The Essene Church of Peace

We are a house-based church that has been serving the homeless as our primary ministry since 2008. We hold weekly Sabbath celebrations; the Essene Gospels of Peace are at the heart of our practice.

We are seeking volunteer help for both behind the scenes management level coordination and also on the ground work.

Every Saturday and Sunday the Essene Church prepares food for about 75 -85 homeless people and serve it downtown on Sundays. Food prep help is always welcome, as well as delivering and serving downtown, procurement, stocking, clean up, and so on.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: This person will be in charge of confirming participation by weekly volunteers who are already signed up, and /or filling vacancies. We have contact lists with emails and phone numbers and a What's App group. A Sign up Genius has been created and this person could enter volunteers on it weekly. This is not a time consuming job but very important for ease and continuity of all involved. Perfect job for a retiree.

WEEKLY WORK FOR OCCASIONAL, MONTHLY, BI-WEEKLY, OR WEEKLY OLUNTEERS:

Saturdays:
Task: Make salad or soup at home or the Ashram/ Church using donated ingredients, for about80 people.  What's involved: Come to the Church at a pre-arranged time (usually about 1:00 p.m.) to collect the ingredients, instructions, recipe if needed, and any special equipment and work on the site or at home. If working off-site, the dish may be returned anytime before 6 a.m. Sunday morning. This is best done with at least one helper.

Sundays:  7:30-10:30 a.m.:
Task: Kitchen help:  Prepare hot fresh food for the homeless and place in carryout containers. Also prepare for loading into the van and clean up.  This may be broken into two shifts if someone cannot stay the whole time: 730-9 and 9-10:30 but it is best if people can come the whole time.

Drivers: We are currently looking for a driver for the third Sunday of each month, and also to be on call as a back up driver in case of need other weeks. Drivers will need to be trained, by accompanying one of the regular drivers on another week.