SAN ANTONIO – A West Side church is calling on other churches around them to unite forces so that they can become a safety net for the community in need.
Pastor Vincent Robinson said his calling when he took over Harper’s Chapel Ministries two years ago was to serve and become a hub, resource, and hand for the community around them.
Robinson’s church is open almost 24 hours to provide food and services to anyone in need.
On Monday, after a fatal shooting just down the street from the church, he was there to help the grieving families.
“We have a street outreach team ourselves. So what we do is we go out to the community, we talk to the community. We see what the family needs, whether it’s the victim’s side or even the one that might have caused that,” Robinson said. “We want to be able to try to see how we can be there once needed because there’s grieving on both sides.”
There are over 20 churches in the area, and he’s reaching out to form a united front that does more for the community. Each Wednesday, the church hosts a community hub, where church partners serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., providing food, services, health assessments, or passing out harm reduction kits to drug users.
Robinson said he wants to challenge churches across the city to form unities with other churches regardless of the denomination and serve or support each other in service.
“A lot of our community over here. There’s a lot of trauma,” he said.