A FOCUS on service: Orthodox churches expand to Hill District to help the poor
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Troy Polamalu holds his two sons, Paisios, right, and Ephraim during a benefit for FOCUS North America sponsored by the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church Community Center in Mt. Lebanon.
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The Orthodox of Pittsburgh are famous for mouth-watering food festivals that support their churches. But in April they will open a center in the Hill District to give food and other assistance to the poor, regardless of their faith.
It will be the seventh center for FOCUS North America, the first nationwide pan-ethnic effort by Orthodox Christians to provide social services in America. Because of the concentration of Orthodox in the Tri-State area, FOCUS founder and board chairman Charles Ajalat expects it to become a "centerpiece" for the 2-year-old organization.
"We have 130 priests and six bishops within a two-hour radius," he said Tuesday at a fundraising dinner that drew 400 people to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church in Mt. Lebanon. Few regions can say the same.
FOCUS stands for Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve. Its website is www.focusna.org.
Elsewhere, FOCUS has developed niche ministries. In Orange County, Calif., where it couldn't afford to buy or rent in the sky-high real estate market, a FOCUS truck brings food to motels where many evicted families live. Last month in St. Louis, FOCUS helped 45 women with crisis pregnancies fill out online job applications and trained them in basic skills such as job interviewing and budgeting.
"We don't want to duplicate unnecessarily what any other association, ministry or social service is doing here," said the Rev. Justin Mathews, a Serbian Orthodox priest from Kansas City, Mo., and executive director of FOCUS.
While its range of mission is being developed, Pittsburgh FOCUS will have an outreach to low-income and homeless military veterans. It has hired an Iraq War veteran as the center director. Struggling vets are a special concern of the FOCUS's most prominent supporter, Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. He surprised organizers by attending the dinner amid Super Bowl preparations.
First Published January 30, 2011 12:00 am
