Under the guidance of Lynda Bernays, the Outreach Committee organizes a variety of committees, events and collections which benefit people in Shaker Heights, Greater Cleveland and the world.
Outreach Ministries at Christ Episcopal Church (as of January 2020)
St. Herman Bag Lunch Ministry
The St. Herman Bag Lunch Ministry provides fifty bag lunches fifty-two weeks a year – no vacations! We have eight teams of workers who fulfill several crucial tasks. These include: filling lunch bags with non-perishable items, preparing meat and cheese sandwiches and placing them in bags, and transporting the boxes of completed lunches to St. Herman's House of Hospitality in Ohio City, usually after worship on Sunday (it can also be done Saturday or Monday).
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The faithful and dedicated workers include CEC Youth, individual families, singles of all ages, and vibrant seniors. Their loyalty to this work makes the program a success! New volunteers are always welcome, as are donations to support the purchase of supplies. The Outreach committee provides some financial support for this ministry
Special thanks go to Sarah Gage, Fred Gage, and Ellen Cubberley for taking responsibility for keeping the shelves and freezer stocked with the required lunch supplies.
Christmas Adopt-A-Family Report
The Christ Church Adopt-A-Family Christmas program begins the first week of November and ended with the distribution of gifts and gift cards in mid-December. The program is chaired by Connie Hill and Jeff Hill, working through Geauga County Job and Family Services agency.
In 2019, arrangements were made for gifts to be provided for twelve families. Two hundred and two gift wishes were filled and wrapped by CEC members and friends, and sorted by family. In addition, all twelve families were offered free family and individual portraits. Six of the Geauga families chose to receive this gift. Digital pictures were taken and each family was presented with framed pictures.
Finally, each of the twelve families received a $75 Wal-Mart gift certificate. These were provided via nine hundred dollars of additional money provided by Fr. Faass’ Discretionary fund.
We would like to thank all of the individuals who purchased gifts and helped wrap, sort and bag presents; and to Fred Gage who transported all of the gifts to the Geauga Family Center. Based upon the wonderful kindness of the Christ Church family, we consider the program to be very successful and look forward to repeating our success in 2020.
Special thanks go to Jeff and Connie Hill for their work organizing, tracking, and coordinating this project.
Cleveland Food Bank
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank provides food and non-food items to more than 1,000 programs in a six-county area. Christ Church members first volunteered in January of 2019, and have normally worked two sessions every month since. In the course of this year, we volunteered for a total of twenty-two, two hour shifts and averaged five volunteers per session. Those of us who are participating have been pleasantly surprised to discover how much we enjoyed the time spent at the Food Bank.
Little Free Pantry: Take what you need. Leave what you can.
The pantry operates like a Little Free Library but it is stocked with food and toiletries instead of book. Our pantry is located at the northeast corner of our building; donations of non-perishable items are welcome. The pantry is maintained by volunteers from Little Free Pantry (see Littlefreepantry.org).
Your Neighbor's Cloak
This year the Daughters of the King at Christ Church initiated a monthly collection to support “Your Neighbor’s Cloak,” a clothing ministry sponsored by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the Gordon Square area of Cleveland. This ministry is vital to their near westside neighborhood. In addition to clothing, personal items are distributed every Monday.
Beginning in October 2019, the DOK collected specific items and delivered them to St. Luke’s for their weekly distribution. The items collected were:
We look forward to continuing this outreach program in 2020 starting with a collection of toothbrushes and toothpaste during January.
Special thanks to Cathy Wolford, DOK President, for coordinating this project, and to the members of Daughters of the King.
Menorah Park Worship
Christ Church clergy and laity conduct a monthly service of Holy Eucharist for Christian residents at Menorah Park. Volunteers are welcome!
Kiva, US
KIVA is a micro loan agency that provides financial loans to people in developing countries who desire to open or grow a business in order to become self-sufficient and support their families. Christ Church maintains a loan fund, seeded by the committee a number of years ago, of several thousand dollars with KIVA to provide micro-loans that help individuals and groups in third-world countries support their small businesses. As loans get repaid, we reinvest the money in new loans.
Other Outreach activity
In addition, we have donated money to the following causes:
The Video Outreach Committee
In 2019, the video ministry recorded 19 full Sunday services, representing approximately 22 hours of video-sound recording. In addition, three special recordings were completed: a concert, a memorial
service and a special duo singing performance. All recordings are maintained on disc to serve as an historical library of services.
In 2020 we anticipate editing Fr. Faass’ homilies to provide stand-alone presentations. These, along with our full-service videos, will be presented on our Youtube channel and will be used as outreach.
Special thanks to Geoffrey and Connie Hill and their team of volunteers.
(Report prepared by Lynda Bernays, Outreach Projects Coordinator)
St. Herman Bag Lunch Ministry
The St. Herman Bag Lunch Ministry provides fifty bag lunches fifty-two weeks a year – no vacations! We have eight teams of workers who fulfill several crucial tasks. These include: filling lunch bags with non-perishable items, preparing meat and cheese sandwiches and placing them in bags, and transporting the boxes of completed lunches to St. Herman's House of Hospitality in Ohio City, usually after worship on Sunday (it can also be done Saturday or Monday).
