Volunteer Opportunities

Serve God and your neighbor by volunteering with us at St. John’s! There are many ways, big and small, to contribute to our parish community. Get to know your fellow parishioners better. Teenagers, earn your service hours here in your spiritual home! Below is a listing of service teams; within each one there are many opportunities to sign up for service on a one-time or more frequent basis. Check back often to see what additional needs have been posted!

Email us at volunteer@stjohndc.org

Ongoing Opportunities

• Slavonic Lunch Teams: Volunteers participate in organizing, cooking and serving lunches on Sundays after Slavonic Liturgy. Support our parish tradition of gathering for a meal after liturgy where your contributions support worthy causes. Volunteers are needed in teams of 3 or more people to prepare and serve lunches. If you are not part of a team, individual help is also highly appreciated. Reach out to Team Lead – Elena Bazimirova (703-577-4315) and sign up on  St. John's Slavonic Trapeza: Sisterhood Slavonic Lunch Signup 2022 (signupgenius.com).
• English Lunch Teams: Volunteers participate in organizing, cooking and serving lunches on Sundays after English Liturgy. Support our parish tradition of gathering for a meal after liturgy. Currently there are six teams, and we need to form two more for a total of eight. Join an existing team or form a new one of 3 or more people. Reach out to Charity Williamson via volunteer@stjohndc.org.
• Kiosk Team: Help greet visitors to St John’s and support our parish community by working at our kiosk in the church hall! Volunteers are invited to staff the kiosk on a periodic or regular basis after Slavonic liturgy. Certain skills and time availability are required. You’ll get to know our book, icon, jewelry and souvenir collections. Team Lead – Valentina Kelly. Contact volunteer@stjohndc.org.
• Kiosk Children’s Corner: Our parish is blessed with wonderful small children, and we are happy to offer them paper and drawing supplies to occupy their time before services and meals. An artistic visitor to our parish created a large Angel bin to hold some of these supplies plus there are drawers installed below for larger items. A volunteer or two is needed after each liturgy to regularly monitor these supplies, sharpen pencils, provide papers, pick up strewn items, etc. This task won’t take much time and is perfect for some of our young parents. Contact volunteer@stjohndc.org to indicate your interest in helping.
• Feeding the Homeless: This team organizes Sunday hot and cold lunches for the homeless after the English liturgy. Volunteers are needed to assemble food bags, cook or heat up soup for 20-25 people; others are needed to pour soup and/or other hot beverages into serving size containers. The latter takes only about 30-45 minutes, and you can sign up to help on the Sundays that you’re at liturgy. Donations of soup, sandwiches/hotdogs, snacks, fruit, juice and wat er are welcome. Team Lead – Liza Cooley. Contact her at volunteer@stjohndc.org.
• Clothing for the Homeless: Help Matushka Maria sort through and send to the cleaners donated clothing or shop at Walmart for underwear, socks and shoes.
• Ukrainian Relief: Help Matushka Maria sort through donated food and medical supply items, shop for personal hygiene items, package and drive to drop off point.
• Church Adornment (Flower) Team: These volunteers keep our cathedral beautifully decorated throughout the year. Volunteers are needed to remove flower arrangements from the church to refrigerate at the end of service and return back to the church before the next service, change water in vases during the week and do minor flower clean-up. Learn from experienced personnel to make beautiful church flower arrangements, training is available. Reach out to Anna Vikhlyaeva if interested in helping. To find out more, e-mail us at volunteer@stjohndc.org.

• Church Cleanliness Team: These volunteers provide extra care to keep corners clean that might be easily overlooked. On a periodic basis, volunteers gather to clean our icons and hard-to-reach spaces, help polish candlestands, vigil lamps etc. To express interest in helping with these projects, please e-mail us at volunteer@stjohndc.org.
• Prosfora Baking Team: This team bakes over 2,000 prosfora per month! Baking sessions are scheduled on weekdays two-three times per month. Team Lead – Irina De Castillo. E-mail us at volunteer@stjohndc.org.

• Prayer Ministry (Ministry for the Ill and Afflicted): The Ministry seeks to meet the needs of the elderly, homebound, ill, and imprisoned through special acts of attention, compassion and prayer. Volunteers are needed to pray on a regular basis for specific individuals in need, make phone calls to those who are homebound, deliver Christmas and Easter baskets. Team Lead – Natasha Lord. If you’re interested in helping, message Natasha at (703) 283-8548 or reach out to volunteer@stjohndc.org.
• Vestment Team: This team maintains and repairs all the vestments used during services. If you’re good with a needle and thread, this team could use your talent! Team Lead – Anya Campos. To find out more, e-mail us at volunteer@stjohndc.org. Besides working on repairs, help with changing the analogion covers depending on feast days and cleaning the icons is also needed.  Anya is recruiting for one or two seamstresses who can make minor repairs and adjustments.
• Garden Team: The garden team maintains the landscaping, including watering, weeding and planting annuals and perennials surrounding the church. The work of this team is seasonal. Team Lead – Marina Zacharin. Volunteers are invited for the spring, summer and fall seasons. Contact us at volunteer@stjohndc.org if you like gardening.
• Household Inventory Team: This team keeps our household running, including ordering drinking water, purchasing paper towels, soaps, plates, disposable utensils, and food staples. Team Lead – Raisa Riabtsev. Volunteers are needed to help conduct quarterly inventory, stocking shelves and periodic maintenance. Contact volunteer@stjohndc.org if you are a good organizer.
• Lampada (Vigil Lamp) Care: Maintaining the many vigil lamps in the church is painstaking work that requires timeliness and dedication. Most wax inserts must be changed on a weekly basis, more often if there are weekday services. Additionally, vigil glasses are changed out several times a year depending on the holiday (i.e. red or blue or green). Contact volunteer@stjohndc.org and ask for Anya Yedgarian to volunteer as a backup. Training will be provided.
• Bazaar/Fundraiser Committee: The bazaar/fundraising committee is an ad hoc group of parishioners led by the sisterhood who meet as necessary to plan and conduct the annual parish bazaar and major fundraisers as required. Volunteer slots for specific fundraisers will be listed above in the “new opportunities” section, but if you have ideas and would like to join the committee to help with long-term planning, please reach out to us at volunteer@stjohndc.org.

Thank you for lending your talents to serve our parish and others!

May God bless you and keep you safe!