Trinity Warsaw & VVA’s Household Goods Program

BY TED WILKINSON

In the town of Warsaw in the heart of Wyoming County, New York, sits Trinity Episcopal Church. In the 160 years since its consecration much has changed, but the church has always supported others. Now it supports VVA, too.  

Janis Chalmers, a Vestry member of Trinity Church, received a solicitation from VVA’s Household Goods Program. She researched the program and learned that all monies were used to support local, state, and national programs that benefit America’s veterans—especially Vietnam veterans. So Chalmers recommended that Trinity Church hold a special collection for the program. With unanimous support from the church’s parishioners, Chalmers headed up the collections. When she contacted the VVA Household Goods Program, the local program director dedicated a truck for the pickup day at Trinity Church.  

On June 11 the VVA Household Goods Program truck arrived at the church to collect the donations, which included clothing, toys, appliances, and furniture—even an organ. By the time everything was loaded onto the truck, it was filled almost to capacity.

This small country church in rural Western New York doesn’t have many parishioners, but their hearts are enormous.