St. Matthew House

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CHRISTMAS OUTREACH

Saint Matthew House Christmas Outreach

Saint Matthew House (SMH) residents are, for the most part, disabled and are limited in their ability to get around. Most do not own cars. They are primarily dependent on the Kings Contrivance Village Center to shop or for access to bus transportation to other locations.

Again, this year, as part of our Sunday School St Nicholas Day Workshop on December 6^th, we would like to put together some Christmas gifts for the residents. There are 16-17 residents. We would like to solicit money donations only for Saint Matthew House and, depending how much is collected, the church will purchase the SMH gifts. This will also ensure consistency with the same gifts to each resident.

These donations will enable the residents to purchase food and hopefully a nice gift to make their Christmas a little more enjoyable. We know that we’ve been asking a lot of our parishioners with respect to donations coming up on the holidays, but this is an excellent outreach opportunity for our parish to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.

You can donate by check; please write SMH Gifts in the memo or comments line.
If you prefer to donate cash, please enclose it in an envelope with your name so we may give credit for the donation.
You can also donate on-line from the church website, https://www.stmatthewoca.org/donate, please select Saint Matthew House Donation on the To: line as the giving type

Please contact the SMH Board, Tom Lentscher, Craig Moyer or Don Sheppard if you have any questions.

Thank You in advance for anything you can provide to help us bring Christmas into the lives of these residents.

The St. Matthew Parish contines to support the residents of St. Matthew House with their generosity. See our Parish Events for a description of the St. Nicholas Day party hosted by the parish.

St. Matthew House:

In 1994, the vision of establishing a home for independent, disabled adults in Howard County, was conceived by Maria Turley, a parishioner of Saint Matthew Church. Over the next five years, advocates worked diligently toward the goal of realizing the vision to build such a facility. Community support was solicited and garnered. A government grant, under the HUD 811 PRAC program, was awarded and commercial and private donations were raised. Partnerships to build and operate St. Matthew House were formed. On April 25 1999, His Beatitude Metropolitan Theodosius, along with government, and business leaders gathered together to dedicate St. Matthew House in Columbia, Maryland, a 501 (c) (3) organization.

This property provides affordable housing for 15 single adults with physical disabilities, who can live independently. It is one of a handful of such properties in the country. The entire House is accessible. There are 15 one-bedroom apartments with kitchenettes. The secure building has common areas including; a living room with a large flat screen TV, dining room, a fully furnished kitchen, a computer, and onsite laundry. The location of St. Matthew House in the fully accessible, barrier-free Kings Contrivance Village Center enables the residents to shop, bank, socialize, and generally carry on the activities of normal life. Howard County's barrier-free public transportation stops at the Center. All these factors make St. Matthew House's site an ideal neighborhood for people with physical disabilities.

Rent is based on 30% of the resident's gross adjusted income and covers all utilities as well as wi-fi.

The waiting list for the property is currently closed.

Heritage Housing Partners Corporation (HHPC) manages St. Matthew House.

Please contact the Onsite Manager Michaela Lyons via email at mlyons@hhpcorp.org or by phone at 443-518-7691 for further information.

Members of the Orthodox Church of St. Matthew serve on the Board of Directors of St. Matthew House.

Click to view Saint Matthew House Photo Gallery