You Cared for Me: The Matthew Project
By Hannah Phillips
It all began with the imperative Christ gave Christians
in Matthew 25: “For when I was hungry, you gave me
food; when I was thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was
homeless, you gave me welcome; when I was ill-clad, you
clothed me; when I was sick, you cared for me; when I was
in prison, you came to see me.” The imperative to care for
the least among us, to reach out to those who are hungry,
who are sick, who need shelter sparked the idea for the
Matthew Project to be born.
The Matthew Project is a collaboration between the
Episcopal Charities Foundation and Good Samaritan
Health and Wellness Center, two organizations that
independently follow the dictates of Christ through the
ministry expansion and Good Sam’s vision to construct a
permanent home for Good Samaritan, a free, not-for-profit medical clinic in Jasper, Georgia.
Having opened over 12 years ago, Good Samaritan
provides free or discounted health services to residents
and workers of Pickens County who have no access to
healthcare. Operated almost exclusively by volunteers,
in 2012 alone there were 14,000 patient visits to the
Center. More than twenty-five percent of the 30,000
residents of Pickens County have been or are currently
patients of Good Samaritan.
The Episcopal Charities Foundation (ECF), is a ministry
of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. For thirty-two years
ECF has funded food pantries, homeless shelters, medical
and dental clinics, organizations that care for the
incarcerated, and more throughout North and Central
Georgia. Feeling the need to make a bigger impact and in
keeping with the imperative in X] ]