Did you know CAM’s downtown campus is located on the campus of Grace Lutheran Church? It is! And in fact, Grace Lutheran Church is one of the founding churches of CAM; without them, CAM would have never been born. It is not possible to have one without the other. CAM’s existence was due to Grace Lutheran Church’s commitment to the ministry and CAM’s mission and vision for the city of San Antonio. We’re so incredibly grateful for the gift they provide CAM everyday by allowing us to utilize their buildings to operate out of. Grace Lutheran Church, we love you! Visit them on Facebook!
Did You Know...?
Summer Internships
If you or someone you know age 15+ is looking for a summer internship, look no further than CAM! Our summer internship program offers flexible scheduling, impactful experiences, incredible learning opportunities, areas to shadow staff members, and so much more. Contact Mary Henderson, mhenderson@cam-sa.org for more information, or click here for our flyer.
Do’s and Don’ts for Helping Unsheltered Homeless
CAM has seen an uptick in helping the unsheltered street homeless over the past few years. When the pandemic hit, and most of the city shut down, this population had no where to go. They had no where to use the restroom, no where to find respite, no where to wash their hands, no where to get a meal. But CAM stepped up; we stayed open during the entire duration of the pandemic, and not only that, we extended our hours to 6 days a week providing tons of resources to both the street homeless and residential clients. Resources such as daily sack lunches, groceries, IDs, birth certificates, financial help with medical prescriptions and utilities, portable restrooms on our campus, wash stations on our campus so people could wash their hands, hygiene items, showers, and so much more. Our world has changed so much since covid-19. CAM has also changed so much in terms of our processes and services to accommodate those in need in the city of San Antonio. Many ask us how they should handle someone on the streets who approaches them. Or they ask us what to do if they see someone on the side of the road with a sign asking for help. This one page document provides some helpful tips on what you should do.
CAM's Corner
How many of you all have family members, close friends you consider family, etc. that you feel are in “your corner”? You know what we mean. When someone says, “I’m in your corner”, it means they have your back, they support you no matter what, they love you, they’ll fight for you. That’s exactly what we had in mind with our CAM’s corner campaign. We want to encourage others to be in CAM’s corner because essentially it means you support the people we serve on a daily basis. Our CAM’s Corner campaign has launched and is in full swing. The premise is that you may not be able to give “big”, but “small” gifts make BIG impacts. We put some of these words in quotations because they’re subjective. What may be big or small for one person may be the complete opposite for someone else. We encourage you to be in CAM’s Corner and become a monthly, bi-monthly, or even quarterly supporter. Giving $5, $10, $15, etc. monthly can make a huge difference for CAM because it will allow us to continue serving the San Antonio community on a daily basis. Visit cam-sa.org to donate today and become one of our monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly supporters! If you have questions about our CAM’s Corner campaign, contact Sarah at skory@cam-sa.org today.
May Needs
- Monetary donations
- DT Campus: Monetary Donations • Children’s Socks/Underwear (boys and girls ages 2 – teen) • Men’s Jeans • Men’s Shoes (all sizes) • Weekly Volunteers • Towels for Our Shower Program (Amazon Link)
- NW Campus: Jelly • Cereal • Canned Fruit
EVERYDAY NEEDED ITEMS
Click here for a list of items we are always in need of. Host a food or clothes drive with your church, workplace, in your neighborhood, or just on your own!
How to Donate Items
If you’re interested in donating items to CAM, please drop off items to our downtown campus at 110 McCullough Avenue. Drive back to our newly labeled ‘CAMpassion Warehouse’ where we provide you with a safe, contactless curb-side service. Once you pull up to the warehouse, you’ll see a flag and sign stating to call a number where one of our staff will come out and meet you in full PPE to retrieve your donations. You don’t even need to get out of your car! Please remember to sort and label all of your donations.
- Monday-Thursday between 8am – 3pm for curb-side service, otherwise use the donation bin that’s available for drop-offs 24/7
- Items We Take: women’s, men’s, infant, toddler, child-sized clothing and shoes, hygiene items, adult backpacks, women’s gently used or new bras, men’s and women’s belts, diapers, formula
- Items We Don’t Take: furniture, mattresses, medical equipment
- Reminder: please sort and label ALL donations by size and gender so we can get the necessary items into the hands of those that need it most in a timely fashion
Prayer Requests
To our clients with a prayer request, please click here to fill out whatever prayer request you may have. We will read everyone’s requests and if you’d like someone from our prayer team to call you back, we will surely do so. God bless. Solicitudes de oración en español, haga clic aquí.
Daniel Needs You
Recently, CAM had a major occurrence with one of its clients. This isn’t your normal, one-of-the-mill story. This is deep and makes us question our health care systems and mental health care systems and the processes in place to help those in need. For safety and privacy purposes, we’re calling our client Daniel. Daniel is a child of God who’s world has been turned upside down. We ask you to join a movement of hope and light. There will be other ‘Daniels’ out there who may not have access to places like CAM or Haven for Hope. So the Daniels of the world need us. They need you. Please read this story and share with your tribe of people. CAM wants to advocate for Daniel and we ask that you help us spread the word. Click here for Daniel’s full story.
Amazon Registry
Please consider supporting CAM by purchasing some of our most needed items listed on our registry. This will greatly help CAM during the COVID-19 pandemic get the necessary resources in the hands that need it most. Purchase items from the safety and comfort of your home and packages will be shipped directly to CAM’s downtown campus. Click here to access CAM’s Amazon registry. If you have any questions, contact our Director of Development, Sarah Kory, at: skory@cam-sa.org.
Why Wheat?
The wheat logo for CAM references our commitment to sharing and caring for all of those in need by feeding them, clothing them, by providing financial assistance and by feeding their soul through grace and love. Wheat is often a symbol of life, sustainability, charity and love. Wheat is a global sustainer of life being utilized to create various forms of bread in different cultures. Historically people planted, harvested and broke bread together for the betterment of their community. Celebrating this incredible bounty by giving back was and is an important part of all cultures. Today many of us harvest in different ways and sharing our bounty with others is still incredibly important.: "When you harvest the crops on your land, do not cut all the way to the corners of your field. Don’t pick up the grain that falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor…"
Leviticus, 23:22
Just like a triage or emergency room, people come to CAM in all sort of crisis. No appointment is necessary and all are welcome.
What We Do
Our mission is to share the love of Christ by providing immediate assistance and encouragement to people in crisis. We do this in the following ways:
Service
CAM serves over 60,000 people on an annual basis with important “safety net” resources including food, clothing, financial assistance for prescriptions, utilities and ID recovery just to name a few. We strive to meet their immediate needs to avoid further crisis and then help them gain access to additional community resources. 75% of those we serve are working poor and 14,000 are children
Community
We work with over 200 volunteers in San Antonio, Texas. Want to join our community?
Grace
Every person who comes to CAM, regardless of beliefs, is considered a child of God. Help is extended to all clients through the distribution of food, clothing, financial assistance, or by referrals to other agencies, prayer and a listening ear.