The Sunshine Cathedral is a bright spot in the South Florida community. And one of its rays of light is Rev. Anne Atwell. A lifetime of trial, empathy and growth has brought her to where she is today, and our community is all the better for it.

She is Sunshine’s Minister of Connections. It’s a title you may not have heard of before, and Anne’s as unique as the job. “It’s twofold,” she told me. “It’s matching our congregants to resources that they need in the community, and it’s connecting people in the community to what we have here at Sunshine Cathedral.” Since coming on full time at the cathedral five years ago, Anne has seen need after need and dedicated herself to filling voids others may not see.

“One of the things I noticed when I first started in this role is there was a significant amount of grief and loss in the LGBTQ community, but it goes unexpressed.” From her work as a hospice chaplain intern, Anne knows the grief can be as recent as the loss of a spouse or even the ending of a long relationship, or a wound from decades ago that just won’t heal. Anne reminded me that there is no timeline for grief, and that some are still working through people they lost during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. She saw this suffering and created a grief support group that caters to the LGBTQ community. The Grief and Loss Through the Holidays group will begin on Monday, November 11, 2019 at the SunServe offices on Wilton Drive. They will have two groups every Monday at 1:00PM and 7:00PM.

While Sunshine Cathedral’s mission is to feed the soul, Rev. Anne is taking it upon herself to feed the body as well. “We have a food sharing program. What we do is we acquire food from different sources and then we share it with the community.” Food sharing? That’s a new term. But Anne says it’s a more dignified term. “It’s kind of different than a feeding program. It’s a food sharing. Food sharing helps retain the dignity of people which I think is really significant.”

There are two parts to the program. The first is a ‘brown bag’ effort. Anne and her volunteers deliver non-perishable pantry items to people in need. Meals On Wheels is a great program, but it only delivers Monday through Friday. The brown bags help cover the weekend gap. Then there is the food pantry. Every Wednesday from 11-2, people can come and pick out non-perishable items that fit their needs. In all, Anne told me these programs help nourish about 350 people every week.

After growing up in a small town in western Pennsylvania, Anne arrived in South Florida twenty-three years ago. She was active in a church there. “I taught Sunday School, I sang in the choir, that kind of thing. So one of the first things I did when I got down here was to try and find a church. A church that would fit me. I didn’t want just the same old church I had in Pennsylvania. I wanted a church that would fit me. And that was one of the first things I did. And someone told me about Sunshine Cathedral.”

She immediately felt at home. “It was welcoming and inclusive. Loving and caring. And that’s the theology that I carried. And once I heard that, I thought, ‘Okay this will be a fit.’” And it was the welcoming and loving atmosphere that set Sunshine apart from her religious roots in western Pennsylvania. “There is a difference between an open and affirming church and a welcoming and celebrating church. Open and affirming says yes we see you. Celebrating says we see you we appreciate you. We want you here with us.”

It’s safe to say they wanted Anne. She started volunteering as a greeter and usher, then moved on to doing readings and serving communion. Then one night over dinner came a question from a church elder that put Anne on her current path. He said, “Did you ever consider going into ministry?” And I said, “No, no, that’s something I never thought of. But of course I had. I had felt a call to ministry a lot of years ago, but denied it.”

There was no more denying anything. Six months later Anne started seminary and took a literal leap of faith. She left her job in the corporate world in human resources. Eventually she was working part-time at Sunshine and has been the full-time Minister of Connections for five years. Rev. Atwell says the difference is night and day, and day is where the sunshine is. “You don’t know everyday what you’re going to walk into. When I worked in the corporate world, you walked in and you knew pretty much what your day was going to bring. Working for Sunshine Cathedral, you never really know what your day is going to bring.”

Now Rev. Anne is finishing up her doctorate and still looking forward to each day and the surprises that will come with it. “Sometimes it’s heartbreaking and sometimes it’s wonderful. And you just ride the tide and you stop and say thank you.”

If you’d like to donate to Sunshine Cathedral’s food sharing efforts, or learn more about their holiday events or other programs, check out their website: www.SunshineCathedral.org.