Although I am a cradle Episcopalian, I lost interest in going to church when I was a teenager and did not return until I found St. Thomas' in 1991. I was house sitting in Dupont Circle at that time, and I was searching for something - meaning in life, a community, a way to help others.... The feelings were vague, but I found myself at St. Thomas' one Sunday morning, and I knew instantly that I had found my home.  

During coffee hour after the first services I attended, I was asked to join a group of Outreach Committee members the next Saturday to cook lunch for the homeless at St. Stephen’s. Over the years, I have joined many such teams of workers – cooking at shelters, painting homes and schools, doing construction work at transitional housing buildings, taking work trips to Haiti and Honduras.

Meanwhile, I attended Sunday services, served on the Vestry, Altar Guild, and the Outreach Committee, acted in plays with the Doubting Thomas Players, and got to know the wonderful people who have come in and out of St. Thomas’ over the years through adult education classes, parish events, informal gatherings, and, of course, the outreach activities.

I may not have found the meaning of life, but I have come close.

St. Thomas’ has brought me a sense of how I fit in the world, how I can help others, and how having a community like this can help me.  Through worship, my need for spirituality is met, through this parish, my need for community is met, and through service to others, my need to make a difference is met. I think the greatest gift of St. Thomas’ is my ability to see God in me and to see God in all of you. You are the reason I give to St. Thomas’ Parish.