.
The faithful and dedicated workers include CEC Youth, individual families, singles of all ages, and vibrant seniors. Their loyalty to this work makes the program a success! New volunteers are always welcome, as are donations to support the purchase of supplies. The Outreach committee provides some financial support for this ministry
Special thanks go to Sarah Gage, Fred Gage, and Ellen Cubberley for taking responsibility for keeping the shelves and freezer stocked with the required lunch supplies.
Christmas Adopt-A-Family Report
The Christ Church Adopt-A-Family Christmas program begins the first week of November and ended with the distribution of gifts and gift cards in mid-December. The program is chaired by Connie Hill and Jeff Hill, working through Geauga County Job and Family Services agency.
In 2019, arrangements were made for gifts to be provided for twelve families. Two hundred and two gift wishes were filled and wrapped by CEC members and friends, and sorted by family. In addition, all twelve families were offered free family and individual portraits. Six of the Geauga families chose to receive this gift. Digital pictures were taken and each family was presented with framed pictures.
Finally, each of the twelve families received a $75 Wal-Mart gift certificate. These were provided via nine hundred dollars of additional money provided by Fr. Faass’ Discretionary fund.
We would like to thank all of the individuals who purchased gifts and helped wrap, sort and bag presents; and to Fred Gage who transported all of the gifts to the Geauga Family Center. Based upon the wonderful kindness of the Christ Church family, we consider the program to be very successful and look forward to repeating our success in 2020.
Special thanks go to Jeff and Connie Hill for their work organizing, tracking, and coordinating this project.
Cleveland Food Bank
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank provides food and non-food items to more than 1,000 programs in a six-county area. Christ Church members first volunteered in January of 2019, and have normally worked two sessions every month since. In the course of this year, we volunteered for a total of twenty-two, two hour shifts and averaged five volunteers per session. Those of us who are participating have been pleasantly surprised to discover how much we enjoyed the time spent at the Food Bank.
Little Free Pantry: Take what you need. Leave what you can.
The pantry operates like a Little Free Library but it is stocked with food and toiletries instead of book. Our pantry is located at the northeast corner of our building; donations of non-perishable items are welcome. The pantry is maintained by volunteers from Little Free Pantry (see Littlefreepantry.org).
Your Neighbor's Cloak
This year the Daughters of the King at Christ Church initiated a monthly collection to support “Your Neighbor’s Cloak,” a clothing ministry sponsored by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the Gordon Square area of Cleveland. This ministry is vital to their near westside neighborhood. In addition to clothing, personal items are distributed every Monday.
Beginning in October 2019, the DOK collected specific items and delivered them to St. Luke’s for their weekly distribution. The items collected were:
- October – 238 rolls of toilet paper, 50 bars of soap and 12 liquid hand soaps
- November – Gently used toys and games, a collection of Boyd Bears and three bicycles for children
- December – 2 full bags of deodorant and razors for men and women
We look forward to continuing this outreach program in 2020 starting with a collection of toothbrushes and toothpaste during January.
Special thanks to Cathy Wolford, DOK President, for coordinating this project, and to the members of Daughters of the King.
Menorah Park Worship
Christ Church clergy and laity conduct a monthly service of Holy Eucharist for Christian residents at Menorah Park. Volunteers are welcome!
Kiva, US
KIVA is a micro loan agency that provides financial loans to people in developing countries who desire to open or grow a business in order to become self-sufficient and support their families. Christ Church maintains a loan fund, seeded by the committee a number of years ago, of several thousand dollars with KIVA to provide micro-loans that help individuals and groups in third-world countries support their small businesses. As loans get repaid, we reinvest the money in new loans.
Other Outreach activity
In addition, we have donated money to the following causes:
- Family Promise of Greater Cleveland, which provides emergency and transitional housing for parents (single or couples) and their children.
- Episcopal Relief and Development, dedicated to disaster relief in the US and around the world
- The Bishop’s Annual Appeal, which provides grants to local ministries
- The scholarship fund of Bellwether Camp, the diocese’s summer camp at the camp and conference center in Wakeman OH,
- Homeless Hook-Up, an organization dedicated to helping the less fortunate affected by poverty and homelessness.
- God Before Guns, a local organization dedicated to lessening the presence of guns and gun violence in our society, and promoting gun safety legislation.
The Video Outreach Committee
In 2019, the video ministry recorded 19 full Sunday services, representing approximately 22 hours of video-sound recording. In addition, three special recordings were completed: a concert, a memorial
service and a special duo singing performance. All recordings are maintained on disc to serve as an historical library of services.
In 2020 we anticipate editing Fr. Faass’ homilies to provide stand-alone presentations. These, along with our full-service videos, will be presented on our Youtube channel and will be used as outreach.
Special thanks to Geoffrey and Connie Hill and their team of volunteers.
(Report prepared by Lynda Bernays, Outreach Projects Coordinator)
