At Asbury First, we’re committed to reaching out directly with those in need. Powered by more than 200 volunteers and generous donations, our Community Outreach Center is constantly growing and evolving.
Services include hot meals, medical care, personal hygiene, hair care, and laundry assistance, help with bicycles and baking, job searches and computer access, a storehouse full of clothes and home goods, even help to apply for SNAP benefits. Here’s how you can do more good today.
Learn About Our Outreach Strategy: "Continuing Our Way Forward"
The Asbury First Dining & Caring Center (D&CC), is on the lower level of 1010 East Avenue location. We serve hot, nutritious meals and provide other assistance in a respectful, welcoming environment to those in need. And we’re always looking for volunteers. The Dining & Caring Center Team has worked hard setting up the space, planning volunteer rotations and creating new policies and procedures to better utilize our new facility, which is now fully operational.
For anyone struggling to create a living space with essential household items and clothing, the Storehouse is here to help. We distribute clothing plus all kinds of durable home goods—kitchenware, linens, children's books, games, and toys (please note that we do not accept furniture). Your high-quality donations are welcome throughout the year.
The Storehouse is open every Monday–Thursday from 9 am–3 pm, as well as the third and fourth Saturday of the month from 9 am–12 pm. We are now scheduling appointments for in-person shopping in our new location—the second floor of the Community Outreach Center (1010 East Avenue).
We are accepting of seasonal clothing, bed linens (sheets and blankets), towels and housewares in our new donation building (small brick building) located next to the parking lot of the COC at 1010 East Ave.
We are beyond blessed and are grateful for your continued support of the Asbury First Storehouse. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact us at asburystorehouse@asburyfirst.org or call 585-271-1050 x137.
A collaborative outreach program with the University of Rochester School of Medicine, the clinic is staffed by medical students working with a doctor preceptor. Open by appointment only for a variety of free non-emergency services, we rely on the funding from donors like you.
The UR Well Clinic is seeing patients every Thursday evening from 6–8:30 pm. Appointments can be made by calling 585-271-1050 or by clicking the button below to make an appointment online.
We deliver 80 bags of much-needed groceries each month to one or two of our partner inner-city churches, where they are distributed to needy congregation members, and to the Keeping Our Promise (KOP) Refugees, a support program to assist recent family arrivals. Food is donated by Asbury First members. Volunteers organize and bag the groceries, and facilitate delivery. It’s a collaboration that tackles food uncertainty in our community head-on.
Volunteer GB Ministry Brochure
The Community Garden at Asbury First provides fresh produce for the Dining & Caring Center meals and guests, and for the Grocery Bag Ministry partner churches and Keeping Our Promise Rochester refugee program. Through our efforts we also build relationships, provide education, hands-on learning experiences, meaningful service opportunities, and bring life and purpose to a previously unused and neglected portion of the campus.
The Community Garden Team is tending the garden, and are starting to harvest produce! They also have added two bee hives on the church roof to help with pollination, as well as a bird bath that also allows tired bees to stop for a drink of water.
Click here for more information about current planting, tending, harvesting needs, or other updates on our Facebook page.
Volunteer Community Garden Brochure
The Asbury Bicycle Ministry continues to make an impact in our neighborhood! We repair bikes in the garage on the Asbury campus Thursday mornings, May through September, 7:30 to 11:30 am. If you are interested in participating, please contact Simon Barnett at sjbarnett3@gmail.com or call the church office at (585) 271-1050.
Easter 2024 marked the one year anniversary of our Community Outreach Center being fully open to the community. In that time we've provided more than 9,000 meals, 1,000 bags of groceries, 5,000 individuals with clothing and household goods, 300 clinic appointments, 300 loads of laundry, 700 showers, 150 haircuts, and 150 bicycles serviced.
In addition to this physical impact, there are countless hours of less measurable ministry: conversations held, relationships deepened, burdens shared, prayers offered together. The impact of the COC on the Asbury community is deeply personal. To explore this impact, we've gathered the experiences of some of our volunteers into a brief periodical titled Social Holiness.
Read it below.
For more information about any of our outreach programs, please contact Rev. Patrick Dupont at pdupont@asburyfirst.org or by calling 585-271-1050 x136.