helloNext up in our People of the Neighborhood Resilience Project series, meet Marli and her son, Jamieson!
Marli: “I’m Marli VanHorne and I like art. I grew up in Indiana County, but I’ve been in Pittsburgh for three years now. Here at the Neighborhood Resilience Project, I am a Community Health Deputy, so I spend time canvassing, passing out flyers, and informing people that they have resources. If they don’t have health insurance, they can come here and go to a doctor or go to a dentist. I also help cook downstairs, pass out the food, and work in the Backpack Feeding Program. My proudest moments are when we set up in the community and we let the people know that they can get all their shots – their COVID shots, other vaccines, wellness checks for diabetes, and stuff like that. Because I like to see that people are aware of other resources if they can’t find resources.
Before working here, I was part of the community getting a free lunch here. From my perspective, being here gives people hope, it gives them comfort. It gives them somebody they can rely on. Working here has made me adopt a new family. Since working here, I’m more talkative, I guess you could say. I used to be a quiet, reserved person. Now, I’m not. Because working here has built different strengths in my life—for example, talking to people when I canvas. Working here, there’s mercy to the community. Whereas at other places I feel like they don’t really show you mercy. And when there’s mercy, it takes the weight off your shoulders.”
Jamieson: “My name is Jamieson. I’m 15. I like riding scooters, and I like doing sports. So I like basketball, volleyball. The reason why I like coming to church here is because I get to work behind the altar, because it’s my favorite thing to do. Some things I love about St. Moses Church are: they help serve the community, provide jobs for people, food banks… plus they provide a trauma specialist, a trauma van specialist. Some of my happiest moments here were going to a Pittsburgh Pirates game with everybody, being baptized in this church with my family, and being on the news with Fr. Paul, giving him a high five. I still have a picture of that. Fr. Paul has also helped me to learn about the prayers and about how to communicate with other people, how to listen to and obey other people, and how to be kind and respectful. And I’ve learned a lot about Orthodoxy, plus I learned a lot about how to serve behind the altar. Well, thank you to everybody in the church for teaching me a lot of things.”