A church on Elm Street, Reading, Pennsylvania
Commons Church Iglesia Commons
We worship on Sunday, in English and in Spanish. The rest of the week this same building is a food pantry, a classroom and a legal clinic — run by this congregation, open to anybody in the city, and free.
- Food
- English classes
- Help with bills
- Clothes
- Recovery
- Legal clinic
- Volunteer shifts
- Food and goods
- Money
- Drive the van
This week
When the doors are open
Closed on federal holidays. If the schools are closed for snow, so are we — check the phone message.
Before you come
Three things we want you to know
No paperwork
No ID, no proof of address, no proof of income for the pantry, the clothing room or the meal. Bring the bill for help with bills — that is all.
No questions about status
We do not ask about immigration status, we do not record it, and we have never given information about anyone who came here to anyone who asked for it.
Nothing is expected of you
Nothing here requires you to attend anything, believe anything or sit through anything. If you want to talk about faith, ask — and if you do not, nobody will raise it.
Last year
Last year in this building
Counted from the sign-in sheets, not estimated. The full accounts are published every March and anyone may ask for them.
Sundays
What a Sunday looks like
About seventy-five minutes: singing, a reading, a talk, prayers, and coffee afterwards for as long as anybody wants it. The nine o’clock is in English and the eleven is in Spanish; they are the same service, not a main one and a translation.
Nobody who uses anything else in this building is expected to come, and nobody who comes is ever asked what they used.