In Step

December 2025

INSIDE:

• A Volunteer's Eye View

• STRIVE Wins in 2025

• Thank You Gala Donors

• EOY 2025

Special thanks to St. Francis Episcopal, Great Falls, for sponsoring our 2025 Anacostia participant party; St. Mary's Episcopal, Arlington, for sponsoring the NOVA Thanksgiving grocery event; and St. Albans, Annandale, for sponsoring the NOVA participant holiday party.

A View From the Front Desk: Madeleine Johnson

If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to volunteer at Samaritan Ministry — or what it is that lures our devoted volunteers back week after week, we have a treat for you.

Writer and Northwest DC resident Madeleine Johnson will take you with her behind the front desk and into the donated clothes closet at Samaritan’s U St. office in Southeast DC in this insightful piece which she wrote earlier this year for The American, an online magazine for English-speaking residents of Italy and others, like her, who have ties to the country. As much a cultural commentary on present-day America as it is a window into the day-to-day lifeline that Samaritan provides to those who have been harmed or left behind by it, she calls the column “America in a Nutshell.”

And if the piece inspires you to join her in volunteering, please contact Samaritan Partner Council and Volunteer Manager Sy Jones at sjones@samaritanministry.org. We particularly need volunteers in our Arlington, Va. office and would love to hear from you!

. CLICK HERE TO READ MADELEINE'S COLUMN

Our year began with the words of the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, who at Samaritan’s 2025 Next Step Breakfast, reminded us of our commitment to those who are still finding their place, finding their way, searching for PURPOSE in a society that continues to shift its resources, shift its support systems, and shrinks the number of people whose professional expertise once managed the resource systems.

Herein lies the work of Samaritan Ministry, and in particular, STRIVE DC, our employment readiness training program. 

There is not a day that goes by that we at STRIVE DC do not get a call from or a referral for someone trying to figure out “What comes next? I've been laid off;” or “I've been out of the job market for a few years;” or “I have never had a job."

This year STRIVE DC went a step further in the challenge to elevate our workforce development training by adding OSHA certification through Clark Construction, as well as certifications in Home Healthcare, Food Handling and Facilities Maintenance... CLICK HERE TO READ CHERYL'S FULL REFLECTION

We are deeply grateful that despite being forced to reinvent our Gala 2025: Compassion in Action as an online-only event at the 11th hour, it still generated more than $90,000 of much-needed revenues.

Congratulations to our 2025 Annual Award winners, who you can read about here and view receiving their awards here, in the video of the live portion of the event. 

Special thanks to Sam Ford, the WJLA News7 legend who jumped in as a last-minute co-host with Jennifer Longmire-Wright, Samaritan’s Deputy Director, Development.

We owe an immense debt of gratitude to our Partner Council members and others who donated dozens of online auction items, supporting our small but mighty staff who scrambled to recreate the streamed event behind the scenes. And we would not have been able to continue our important work for our program participants without our generous sponsors and other donors.



Still, we missed the chance to gather in person with all of you!

If you missed it as much as we did, please save the morning of March 14, 2026, for Samaritan’s next community-wide event, our 2026 Next Step Breakfast, where we will celebrate Samaritan’s 40^th Anniversary. (And if you are a part of Samaritan’s Partner Council, save January 27th at 6pm for our Annual Meeting, where we will kick off the 40^th celebration.)

The countdown has started and there are just seven more days left in Samaritan's important 2025 End-of-Year campaign.

With grantmaking organizations pulling back and many donors themselves having difficulties this year, your gifts have never been more important to Samaritan's ability to help our under-resourced neighbors get back on their feet after debilitating life events, just as we did for Cleveland Todd, shown at right.

If you are able, please use the button below to give now, or go to this page to learn about other ways to give.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

Photos above taken by various Samamaritan staff and volunteers, or donated by the subjects.

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CONTACT US: info@samaritanministry.org • (202) 722-2280 • samaritanministry.org