community involvementWe are committed to reaching our community with love and the gospel. Here are the initiatives we’re engaged in.
It’s a place where some unhoused in Castro Valley are no longer homeless for a period of 4 months during the winter season, but now havre been extended to year-round. First Presbyterian Church of Hayward provides them with hot meals and a warm place to stay for the night. Weekly we have been serving there helping with meal preparation, serving food, and holding activities for those who are interested.
FIRST PRES Unhoused SHELTER
In September 2020, we started a 6-week basic computer skills training program for returning citizens at a transitional home. Most who enter the program have been incarcerated for 25-40 years and have returned to a society that has been drastically changed due to advancements in technology. It has been the most rewarding experience for our members to share with them how to set up an email account, use Zoom for video conferencing, and apply for jobs online. To date, 18 volunteers from our church have served 28 men who have graduated from our basic computer skills class and are on their way to becoming “citizens of the internet.”
COmputer skills training for returning citizens
Bay Area Rescue Mission is a Christian organization in Richmond that offers essential resources and gospel-centered programming for people in the Bay Area community who are facing homelessness, addiction, and poverty. ECM has gone there the past two years for Valentine's Day of Compassion and been challenged by their ministry, so we reached out to see if there was any way we could help during this time.
