Since 2002 Quakers from East Sandwich Preparative Meeting have been deeply involved in serving homeless persons on Cape Cod. Early efforts included the Overnights of Hospitality Program in which our meeting participated for several years beginning in 2003. In that program we welcomed a number of homeless individuals for dinner, overnight stay and breakfast in our community building.
Below are several current examples of how East Sandwich Friends have made a difference. You are welcome to join any or all of these efforts.
Each year on December 21, the longest night of the year, we gather as part of the National Homeless Persons Memorial Service. We held the first such service on Cape Cod and have been instrumental in helping organize and spread this practice to other Cape Cod towns. As part of our East Sandwich memorial service a few of us sleep outdoors where, for one night, we experience the same harsh winter weather our homeless brothers and sisters live with. You can join us for a simple potluck that night (see photo below), join with us in worship after, or even camp outside the meetinghouse for the night (or sleep indoors to support the campers (see second photo, below).
We have also been instrumental in the creation of various programs for the homeless on Cape Cod, including Homeless Not Hopeless (HnH) and Belonging to Each Other. These are residential programs you can support with your charitable donations.
Each year since 2020, we have had the Stop and Shop Gift Card Program. This initiative offers Friends the opportunity to purchase gift cards to be given to homeless individuals in the Cape Cod area. Thousands of dollars have been raised for this initiative. In the last two years, we began providing Stop and Shop gift cards and financial donations to Robyn’s Resources, a Wampanoag tribal homeless outreach program. Robyn’s Resources provides case management at the Wampanoag homeless shelter in Mashpee as well as supportive services and case management for the broader homeless population on Cape Cod. Please see Alan to contribute.
In 2025, we began a Friendship Garden at East Sandwich Meeting. We built six raised beds and grew vegetables for the Wampanoag Homeless Shelter in Mashpee. We also placed four raised garden beds at the shelter itself and donated soil and plants. If you’d like to learn more about this initiative and what you can do to help, please talk to Alan, Trish Garland, or Steve Gates.
What You Can Do
We invite you join us for any or all of these activities to support our homeless neighbors.
Contact: Alan Burt
