Meet Carol and Sid Hurlburt
By Bruce Preston
Carol and Sid Hurlburt were natural choices for our member profile feature because they have been involved in Cathedral ministries for many years. They are among those of us who have the courage and skills to “live out” their convictions tirelessly. They exemplify Jesus’ commandments regarding justice, compassion, and service.
Carol and Sid are among the original supporters of the 10 am Folk Eucharist, a Sunday morning secret treat that takes place in St. Joseph’s Chapel on the lower level of the Cathedral. It is informally organized with a lone guitar backed up by a tiny choir and a discussion of moral and social issues in place of a sermon. The service is “not starchy,” Carol remarks. Children are welcome. People sit on the steps. Tour groups often participate and other churches bring their confirmation classes. After a brief homily, those gathered are encouraged to weigh in and ask questions about the issues raised.
In the early seventies one Folk Eucharist discussion turned to cloning carrots. The question was posed, if we can clone carrots today, can we clone people tomorrow? A lively discussion of how to understand the ethical parameters of doing God’s work followed.
Sid has helped direct the efforts of Martha’s Table food program for some twenty years. Martha’s Table, a mobile soup kitchen named after Mary’s industrious sister, operates seven days a week, 365 days a year. Each year Martha’s Table serves more than half a million healthy meals to the city’s unfortunates, senior citizens, and toddlers. Donated food is sorted, organized, and prepared—all by volunteers—then loaded on to trucks which leave Martha’s and fan out to destinations around the city where the food is distributed from the back of the van. Sid organizes the volunteers one Sunday a month, contacts them to remind them to collect and take food to Martha’s where they will sort and package it. He also recruits and signs up new volunteers “to make sure the program goes on,” as he puts it.
Carol manages the Cathedral’s Literacy Program which began in the late eighties when the inner city DC schools put out a call for help to teach younger kids how to read. Women who were retired and active at the Cathedral or Foreign Service wives who could not work taught classes in public places such as libraries. This has evolved into “one-on-one teaching” where students are taught to read basic things such as forms, newspapers, and grocery store labels. There is a huge demand for people who teach English as a Second Language (ESL) and General Educational Development (GED). The teachers teach out of love. The classic Literacy volunteer “has no background in teaching,” says Carol. There is always a waiting list of students.
Carol’s background is in journalism and international relations. Sid’s is in journalism and political science. “We are both very talkie,” Carol laughs. They are passionately concerned with social justice, and in particular, with immigration justice and justice for the poor.
Asked about the future, Sid would like to see an ongoing structure to create an institutional memory for the Cathedral. He wants to “get written down” how such programs as Martha’s Table and the Literacy Program were created and how their objectives have evolved.
To get involved in Martha’s Table, contact Sid »
To learn more about the Literacy Program and the current need for volunteer tutors, contact Carol »