by Christina Grierson

For years, the Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (PIHN) and congregations in the community have partnered to provide shelter for the local homeless.

Chestnut Hill’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is one of the parishes that works with the organization to help the cause. Father Cliff Cutler, rector at St. Paul’s, has been at the church for the past 12 years where he has carried on the tradition of working with PIHN to aid the homeless.

St. Paul’s is connected with the local homeless families in need through PIHN. Typically, St. Paul’s and the neighboring churches, Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church and Our Mother of Consolation, all volunteer their services in affiliation with PIHN.

Within a monthly period, St. Paul’s accommodates around three to four families in the rooms on its campus, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave.

PIHN provides cots for the families to sleep on, and St. Paul’s has added bath facilities to the rooms so that they could be turned into residences for those using them. While there, volunteers from the church help out by providing the families with meals and helping some of the children with their homework. Some of the children have even been invited to sing in the St. Paul’s church choir.

“Everybody has a place to belong, everybody has a shelter, and it could be a home today, sometimes it could be a halfway house or a shelter,” Cutler said . “Here, we try to transition people to homes of their own.”

Recently, Cutler has been in discussion with other parishioners to discuss the homelessness issue in the Chestnut Hill area. In his 12 years at St. Paul’s, Cutler recalled seeing more homeless people last winter than he has seen in previous years in Chestnut Hill.

“Homelessness is not just something that’s going on in Germantown or Mt. Airy, but it’s happening right here in Chestnut Hill,” he said.

The church also makes efforts outside of housing to help the homeless. Cutler and the church partner with a number of different outside groups like Teen Challenge, Seaman’s Institute and different thrift shops to help those in need in the most effective way. Every summer, the church collects clothes and other item donations from the community that are then sold at a rummage sale on the first Saturday in September after Labor Day.

On July 18, the first day of collections will commence. Every year, there is a significant number of items left over that is always saved for those who need it.

“You’d be amazed, the church is just packed with clothing and odds and ends and so forth. After the sale’s over, there’s quite a lot left over, and so we’ll provide that to organizations that have the ability to get them to people in need,” Cutler said.

Cutler believes that there is a greater impact to be made when organizations work together rather than separate, as to ensure a more positive effect. The church has even worked with groups that provide and dress men and women with clothes for job interviews.

“If we had to do all the housing work ourselves, dressing for interviews work ourselves, we’d be stretched too thin but we can work with other organizations and support them in their work and make an impact,” Cutler said.

Some of the people that the church has helped in the past have come back to talk about their story and share the updates to their life since having assistance from the church.

One of the next challenges Cutler wants to tackle is the area’s opioid crisis. In the last three years, three young women in St. Paul’s parish have died from an overdose. He has expressed having little experience having to deal with the crisis and is therefore seeking those who do, to share ways they think the church can be helpful in tackling the crisis. He mentioned that though he may have some answers, he has a lot more questions he would like to ask.

“A lot of this is a community response, not one priest sitting up in his office, but all of us together thinking about putting our heads together and thinking about how we can make a difference and how we can be helpful,” he said.

Cutler credits what the church does for the community to their faith and tributes the long-running success of their efforts to the joined labors of the many groups that have come together to help. He hopes that their work will continue to have a positive effect on the community in whatever space it is needed.

Christina Grierson is a Local intern.