Celebrate Rev. Steilberg’s legacy of charity and generosity
I first met Rev. Isabel Steilberg many years ago during my tenure at the Daily Press Media Group, where my responsibilities included directing the Daily Press Holiday Fund and corporate philanthropy.
In the process of researching local nonprofits that met the criteria of fulfilling basic human needs such as food, clothing and shelter, I had learned that St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on 34th Street in downtown Newport News, where Steilberg served as rector, operated the only day shelter on the lower Peninsula where the homeless could go when the overnight shelters emptied in the morning. I called the church office to ask if I could visit, and a date was set.
Steilberg opened my eyes that day, as I came to understand what a blessing St. Paul’s program was to homeless people who would otherwise have no place to go during the day, particularly in extreme weather.
Steilberg and volunteers and organizations from the church and beyond served countless breakfasts and connected their guests with medical care, services for veterans, support from neighboring houses of worship and multiple other forms of assistance. As many of St. Paul’s parishioners were of limited means themselves, their own gifts of time, monetary donations and service to the shelter ministry were particularly touching.
Guests could help themselves to the church’s laundry and shower facilities, and use St. Paul’s address as their own when completing applications for jobs or identification cards. A locked room provided safe storage for scores of labeled bags packed with the personal possessions of guests — usually everything they owned — that would have been too heavy for them to carry day after day.
The program and its outreach to marginalized citizens came to be known as Newport News’ own “Miracle on 34th Street,” borrowing from the title of the 1947 movie starring Maureen O’Hara.
Though that was my first visit to St. Paul’s, it would not be my last, as it was my honor to deliver contributions to the shelter from the Daily Press’ philanthropic programs for several years afterward. During that time I came to love and admire Steilberg for her pragmatic approach, her burden for those in difficult circumstances and her heart of gold.
She was open and transparent about the ongoing, and often overwhelming, need to find funding for the shelter, the challenges of ministering to and sustaining a church in a troubled neighborhood, and her life as a widow since losing her beloved husband, Rev. Robert Steilberg, on Feb. 11, 2000.
After serving as rector of St. Paul’s for 16 years, Isabel retired in 2013 and was able to spend more time at her home in Wicomico Church. When I heard about her passing at age 81 on Feb. 11 — the 23rd anniversary of her husband’s death — my first thoughts were for her family, which included three children and 10 grandchildren, and then for the homeless guests for whom she and her faithful congregation cared so deeply.
After serving the community since 1883, St. Paul’s closed in 2019 and the building was deconsecrated. During my occasional trips to the historic post office in downtown Newport News,
I make it a point to drive by St. Paul’s every once in a while.
Though the old stone building is still so very familiar, the heart of it — at least for me — has moved on. In my mind, the “Miracle on 34th Street” will forever be Rev. Isabel and the members of her congregation, whose helping hands reached out to some of the most vulnerable of God’s children.
In the words of his son Jesus: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Melissa Trevallion Hespenhide is the retired director of corporate communications, community relations and community giving for the Daily Press Media Group. A celebration of life for Rev. Isabel Steilberg will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newport News.