Andrea emphasized “the importance of practicing social justice and compassion through faith.” For years, Sanctuary has been spearheading community-based projects that connect people to food and shelter, or other resources like community engagement and togetherness.
"The solar systems we installed over a year ago have contributed to the church’s energy savings, which we have been able to funnel into the congregation and the greater community," Andrea shared. She mentioned that for four months of 2020, Xcel Energy has actually sent them a check for the solar they produced above and beyond their own consumption. This money goes directly to the people, because the church uses it for things like their twice-monthly food drives, which started ramping up at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families have relied heavily on Sanctuary during this especially challenging time, and the church may have not had the capacity for this without the help from their solar energy savings.
Andrea described the church’s role as “not a savior, but a resource and partner of the neighborhood that is included in the fabric of our church,” which was extremely evident in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. For their final pre-holiday food drive, the food delivery truck they were expecting did not show up. Lee mentioned that it was snowing and they had no food supplies coming, so they started to quickly pack the Thanksgiving meals they were prepping a few weeks in advance. Community members who drove up to receive their food donations actually got out of their cars and began to volunteer, showing the true partnership and sense of community in serving people.