The Open Table Ministry wraps Trinity’s loving arms around some of our community’s most vulnerable members: Youth aging out of foster care.

Every year, up to 30 foster children “age out” of Lucas County’s child-welfare system. This means they were never safely reunited with their families, nobody ever adopted them, and now they’re too old for continued foster care. At 18 years of age, they’re “emancipated” — utterly on their own and in charge of their own lives. 

Trinity’s Open Table Ministry creates groups of 6-8 trained volunteers who make a one-year commitment to meet weekly (preferably over a meal) with one such young person. Our ministry doesn’t provide services – it provides relationships. We are asked to give away not our hand-me-downs, but ourselves. In doing so, the group creates a reliable, consistent setting where a young adult can find genuine belonging — a safe, non-judgmental space to begin working out the goals and challenges of young adulthood. 

At the end of the one-year commitment, it’s our intent and hope that the young person will have forged from this group at least one or two personal, permanent, supportive relationships to carry them forward. 

Trinity sees this ministry as a living expression of our commitment to follow Christ. Aside from offering financial support, we believe our volunteer involvement permits us to make a real difference in our world — right here, right now.