A volunteer at Sophia House shows supplies received from Seven Locks Baptist Church
POTOMAC, Md.—Seven Locks Baptist Church regularly supports a local women’s homeless shelter, Sophia House. The church has a line item in their budget to support the shelter and other like ministries. Women from the church purchase, cook and serve meals monthly.
They even stepped up to help when they learned of an urgent need in late January when “snowmagedon” hit Maryland. Representatives from the shelter contacted Laura Snyder, the leader of the Sophia House ministry at the church, to request extra food for those who would be barricaded inside until the storm passed.
Donations immediately began pouring in as church members hurried to help the homeless women. Volunteers collected and delivered sandwich makings, bags of chips, bottled waters, oranges, and other snacks and food for more than 30 women just before the storm hit.
The church has been ministering at the shelter for three years. Snyder said there are between 20 and 30 women who usually stay at the shelter.
Snyder said when she began ministering at Sophia House, she was intimidated.
“It was scary when I first walked in, but once we started talking, it was fine. We talked about everything in our lives, our problems, our children,” she said.
The ministry has put a face on homelessness.