For more than 30 years, members of the Church of St. Anastasia have been reaching out to the homeless of the Bowery area of New York City.

The outreach involves about 60 parishioners. Every Friday morning teams of parishioners assemble in the rectory and make about 400 sandwiches to be distributed in the Bowery the following day.

On Saturday morning, different teams take these sandwiches along with pastries, hot coffee, and hearty soup to a street corner in the Bowery section of lower Manhattan. Our white van pulls up around 10 a.m. and always finds a group of people standing and waiting for the “church people from New Jersey.”

In addition to this direct distribution, we bring donated baked goods from Butterflake Bakery and other businesses in Teaneck as well as usable clothing to the Catholic Worker women’s shelter and the University Community Social Services center.

At Christmas we take along a supply of gloves, hats, socks, and toiletries for distribution.

This outreach also serves as a great ministry learning experience for our young Confirmation candidates and others doing various service projects.

Anyone who would like to participate in the Bowery project can contact the current coordinator, Steve Weisenbach, at 201-836-1711.