Serve our ministries
St. Alban’s is committed to serving our neighbors in DC and across the globe.
We make and distribute weekly meals to the homeless, serve dinner at the Christ House Clinic, support families at Harriet Tubman Elementary and the Bishop Walker School, fund schools in South Sudan and Jordan and, through proceeds from the Op Shop, fund a variety of DC nonprofits seeking to alleviate poverty in our community.
Opportunity Shop:
Our weekly shopping hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays, 9:30 am to 3:00 pm (Please note: the Shop is normally closed the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.)
The Opportunity Shop is St. Alban’s oldest outreach program. The Op Shop thrift store, located on the lower level of Satterlee Hall, has offered quality goods at reasonable prices since 1955. Proceeds support those in need in our community and beyond.
Volunteers who staff the Op Shop enjoy the satisfaction of helping people find what they need. If you are interested in volunteering as a clerk, pricer, or cashier, please contact our office.
The Op Shop and the funds it brings in are managed by Workers of St. Alban’s (or WSA). Funds from the Opportunity Shop are used to support programs that directly assist people in need.
The Op Shop has set sales records yearly since 2016 until the pandemic, raising more than $300,000 each year for charitable donations. Help us break the record again this year!
Feeding the Hungry
Grate Patrol: In cooperation with the Salvation Army’s 100-year-old ministry, volunteers from St. Alban’s prepare and serve a nutritious evening meal to persons living on the streets of Washington, DC.
Sandwich Making: The second week of each month, parishioners prepare sandwiches and assemble a “bagged” meal with fruit, granola bars and cookies. At this time, sandwich making occurs in parishioner’s homes.
Delivery and Distribution: Every 2nd Friday at 6:00 p.m., the Salvation Army van arrives at St. Alban’s. Volunteers load the van with food prepared during the week, travel downtown and serve dinner to people living on the streets. Volunteers return to St Alban’s by 8:00 pm.
Contact Susan Morris
Our youth groups participate on the 4th Friday of each month preparing food and delivery meals downtown.
Christ House: The mission of Christ House is to provide comprehensive and compassionate healthcare to homeless men and women in the District of Columbia. Located in Adams Morgan, Christ House is a 34-bed medical facility. St. Alban’s volunteers prepare and serve dinner to residents and staff twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Fridays, which adds up to more than 1,100 meals per year.
The cooking team meets in the St. Alban’s kitchen from 2:30-5 p.m. and prepares the meal. The serving team picks up the food from St. Alban’s, delivers it to Christ House and helps serve the meal to the residents. Contact Michael Nix if you are interested in joining this ministry.
Samaritan Ministry: St. Alban’s was one of a dozen Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Washington that founded Samaritan Ministry in 1986. Our congregation contributes non-perishable food to Samaritan’s pantry to be distributed to participants in the Next Step program, which offers them resources and assistance as they find housing and employment. Contact: Bob Witten.
So Others Might Eat (SOME): St. Alban’s parish and SOME have a relationship that spans over 20 years. SOME serves more than 315,000 meals annually—over 800 meals each day. In addition, SOME provides the following services to the city’s homeless population: medical and dental assistance, individual and group counseling, case management and aftercare, free clothing, hot showers, laundry service, job preparedness training, job counseling and training, permanent and transitional housing and temporary shelter, and programs for people with addictions.
Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinners: St. Alban’s provides a delicious dinner at noon on Christmas Day for our neighbors and friends. Volunteers decorate the hall, carve turkeys, cook vegetables, cut pies and serve our guests. Many of us enjoy the meal, too! Contact the church office to learn more.
St. Alban’s partners with Annunciation Catholic Church and Washington Hebrew Congregation on an annual Thanksgiving Day dinner, which we host every third year. Contact the church office to learn more.
Our Schools
Harriet Tubman School
Harriet Tubman School
Located at the corner of Irving Street and 13th Street NW, Harriet Tubman Elementary School is a public school that serves
approximately an equal number of African-American and Hispanic students; 95% receive free and reduced lunch. We have established a long-term relationship with this community—its students, staff, and parents—through a variety of activities such as mentoring, reading programs, music programs and after-school clubs. We also provide backpacks with food for five students' families each weekend during the school year. There are opportunities for all St. Albanites—children, teens, young adults, young families, our Spanish-speaking congregation, and retirees. Contact: Erin Bowers.
Bishop Walker School
Bishop Walker School
Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys is a primary school for boys from poor homes in Southeast D.C., named after the late John T. Walker, the first African-American Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. We are partnering with the Bishop Walker School to support their mission. St. Alban's "lunch buddies" visit the school regularly. Contact: Hollis McLoughlin.
Hope and Resurrection School
Hope and Resurrection School
Saviour's Episcopal School, Zarqa, Jordan
Saviour's Episcopal School, Zarqa, Jordan
Saviour’s School is a progressive co-ed K-12 school serving more than 300 students in the industrial city of Zarqa. It also offers one of the city’s only program for low-vision and blind students. Because the overcrowded public schools offer little to no programing for children with vision-related disabilities, Saviour’s has been, since launching the low-vision program in 2001, the sole option for families who want an inclusive, academic education for their vision-impaired children.