Outreach
St. Andrew’s Parish Outreach
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out on the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. And yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”
–Saint Theresa of Avila
These words remind us of God’s call to love and honor our neighbors both near and far. In serving others with compassionate hearts, we both share and experience God’s grace in the world. Within the past year, St. Andrew’s parishioners joyfully served others by:
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bringing in diapers for clients of the Trinity Jubilee Center in Lewiston during Advent
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collecting work clothing for job hunters visiting Christ Church, Biddeford
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providing food and kind words for patrons of the local Ecumenical Food Pantry
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serving cooked meals and lively conversation each month to the guests of the local Wednesday Community Suppers
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providing our hammers and labor for CHIP and Habitat for Humanity efforts, and
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demonstrating love and providing aid for our partner villages in Haiti
Additionally, many of us volunteer in other facets of our community life, living out our own personal ministries. For opportunities to get involved in these or other activities, please consult the new “Help Needed/Help Offered” Bulletin board in the parish library to offer your time and services for specific Outreach and Inreach needs.
Contact names are also provided with the descriptions of parish Outreach efforts listed below. Also included below is information on the St. Andrew’s Outreach Fund, a list of recent recipients, and how to access a Request for Funding Form to be considered for a grant, due September 15, 2009.
Parish Outreach Efforts & Volunteer Opportunities
Haiti Fund
St. Andrew’s Church was one of the first parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine to partner with a village parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti. In the village of Figaro, located in remote, northern Haiti, the Haiti Fund helps provide hot lunches to young students (often the only meal that they eat that day), teachers’ salaries, and funds for construction of a new school. The fund also supports education in the neighboring town of Gros Morne, as well as Holy Trinity School and St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped in Port-au-Prince. For more information on how you can get involved, contact parishioners Susie and Frazier Meade.
Habitat for Humanity, 7 Rivers Maine
St. Andrew’s is a Covenant Church with our local affiliate. We offer continued volunteer and financial support to help build decent, affordable houses within Lincoln County. Many lots have been donated to Habitat for partner families to help build their own house. Please join us in making this happen. Fundraising efforts are currently underway to build a house in Bristol for a local family. Also consider donating quality building materials that can be recycled to Habitat’s Restore in Bath. It is also a place to purchase items for your own home construction projects, while benefitting Habitat. For more information, contact parish coordinator Carol Hartman. See:
http://www.habitat7rivers.org/
Wednesday Community Suppers served at the Second Congregational Church, Newcastle
On the fourth Wednesday of every month, volunteers from St. Andrew’s cook and serve dinner for nearly 40 guests in our local community. While open to all residents and visitors, many of our guests are clients of Mobius, which supports local youth and adults with developmental disabilities. We have a lively, joyful time in this activity, and our guests are extremely helpful as well. When the amount of food and time allows, we like to sit down and dine with our guests. Set up begins by 4 p.m., dinner is served from 5 to 6, and we are usually out by 6:30. Please join us. A sign-up sheet is on the Help Needed Board in the parish library. For more information, contact our parish coordinators Margi Spratt or Christopher Rice.
Ecumenical Food Pantry
Throughout the year, parish members are encouraged to bring in food to be distributed on Tuesday mornings through the Ecumenical Food Pantry housed in the Second Congregational Church, Newcastle. In the months of May and October 2009, St. Andrew’s volunteers are scheduled to work the food pantry each week by gathering, sorting, and handing out food to individuals and families in need. The demand for food has soared in this challenging economic climate. All donations are gratefully received. For more information, contact our parish coordinator Judy Weislogel.
Trinity Jubilee Center
St. Andrew’s Church has developed a special relationship with the staff of Trinity Jubilee Center housed at Trinity Church in Lewiston. This multi-service agency responds to the unmet personal, family, social and spiritual needs of the people in the urban Lewiston-Auburn area, Maine’s most disadvantaged community. The Jubilee Center provides meals, a warming center, refugee outreach, food pantry items, diapers and formula for families, as well as advocacy and intervention support. St. Andrew’s Outreach Fund supports Sunday dinners once a month, and our Advent diaper drive helps replenish their supply for families in great need. Several of us used to serve meals there when they had a greater need for volunteers. Importantly, our interest in the Jubilee Center offers their staff encouragement; we are one of their largest supporters within the Diocese. For more information, contact parishioners Sally Crane or Kathy Coughlin.
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD)
St. Andrew’s parishioners are also mindful of the needs of our brothers and sisters across this country and throughout the globe whose lives are overwhelmed by disease, hunger, and natural disasters. Through the channels and contacts of the Episcopal and Anglican churches around the globe, healing aid can be delivered quickly and efficiently. We support ERD through the Outreach Fund and many of us support it individually. In addition to the general fund at ERD, we encourage members of St. Andrew’s to consider looking at ERD’s Gifts for Life catalogue for ways to honor a special friend or family member. A gift of a goat to a village family, or treated mosquito netting to prevent malaria, or funds to underwrite schooling for AIDs orphans, is a way to honor a loved one’s birthday or special occasion (Christmas, Easter) with a gift of grace and resonance. Catalogues can be found on the vestibule table or look online: http://www.er-d.org/GiftsForLife/8/.
Financial Support
Complementing our volunteer work, St. Andrew’s Outreach Committee members use great care to discern how best to share the St. Andrew’s Outreach Fund, distributed each fall. It is replenished each year by the proceeds of the annual St. Andrew’s Fair for Outreach and Live Auction, as well as the Art for Outreach sale, parish-wide events held each summer involving parishioners of all ages.
We place special emphasis on addressing hunger, warmth, and better shelter here in our region and abroad, especially for vulnerable youth and the elderly. We also consider the degree to which other funding sources (like United Way) might complement our offering. As recommended by the national church, we try to allocate the funds in roughly thirds between organizations that are local, ones located elsewhere in Maine, and ones that are national or international. Here is a list of organizations we have assisted in the past year.
Local Organizations
People to People
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Midcoast Maine
CHIP Inc.
Coastal Kids Preschool
Ecumenical Food Pantry
Eldercare Network of Lincoln County
Genesis Community Loan Fund
Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine
Healthy Kids!
Lifeline of Midcoast Maine
Mobius, Inc.
New Hope for Women
Spectrum Generations
Local Wed. Community Suppers
State Organizations
Bishop’s Discretionary Fund (for small parish aid)
Trinity Jubilee Center (Sunday meal)
Maine Community Aids Partnership
Christ Church, Biddeford’s Drop-in Center
National/International
Episcopal Relief and Development
Haiti Fund
To apply for an Outreach Fund grant, here is a Request for Funding Form.