Mission is at the heart of Meeting House activities: last year more than 60 percent of discretionary OPMH resources were directed to mission programs. A large volunteer program matches the varied talents of Meeting House members with mission needs locally, nationally, and internationally, supporting more than 40 mission organizations. In 2005 Meeting House members donated hundreds of volunteer hours to more than 20 local causes, while 45 members packed their travel bags for eight mission service trips across the globe.

Locally, volunteer opportunities are available serving evening meals at homeless shelters, preparing and distributing lunchtime bag lunches, delivering meals to the homebound through Meals on Wheels, tutoring 1st and 2nd graders in reading, as well as many more opportunities. 

Work camps are a hallmark of Meeting House mission activities. Working with global mission partners Meeting House traveling teams have built 11 houses for needy families in the poverty-stricken colonias of Reynosa, Mexico; assisted medical teams in a remote area of Haiti; and begun to assist a Kenyan orphanage for children of AIDS victims as well as assisted with home repairs and weaving projects in Appalachian coal mining areas of West Virginia and supported Katrina recovery efforts in Bay St. Louis Mississippi. With several work camps each year, more than 200 Meeting House members have participated in work camps since the program’s inception in 1996.

Back home, Concerts with a Cause benefits are musical events sponsored by the Meeting House and held in the historic sanctuary. They feature outstanding musical performances and are open to the Alexandria community without charge.

A freewill offering is accepted during the performance, and 100 percent of the proceeds are donated to the concert’s designated mission recipient. For instance, “Piano Fireworks,” a concert—featuring acclaimed concert pianists and Meeting House members Shaun Tirrell and Gina Woo Tirrell, as well as Joseph Schwartz and Anne Koscielny—filled the sanctuary air with dazzling music and standing-ovation applause while raising more than $2000 for the Arlandria Neighborhood Health Services, Inc., a local missions partner.

Special-purpose worship offerings scheduled periodically throughout the year support disaster relief, the establishment of new churches, peacemaking, and Presbyterian schools, among others.