Many members of Rising Hope tour the State Capitol and receive an on-site history lesson on Feb 2.
To the Editor:
Every year, for the last 25 years, United Methodists from across Virginia converge on the General Assembly on a specific day in February to share our concerns about where our faith connects us with the issues in our communities and the broader society.
Rising Hope is not about simply serving our community by providing free services. We provide food, clothing, shelter, and emergency services but the whole point is to love people in such a way that they will want to get involved in extending that love to all corners of our community, especially those most in need. That includes making sure our legislators pass bills that include and lift up the poor and marginalized and not exclude them from society.
We were there to meet with our delegate, Scott Surovell, and our senator, Toddy Puller, to let them hear from the voices of some of the least among us. We brought 25, predominately, low-income members of Rising Hope. There were those in our group who are homeless, disabled, unemployed and working poor, and on fixed incomes. We were telling our legislators not to forget about us.
Rev. Keary C Kincannon
Rising Hope Mission Church