b'outreachRe d DoorMinistryContact: Molly Howle | maryrhowle@gmail.comAbout thirty years ago, a group of women from this Parish became concerned about the number of people who gathered in Monroe Park because they had nowhere else to go. Their determination to do something led to the first Friday lunches of bean soup and cornbread. The menu has grown and changed over the years, a clothes closet set up like a boutique appeared, and a noonday service offered.The congregations support for what is now the Red Door ministry has been fantastic, and donations of money, food, warm clothes, toiletries, new underwear; even sleeping bags, tents, and other useful, needed things, pour in. The programs are staffed by VCU students seeking service assignments and parishioners with time to participate. Perhaps most important, all are clearly welcome, and all is given with open hearts, kindness, dignity, and without judgment, seeking and serving Christ in every person who knows the church with the red door.C i r clesRVA Contact: Glenn Moore | gmoore@meyerbaldwin.comSubmitted by Christy Ellis and Glenn MooreBy supporting Circles RVA, a chapter of Circles USA, Grace & Holy Trinity is addressing a need by partnering with families on the fence between surviving and thriving economically. Circles RVA empowers families to break the cycle of generational poverty and move permanently toward economic stability. Participants are called Circle Leaders, and they work with volunteer Allies, including members of the GHTC community.To date, nineteen Leader Families have gone from surviving to thriving. They have increased monthly income and assets, returned to school, reduced debt, increased credit scores, purchased their first home, and no longer live paycheck to paycheck. Most significant is the increase in social capital and self-confidence among graduated Leaders. Their new friends and expanded contacts in the community are a permanent benefit to them. And Circles RVA itself is still there as a friend. Currently, graduated Leaders volunteer as Allies, Resource Team members, and Circles RVA Board Members and Officers.Grace & Holy Trinity continues to provide space for Circles regular Tuesday evening meetings, and Church members have served as Allies, meal providers, Board members, and members of its Development Committee. We invite everyone to ask to receive the Circles RVA monthly newsletters and to visit circlesrva.org.ANNUAL REPORT 2022 | 17'