tidewater
Unity Renaissance of Chesapeake Love and Compassion in Action
EVERY TUESDAY AFTERNOON, TONY PORTEN heads over to Thurgood Marshall Elementary School to meet with someone special: 8-year-old Damien (not his real name), the 2nd grader Tony is tutoring. Tony helps Damien with his math and reading, but says, “Sometimes I realize he is teaching me as much as I am teaching him.” Through Damien, he has come to know what life is like for a young boy being raised by a single mother in a low-income household. And it has touched his heart in ways he never imagined. Tony is one of nine volunteers from Unity Renaissance church (www.unityrenaissance.org) in Chesapeake, Virginia, who tutor one or two Thurgood Marshall Elementary students each week. The tutors say they have come to realize that even a small offering of their time can change the course of a young person’s life. Thurgood Marshall Elementary has one of the highest poverty rates among schools in the area. Unity Renaissance has “adopted” the elementary school as part 46 April 2016
awareness
exploring spirituality
of its expanded community outreach activities. Over the past few years, Unity Renaissance has significantly increased its support to people in need in southeast Virginia. Current initiatives include: • Serving breakfast on the streets to the homeless in Norfolk, in collaboration with the Catholic Worker, a local charity, the first Saturday of each month; • Providing support to prison inmates, including books, magazines, supportive letters, and, in some cases, personal visits; • Conducting an ongoing program called Diaper Drive to donate diapers for children and adults in need; • Collecting and distributing coats, socks, toiletries, and other items for the homeless, and attending seminars on how to approach and noninvasively communicate with them; • Collecting and providing school supplies, stuffed animals, Christmas gifts, and gift cards to low-income children and families;