St Mark Lutheran Church PORT Ministry

2025/2026 Season

St Mark Lutheran Church PORT Ministry provides volunteers for guests’ overnight stay, a hot dinner meal, and a hardy bag breakfast for each event. Services provided include purchasing, preparing, and serving meals, and interacting with guests and PORT facilitators through administrative tasks associated with receiving, processing, and serving guests. The cost of purchasing meals is approximately $900 per event. Throughout the year, we host fundraiser events to support this ministry including contributions from Pink Envelope offerings and other activities.

PORT (People Offering Resources Together) – is an emergency winter shelter that hosts an average of up to 106 individuals per night, for 20 weeks during the winter. The name of this program really explains it all: it’s a safe harbor, made possible by a network of 130 interfaith (Christian and non-Christian) groups that provide their facilities, volunteers, food, hygiene items, showers, clothes and many other resources to homeless men, women and children in the area. The shelter moves to a different church every week, and each night, there’s a new group of volunteers responsible for welcoming the guests and providing at least 2 meals (dinner and breakfast) per day. Each season, PORT counts with over 8,500 volunteers who get involved in planning, cooking, or distributing clothes and hygiene donations.

PORT Includes – community referrals, nightly assistance with oversight of legal and community assistance programs, very basic case management, collection of homeless data, medical referrals, on-site medical evaluations and dental care, showers, provision of transportation, flu/pneumonia shots, information for affordable housing, job referrals, AA, N.A, daytime life skills training opportunities, and more.

Volunteers are needed to help organize St Mark supporting guest at a hosting church in the Newport News, Va area. We are working with LINK of Hampton Roads .

First Shift (Check-In) volunteers
Shift 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Arrive 5:45pm). 5 volunteers needed
Young adults (14 – 17 years old) are welcome to assist.  

Volunteer 1 – Write nametag for each guest with first name and guest number 
Volunteer 2 – Write bag tag for each guest 
Volunteer 3 – Write the guest number in bedding log and bedding tag as needed
Volunteer 4 & 5 – Handout and collect guest bags for storing guest’s personnel belongings in storage room

Volunteers will also assist with handing out bedding (Mat and bagged mat cover, 1 sheet and blanket). Check-in volunteers are asked to stay until 9:00 pm when 2^nd shift volunteers begin.

Dinner volunteers
Shift 4:30 pm – 9:00 pm (Arrival time dependent on meal prep. Projecting 5:00pm). 6 volunteers needed
Young adults (14 – 17 years old) are welcome to assist.  

Second Shift (Checkout) volunteers
Shift 4:45am – 7:00am (Arrive 4:30am). 5 volunteers needed
Young adults (14 – 17 years old) are welcome to assist

Volunteer 1 – Front Desk 
Volunteer 2 & 3 – Return guest bags with belongings, collect empty bags used for storing guest belongings.
Volunteer 4 & 5 – Assist with storing bagged bedding and mats (Mat and bagged mat cover, 1 sheet and blanket). Supervise cleaning of bathroom, sleeping area, ect… 

Morning volunteers
Shift 4:00 am – 5:30 am (Arrival time dependent on meal prep. Projecting 4:30am).   2-3 volunteers needed to return personnel bags
Young adults (14 – 17 years old) are welcome to assist.