Spotlight on a Local Idol
Loudoun County’s Charles Grant has the greatest impact in NoVA
By Kaitlyn Miller
While most his age are traveling with loved ones, partaking in hobbies or just reveling in retirement, Charles Grant of Loudoun County can be found assisting with medical emergencies, combating fires or preaching to his small church congregation in Sterling. So how does this 73-year-old find the agility to do it all? “God has given me a gift for caring for people in times of crises and of helping people in need,” Grant says. Grant’s motto of “service over self” was the inspiration for his son, Stephen, to nominate him for our Greatest Impact in NoVA contest, for which Charles Grant was selected as winner based on a lifetime of extraordinary service.
Grant has been making a local impact since 1969, when he first moved to Sterling with his family. To this day, members of his small Baptist congregation gather in homes, schools and community centers for Grant’s services. The emphasis of the parish is to build a “body of believers” rather than constructing an elaborate church, says Grant. As a pastor, he is a helping hand for “down and out” people of the community, including drug addicts, abused children and spouses and teens without a stable home. Through school clubs and church youth programs, Grant extends help to struggling adolescents of Northern Virginia.
Grant is the founder of the Good Shepherd Alliance, which has been providing emergency housing and support for the homeless of Loudoun County since 1983. His involvement with the organization ranges from putting the disadvantaged in contact with the assistance they need to giving rides to people that need help.
Grant is a father of 10 and a confidant for numerous “adopted” children who seek his spiritual and fatherly advice. Stephen describes growing up in such a large family as crowded, but “interesting meeting different kinds of people from different walks of life.” Stephen, now a father of three, puts his father’s core values to practice with his own family and says he believes “it’s all about giving back first to your children and then giving back to your community.”
Grant’s childhood experiences play a large role in shaping his dedication to serving others. When asked why he values service so much, Grant reflected on growing up in a struggling family during the Great Depression: “I remember the folks that helped us from time to time.” Grant’s duties as a chaplain at Loudoun County Fire & Rescue range from attending to the spiritual and emotional needs of victims and their families, as well as the staff of the firehouse by providing support to victims during their times of crisis. Also a member of the organization’s canteen, he rushes to the scene of a fire or emergency in order to provide physical assistance.
Over the years, Grant has found numerous methods of involvement in the Loudoun County area. He is the founder of GAM Printer and has spent time serving on various committees such as Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority Police & Fire, the Loudoun County Planning Commission, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and the Affordable Dwelling Unit advisory board. He is the founder of a Christian bookstore and a Christian school called Grace Christian Academy.
In the little spare time Grant has, he enjoys building model trains and railroads—another activity he shares with his son. Stephen is in the process of renovating a house so that they will have room to work on the train table together. The impact Charles Grant has made on his own children, as well as the thousands affected by him over the years, has shaped Northern Virginia’s sense of volunteerism and charity. Grant hopes that others in the community will continue the circle of giving and serving others, in order to make our region a more neighborly place.
