Service

Service Ministry

At Dormition, we hear the call of Christ and seek to serve those in need around us. We partner with several organizations, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, local and non-local through our service ministry.

 

International Orthodox Christian Charities offer emergency relief and development programs worldwide. We partner with them throughout the year in various ways, such as donating to relief funds or participating in the Souper Bowl. For Souper Bowl, on Super Bowl Sunday each year, churches around the country collect funds for IOCC and non-perishable food items for the local food bank. 

 

The Orthodox Christian Mission Center develops and supports Orthodox missionaries and Mission Priests all over the world and making disciples of all nations. Our Parish participates in the "Support a Mission Priest" Program.    

  

 

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry serves those who are incarcerated and their families, and provides resources, training and support to our ministry partners so that lives are transformed and God is glorified. Our Parish has supported this ministry by writing letters to prisoners for the feast of Great Lent.

 

FOCUS is the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve. FOCUS partners with churches all over the US to address poverty through meaningful service. In the Summer each year, FOCUS facilitates a backpack drive and helps us connect with a local school to donate the bags and supplies. They also offer a Winter Connections program. For this program, Chick-fil-a donates $250 to participating churches to offer a meal and fellowship in the local community. In 2024 and 2025, we used these funds to provide and serve a meal to the Women's Shelter at the Union Mission in Norfolk. 

The Crisis Pregnancy Center of Tidewater provides guidance, support, and care to local mothers and fathers so that they choose LIFE for their child. Their services are free and range from counseling, ultrasounds, and parenting classes. They have four medical clinics and one resource center in Hampton Roads. Each January, our Parish participates in Sanctity of Human Life month through the Life Change campaign. Each family takes home a baby bottle and fills it with loose change, or a donation of any kind, to donate to CPC. We also support the Walk for Life fundraiser in the Spring and always send a few walkers too to show our support for LIFE! We are also happy to collect donations for the Baby Boutique at any time and deliver them to their main office. 

 

1 in 10 of the people in Hampton Roads are projected to be food insecure, which is estimated to around 130,240 food insecure individuals in our region. The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia distributes food donations through community partnerships and innovative programs like mobile food pantries. In the summer of 2024, we collected 539lbs of food which equated to 450 meals. Every year we also collect food during the IOCC's Souper Bowl event resulting in 90lbs, or 75 meals, donated in 2025. 

The Salvation Army Hampton Roads Area Command serves south side Hampton Roads and its surrounding communities with programs and locations that serve families in need with emergency assistance, housing, substance abuse treatment, youth enrichment opportunities, spiritual care and emergency disaster services. Our Parish participates in the Salvation Army's Christmas Assistance program, called the Angel Tree. We "adopt" 20 angels each year and purchase Christmas presents to delight these children on Christmas. This is one of the most fun service projects to participate in during the holidays!

For more than 130 years, The Union Mission Ministries has compassionately served men, women, and children without a home and with nowhere else to turn. Helping those who are homeless is the primary ministry at The Union Mission. Every month they house, feed, clothe, and support hundreds of homeless men, women, and children. Our Parish has sent teams of volunteers to serve meals at both the Women's and Men's shelters providing fellowship to the guests and relief to the employees. In 2024, we purchased the Mission's requested supplies for Christmas gifts and our Sunday School children decorated and packed the Christmas gift bags for the Men's shelter. The Mission shared that this brought a lot of joy to the guests!

 

 

If there is an organization you think we should support or have an idea for community service that you would like to present, we are open to new ideas! Just reach out to our Service Ministry leader, Lacey Stapleton.