From left to right: Fr. Henry Sabetti (Rector, Shrewsbury Parish/ Chaplain Associate, Beloved Community Chapel), Rev. Rusty Curling (Chaplain Organizer, Beloved Community Chapel), Ms. Mary Meyers (Beloved Community Chapel member), Ms. Rosie Granillo (Kent County Local Management Board), Rev. Robert Brown(Pastor, Bethel AME Church / Chaplain Associate, Beloved Community Chapel), Ms. Lorraine Kahler (Beloved Community Chapel member), Ms. Janet Grimes (Beloved Community Chapel President).
Across the country, the number of people working informally (more commonly known as under-the-table) is growing. Some estimates suggest that as many as 35% of Americans are working gig jobs in other people’s homes – as house cleaners, yard workers, gardeners, dog walkers, babysitters, or even as personal drivers. These workers often do this work to augment their disability check or the income from their part-time job.
Back in 2019, a group of house-cleaners in Chestertown, led by Ms. Janet Grimes came together to form the Beloved Community Chapel, which is an association of gig-based domestic workers that is part of The United Covenant Union. “Beloved Community Chapel is my second-family. It started out as a group of us who worked at the college and had to clean homes on the side to make ends meet,” said Grimes. Beloved Community Chapel holds a weekly prayer meeting and lunch on Thursdays at noon at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, trains domestic workers on contract-writing so that they can be protected from wage theft, and is trying to develop a social enterprise that employs domestic workers to work for low-income seniors who cannot afford it. May Green, a life-long domestic worker and member of Beloved Community Chapel said “we are faith community, a team and support group all in one.”
On Wednesday August 20th 2025, the leaders of Beloved Community Chapel meet with Ms. Rosie Granillo of the Kent County Local Management Board to discuss the possibility of Beloved Community Chapel receiving a grant from the Local Management Board to pay 12 domestic workers to clean the homes or apartments for a total of 48 low-income seniors each month, with each registered senior citizen receiving a monthly cleaning. At the meeting, Ms. Janet Grimes, the President of Beloved Community Chapel said “I’m in my sixties, I have worked as a cleaner all my life. A program like this would give me a gig that would help me to buy more food. Right now, all I eat is scrambled eggs. Can’t I have a steak once in a while?” Another member of the Beloved Community Chapel, Ms. Mary Myers explained that this program would improve her life: “as a fixed-income senior, I don’t always have the ability to hire a cleaner. But if I did, it would make my life easier. I believe many seniors feel the same way.”
Rev. Robert Brown of Bethel AME Church, and Fr. Henry Sabetti of Shrewsbury Parish Church are local clergy who are chaplain associates of Beloved Community Chapel. They provide pastoral assistance to members, and work to connect Beloved Community Chapel to their respective churches. Rev. Brown retorted that “uplifting the gig workers, especially in rural communities like Kent County, are a way to bring families together. When the housekeepers of this town can comfortably order a pizza once a month, and when the seniors can rest in their clean homes, all of us are happier. I hope the Local Management Board funds Beloved Community Chapel’s proposal” Fr. Sabetti agreed, saying that “over the years, my parish has helped many families in need of short-term housing. Many of these people were gig workers, domestic workers, who worked hard, but just didn’t make enough, because their work was not valued. If the Local Management Board funded Beloved Community Chapel’s program – it would be an investment in Kent County, 60 families would have achieved more security than before.”
Over the years, it has become common for students from Washington College to refer to Chestertown as “the land that time forgot.” Its locally owned shops, slower pace of life, and colonial architecture harken visitors back to a by-gone age, one that ceased to exist in Maryland’s western shore years ago. This small-town charm, which rivals only Amy Sherman-Pallidino’s Gilmore Girls, is exactly what drives retirees to resettle in Chestertown. Retirees need domestic workers. They need people to clean their homes, cut their grass, wash their cars, and walk their dogs. Building community among and bringing dignity to this workforce is the fundamental project of the Beloved Community Chapel.
Beloved Community Chapel is part of The United Covenant Union, which is network of other-like chapels in Crisfield, Baltimore, and Washington DC. Founded by Mr. Matthew Munk, a Washington College alum, The United Covenant Union trains clergy to become “chaplain organizers” and employs them to build “chapels” that bring together precariously employed workers and fixed income seniors for weekly prayer meetings, to engage in education about wage theft prevention, and to develop social enterprises that empower domestic workers to have economic dignity. Mr. Munk said “I have worked with gig workers across the state. From rural towns to the inner cities, we see that older adults need more help, and more people are going to food banks and working informally to make ends meet. Beloved Community Chapel’s proposal endeavors to turn precarity into dignity. Everyone in UCU is proud of the leaders in Beloved Community Chapel. Rosie Granillo has been a delight to work with.”
Rev. Rusty Curling, a retired minister in the Church of the Brethren, was assigned to be the chaplain organizer of Beloved Community Chapel earlier this year. “I cannot believe how much we have accomplished so far,” says Curling. Rev. Curling went on to say that “in a few months, we have taught the house cleaners in our ranks how to compose and present a proposal that will create gig-jobs and avert isolation among our seniors. This process has been developmental for everyone. If every clergy was doing what I am doing now, the church would come alive, and the country would heal.”
Rev. Brown and Fr. Sabetti both remarked that there are more people going to food banks than attending Sunday services in Kent County. Fr. Sabetti remarked that “the unchurched, the food bank clientele, the irregular voters, the cash-based domestic workers – they are the same people. They don’t have an institution representing them. Beloved Community Chapel is trying to be that voice.” Asked about what the impact would be if the Local Management Board funded Beloved Community Chapel’s proposal, Rev. Robert Brown said “it would be significant, as it is investing directly in the gig workforce, directly in the house cleaners. This is a shift in who has the power, and it will make us all healthier.”
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