The Alliance for Interfaith Ministries (AIM) is a part of the ministry of Westminster Church as we seek to support important work beyond our church walls that fulfills our mission, sustained by grace, to serve Christ, share God’s love and work for justice in a complex world.

The Alliance for Interfaith Ministries (AIM) was formed by a group of Charlottesville churches years ago to centralize requests for assistance. Westminster’s Pastor Bill Smith was a founding pastor of AIM. Currently, Westminster Church is grateful to have member, Rich Gregory, actively involved as Interim Treasurer and serving on the AIM Board, and to Crystal Steiger-Smith, immediate past Board member.

For the last several years including in 2020 Westminster Church contributed $10,000 annually to AIM’s work.

AIM works with the working poor in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. AIM’s purpose is to provide temporary emergency assistance to families threatened with homelessness, loss of power or fuel, or other temporary financial crises.

AIM has developed a domestic violence fund to help victims of violence get new housing.

AIM and PACEM have started a senior housing fund that helps homeless people older than 55 get permanent housing.

In 2019 AIM served over 1,500 people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County with various needs, primarily housing-connected.  AIM “moves mountains for the needy” and finds housing for threatened families within hours.  AIM found housing for 30 potentially homeless seniors, and a number of threatened families and children. 

AIM advocates with the city, county and UVa for more safe affordable housing. They alerted the community about issues such as the Belmont Apartments where affordable units were threatened with demolition.

Through direct financial assistance, AIM provided funds to pay utility costs preventing evictions and loss of service to approximately 300 households. 

AIM advocates for the residents in our community in need by helping them work through the social service network, linking them to appropriate service providers, helping them get a handle on their finances. AIM is a last resort committed community resource and advocate for our neighbors of individuals and families, but it is also usual  – before even the pandemic – that AIM is long on needs and short on funds.

For further information contact:

Rich Gregory, Interim Treasurer

(434) 989-8857

Kimberley Fontaine, Director 
(434) 972-1704

Alliance for Interfaith Ministries (AIM)
Located at:
1807 Emmet Street North, Suite 6A
Charlottesville, VA  22901
Mailing address: 
PO Box 7331, Charlottesville, VA 22906

Website: www.aimcville.org

March 15

What is Westminster?

March 22

What is our mission?

March 29

What does it mean to be a Presbyterian?

On March 22 at 9:30 a.m., come to the library, to hear Earl Swift, nominated seven times for the Pulitzer Prize, discuss his celebrated book, Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Waterman of Vanishing Tangier Island.

Tangier Island, located in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, has been called the “soft-shell crab capital of the world,” as well as being at the heart of Virginia’s oyster industry. Tangier was settled at the time of the American Revolution by families from Cornwall and Devon in England, and the people there still speak with an accent described as a “colonial-era Cornwall patois wrapped inside a Virginia twang.”

Unfortunately, its inhabitants might also prove to be among the first climate refugees in the United States. Tangier has lost more than two-thirds of its landmass to sea-level rise and land subsidence since 1850, and if current trends continue, and in the absence of expensive coastal restoration and protection efforts, the island will likely be uninhabitable within 25-50 years.

Now, with the help of community leaders on Tangier, arrangements have been made for church members to spend the weekend of May 2-3 on the island, staying in their community center and attending services at Swain Memorial United Methodist Church, before returning on the afternoon ferry to Reedville, VA. The cost for the ferry and car-pooling to Reedville is $50/person, and there will be an orientation meeting for the trip on March 25, at 7 p.m. in the lounge. If you would be interested in going on the trip,  contact me or Ken before Earl Swift’s class on the 22, so we can reserve seats on the ferry soon.
Peter Gates
on behalf of the WPC Green Team

https://www.westminsterva.org/14322-2/

Ash Wednesday
February 26, 2020 at 6:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.

As the season of Lent begins, I would like to invite you to an Ash Wednesday service at Westminster. Our Ash Wednesday services are brief — 20-30 minutes — and include music, prayer, liturgy, and the imposition of ashes. As in previous years, we have two choices: 6:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. If you’re on your way to work or are a morning person anyway, stop by the sanctuary for a brief service at 6:30 a.m. Then, join other morning worshippers for a cup of coffee or tea and a pastry in the Gathering Place. If this seems a little early, you’re welcome to our evening service at 6:30 p.m. Either way, the time of Ash Wednesday this year should be etched on our minds! Just remember…6:30.
Blessings,
Ken Henry