The Religious Herald newspaper has an article on the 160-year old Pine Street Baptist Church’s efforts to help the homeless.

Excerpts:

Home is where your mailbox is and for some homeless residents in Richmond’s historic Oregon Hill neighborhood, that’s now Pine Street Baptist Church.
The recent addition of 50 lockers and 25 mailboxes is about more than a safe place for the homeless to keep belongings and a mailbox with their name on it, said Jennifer Turner, director of the Oregon Hill Baptist Center. It may be the first step in transitioning to a more stable lifestyle.

…

“Over the past couple of years, Pine Street Baptist Church entered a ‘Pursuing Missional Faithfulness’ process to help the church identify who we are in light of where we are, and the theme of hospitality continued to rise up in our gatherings,” said pastor Philip Turner, Jennifer’s husband.

“The homeless population around our church has increased — along with the number of students attending Virginia Commonwealth University,” he said. “The church felt that a ministry of hospitality to both the students and homeless needed to be part of our mission.”