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From the pews, you can savor the rewards of your gifts to St. James's in our breathtaking sanctuary filled with the inspiring voices of our choirs. In classes and discussion groups, your gift brings many of us to a new and deeper understanding of God.
Likewise, you can see your generosity in the smiling faces of the children and parents who benefit from our Children's Center, from our relationship with Richmond's homeless, our mission trips here and abroad, and in the countless ways we care for each other to create a community of love and hope.
But not everything we do - and support - is so easy to see.
One such organization is REAL LIFE, which has helped inmates leaving jail focus on sustained sobriety by encouraging what it calls Recovery from Everyday Addictive Lifestyles.
Since forming in 2016, the organization has expanded to offer services to pregnant women battling addiction. It also operates both a community center and a residential recovery house where men can live for up to six months.
By helping individuals in need strengthen family ties, find meaningful employment, interact with the community, and, if they choose, use faith to inform daily decisions and understand Christ's mission as our Creator, REAL LIFE has lived out a mission that is very much like our own.
"We are all part of God's kingdom," says REAL LIFE founder Dr. Sarah Scarbrough. "This is not an us versus them situation, but rather an opportunity for humans to serve humans, as Jesus expects us to do. We have the power to serve others in hopes they'll be saved to a productive and thriving life, recovering to something greater than what was lost."
St. James's has supported REAL LIFE in a variety of ways, starting with financial support from our Outreach programs. In addition, individual parishioners have been inspired to donate their own time, talents, and treasure.
Dr. Scarbrough saw a need that others didn't, serving a population that is too often overlooked - or worse. And to many of us, the work she leads - and the lives it changes - happens beyond our vision. But as Doers of the Word committed to bringing our faith to life, we know the value of seeing the unseen, helping the forgotten and providing hope to the hopeless.
And with your help, we'll continue to support it.
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