has been a long-time core person.
MANNA, Inc. is a nonprofit developer of quality, affordable housing in the District of Columbia. The mission of MANNA is “to help low and moderate income persons acquire quality housing, build assets for families through homeownership, revitalize distressed neighborhoods, and preserve racial and ethnic diversity.”
Since 1982, MANNA has been serving low and moderate-income families, assisting them to fulfill the dream of homeownership in Washington, DC. In that time, they have created and preserved nearly 1,200 units of affordable housing for low and moderate-income DC residents and their homeowners have accrued over $160 million in equity. Their financial literacy and homeowner training program has been replicated more than 200 times across the nation.
Manna’s work focuses on three principal areas:
- Renovating or building affordable homes for rent and homeownership;
- Educating first-time homebuyers for the process of home purchase and for success as homeowners; and
- Training first-time homeowners and their neighbors throughout the city to become community leaders through MANNA’s Housing Advocacy Team.
Manna supports the commitment of Seekers Church to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need. Doug Dodge is a founding member of the Manna board of directors.
N Street Village began as a women’s shelter on 14th and N Streets in Washington DC in 1972. It has grown to a group of 8 separate programs serving women with HIV, mental illness, recovery from addiction, recovery from domestic abuse, and just women dealing with hard lives and little community to support them. The goal of N Street Village is to meet each individual woman exactly where she is on her unique journey to healing and recovery. They recognize that those they serve face a variety of challenges, and some individuals may face numerous obstacles simultaneously. Some of the most common challenges for the women of N Street Village include: health or mental health problems, substance abuse or addiction, a history of trauma, a lack of educational and vocational opportunities, job loss or eviction, domestic violence, a criminal background or other barriers to employment, or functional illiteracy. And sometimes the biggest challenge for a woman arriving at their front door is the loss of her own sense of dignity, self-worth, and hope.
N Street Village has two values very central to Seekers’ values: to be in community with the women who come to seek services and a place to stay, and to try to meet women where they are, needing detox services, a temporary place to stay, or long-term housing if their problems have no solution, for example if they are mentally ill or are elderly or sick.
Cynthia Dahlin, a Steward of Seekers Church, has been a part of the N Street Village community for 22 years, leading poetry and autobiography classes at N Street Village until the pandemic began and classes had to be suspended. Since 2020, Cynthia has been a member of the N Street Village Ambassadors Council. As part of the Ambassadors Council, she visits and talks with the women as they load supplemental grocery bags each month, during the “Sheros” walk (which replaced the former Help the Homeless walk), and also during holiday celebrations.
Silver Spring Village is a nonprofit [501(c)(3)] organization that offers programs and needed services for adults who wish to “age in place” — to remain as long as possible in their own homes, amid familiar people and surroundings, and engaged in the community. Their network of “neighbors helping neighbors” supports individuals and also builds a stronger community. Mirroring the neighborhoods within their service area, Silver Spring Village is a welcoming organization with a diverse membership and volunteer corps. They offer their members opportunities for enrichment and social engagement as well as access to “neighborly” assistance that supports their independence. Members make new friends, learn new things, and have easy access to needed help.
Silver Spring Village provides examples and opportunities that support the “Down the Road” ministry of Seekers Church. Jacqie Wallen is currently serving on the board of directors.
OTHER
Charlie’s Place was founded in 1990 as a non-denominational, anti-hunger, homeless ministry of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church. What began as a group of socially concerned parishioners has now expanded to a week-long program which prides itself on its reputation for providing a safe, reliable, and welcoming environment. Charlie’s Place serves homeless and underprivileged populations in the neighborhoods of Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights in Washington DC.
Vincent Shepherd, a Steward of Seekers Church, was a member of the kitchen staff at Charlie’s place for seven years, a d continues since his retirement as a volunteer.
