Our Mission and Social Justice Committee has just announced a new partnership with Westminster Presbyterian on a Matthew 25 Fund they started in early 2020. The fund makes individual grants to Santa Feans for housing, utilities, medical, dental and auto repairs with a limit of $500 per applicant.

The fund has helped 184 individuals in urgent need since it was founded. Each applicant is vetted by Santa Fe Connect Navigator to ensure the need is legitimate and then sent on to the committee.  Donna Fleetwood will be the voting member from First Presbyterian.

Some examples of needs met:

• A mother was temporarily laid off from JC Penney for medical reasons. The fund was able to provide funding to pay the utilities the day before they were terminated.
• A disabled widower whose wife died of Covid, raising his teenage daughter who just had a baby. The fund was able to help pay his car loan before it was repossessed.
• An asylum seeker who was a member of a Presbyterian congregation in Cuba and could not work while seeking her legal status. The fund covered some rent.
• A disabled couple whose furnace and plumbing broke received the gift of wood for their fireplace until they could get it repaired.

As a Matthew 25 church, we welcome the opportunity to help relieve these emergency needs and make a difference in our community. If you would like to support the Matthew 25 Fund, you can do so by writing a check to Westminster Presbyterian, 841 W Manhattan Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501, noting Matthew 25 in the memo line.  Or you can give online on the Westminster Donation page.