Featured Community Partner: St. Dunstan's

When a parishioner at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in North Atlanta became “very concerned” about the impending eviction crisis, the rector, Patricia Templeton, knew just who to call. The result was a “very generous” gift of $50,000 to Emmaus House from the parishioner through St. Dunstan’s to provide rent and mortgage assistance that can help keep some families in their homes.

Working with Emmaus House “brings us satisfaction,” she said. “It’s a way to live out our faith—to put it into action.”

Parishioners believe in providing for the needs of their neighbors, she said, and they believe their “neighbors” include people well beyond the comfortable community that surrounds their church.

The Rev. Templeton said her always caring congregants seem to have stepped up their awareness of the needs of others during the COVID pandemic. “I’ve been delighted and touched to see how much concern there is for people,” she said.

She said that, while she hopes needs will decrease as unemployed people are able to return to work, she hopes the empathy for others will continue to grow. “It’s been wonderful and horrible at the same time,” she said. “The need is horrible. The fact that people are responding to it is wonderful.”

Emmaus House efforts provide a way for the church to channel aid through a program that operates with integrity and compassion.

In the meantime, although a moratorium on evictions has been extended, bills are piling up. “People are still going to owe the money eventually,” she said. “Payments haven’t been forgiven, only delayed.”

She said she often gets requests from people who need the church to pay for a few nights at a hotel to keep them off the streets. “A hotel is just a band-aid,” she said. “We hope to prevent people from being in the position of wondering from night to night where they’re going to stay.”