Neighborhood Resilience Project

Following the success of 2025's Inaugural Retreat, The 2nd Annual Reclaim the Tradition Retreat is a convening centered on the life and legacy of St. Basil the Great and the transformative model of Christian mercy he created through the Basiliad - his radical vision of the Church as a home for the sick, the vulnerable, the hungry, and the forgotten.

Taking place from September 23-25, 2026, this gathering will bring together a group of Orthodox leaders and visionaries committed to serving Christ in the world through ministry, healing, and justice. Inspired by St. Basil’s call to build structures of compassion, we aim to explore what Orthodox service can look like in our time, and how it can be rooted in theology, shaped by humility, and lived communally.

On behalf of the Neighborhood Resilience Project, and with gratitude to both Hellenic College Holy Cross and the Maliotis Cultural Center for their partnership and hosting, we invite you to join us in reclaiming this tradition by attending our September 2025 conference.

Follow the link here https://buff.ly/ftKatFL

Thank you.

Yesterday, 115 neighbors gave $17,064 to the Neighborhood Resilience Project for Pittsburgh Gives .

There is more to come. The Pittsburgh Foundation has not yet announced how the community pool will be shared among participating organizations, so our portion is still unknown. We will let you know what the day finally came to.
Your gifts go to the programs in our 2025 Annual Report, which is ready today: the Free Health Center, the Backpack Feeding Program, the food pantry, and the staff who sit with our neighbors on their hardest days.

Our word for 2025 was “Meeting the Moment.” You can read the whole year at the link in our bio.

Thank you for meeting it with us.

Six hours left.

Until 11:59 tonight, giving to the Neighborhood Resilience Project through Pittsburgh Gives means your gift is stretched further by the community pool.

If it's been on your list today and hasn't happened yet, the window closes at midnight. It takes about two minutes; any gift of $25 or more counts, online only.

Thank you for thinking of our neighbors today.

https://buff.ly/b0wXmqW

Today is , and every gift to the Neighborhood Resilience Project goes further.

Every gift given today through our fundraising page between $25 and $1,000 counts more, because it draws from a shared community pool. The more people who give, the larger our share of that pool. Give online, any time before 11:59 tonight.

We are grateful to walk this journey with you. Please join us today.

https://buff.ly/jB91awc

Feeding the hungry. Healing the sick. Reducing crime and rebuilding from trauma. By the grace of God, the ministry of the Neighborhood Resilience Project and St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church has transformed the people of Pittsburgh’s Hill District. His Eminence Metropolitan Saba made his first visit to the community on Sunday, July 26, 2026.

Fr. Paul Abernathy serves as the project’s CEO and the church’s pastor. He and the center’s leadership – including the spiritual advisor, His Grace Bishop Thomas – presented an overview and tour to Sayidna Saba and His Eminence Metropolitan Yacoub of the Iglesia Ortodoxa en Argentina - Patriarcado de Antioquia.

The Neighborhood Resilience Project acts as the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, opening its food pantry to an ever-increasing population who needs assistance, especially children whose only meals usually come from school. The center also offers rent and bill relief.

The project’s trauma response team goes into the community and ministers to survivors of violence. Their neighborhood interventions have reduced crime and shootings. Thanks be to God, no murders have been committed in the neighborhood in five years.

The Neighborhood Resilience Project is open to service retreats, welcoming people to come and help. More importantly, St. Moses the Black Church welcomes everyone for daily worship, centering its trauma response on the Gospel and the teachings and the sacramental life of the Orthodox Church.

Both the pastor and the local bishop have invested their lives in this ministry and the people it serves. Fr. Paul lives in the neighborhood, and Bishop Thomas relocated to Pittsburgh to be closer to the outreach.

Metropolitan Saba brought with him dozens of food kits prepared by campers at the Antiochian Village for the community.

Before the tour, at the invitation of Sayidna Saba, Sayidna Yacoub celebrated the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy. He called Sunday’s gospel lesson – in which Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes with just five loaves of bread and two fish (Matt. 14:14-22) – highly relevant to the community’s mission.

“The logic of the mind can only reach a certain point, to the point of what is impossible from a human perspective,” Sayidna Yacoub preached. “The logic of faith continues after that point. Difficulties and obstacles may seem impossible to overcome, even chronic illnesses. But when the logic of the mind ceases, we have faith that continues to work after that point.

“However far your hand can reach, God’s hand can reach farther. Jesus raised His hands to heaven, blessed the food, and everyone had food to eat. They raised 12 baskets of leftovers to ensure that the 12 apostles would each have a basket, showing them that they actually had enough food.”

To conclude the day, the hierarchs held a question-answer session with the community.

(For more photos by Kristopher Samuel and to learn more about the Neighborhood Resilience Project, visit https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2887.)

Our very own Ms. Diane started a Recovery Healing Group for the Community. The group is paired with an Akathist to the Mother of God for healing addictions. The first group was attended by more than 15 people. We are grateful for her labors to support our neighbors in need with their recovery and healing journey.

Our Where in the World Series is returning! Fr. Paul was invited to speak at the Parish Life Conference for the Diocese of Toledo. He offered the keynote address, several sermons and also did an Ask Abouna for the Teens. Of course, we were grateful for the invitation and the opportunity to share about our work and how it is spreading across the nation and beyond as well.

We were so grateful to welcome 102nd United States Colored Troops Company C to do a demonstration for children from our community as well as our children enrolled in the Resilience Academy this summer. The demonstration provided an overview of the African American Troops in the Civil War, their uniforms and life in the Civil War for Black Soldiers. The reenactors brought everything the soldiers would have carried with them, newspapers and money of the time and even a period specific drum. We look forward to our next time together.

Are you curious about what it means to be trauma informed and how this healing awareness shapes the way we engage those who suffer? Do you desire that your daily interactions offer healing and hope amidst pain and despair? Join us for a special symposium exploring trauma informed therapeutic encounters through the lens of Christian discipleship and compassionate presence. Led by two internationally recognized experts, this free virtual event on June 15th at 1 pm will offer practical insight, spiritual reflection, and meaningful dialogue for clergy, clinicians, caregivers, ministry leaders, and all who desire to accompany others with wisdom, mercy, and hope.

Register here - https://buff.ly/wDi9OoV!

We welcomed our second cohort of medical interns last week. The interns will be working in the Free Health Center throughout the summer. These students, ranging from a second year medical school student to a first year undergraduate student, fill the need for volunteers at the Free Health Center between fall and spring. They will fulfill various administrative tasks for the clinic, from answering phone calls to organizing patient information. Mostly, these interns are medical interns, but we also welcome a dental intern and a psychology intern this summer.