OUTREACH
Outreach Ministries
Outreach Chair: Melissa Conway
Charlotte Family Housing (CFH) is a shelter-to-housing program for families experiencing homelessness. Their mission is to empower working families to achieve long-term self-sufficiency through shelter, housing, supportive services, and advocacy. They help families achieve measurable and lasting change with a focus on dignity, self-esteem, and long term stability. The St. John’s Outreach supports CFH annually through its grant process. SJE parishioners make donations of snacks for the children at CFH as well as fresh linens to create welcome baskets for new residents. The EYC has also done lawn and landscape projects at CFH’s Plaza Place location.
Contact: Mamie Stichter
Crisis Assistance Ministry aids people in need including emergency help with household items, clothing, utilities, rent, medical treatment, and food, as well as job placement assistance. Volunteers from St. John’s meet the second Wednesday of each month at the company’s warehouse. There, donations of clothing and soft home goods are sorted. Place your donated items in the collection bin outside the main church entrance. Please, no unbagged items and no bags larger than kitchen bag size. CAM does not accept toys or books.
Contact: Kay Norwood
Galilee Ministries is a collaborative effort of the Charlotte Convocation of Episcopal Churches, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, partnering with others to feed mind, body and spirit. Galilee Ministries provides space to numerous community partners who support, educate and feed both children and adults in the surrounding community, including Catholic Charities, Community Kitchen and Nourish Up. It also provides a spiritual home to three neighborhood congregations, as well as a Community Garden whose 40 plots are tended by families from around the world. St. Johns parishioners provide volunteer help at Nourish Up’s food distribution center as well as other service projects within the building and on the grounds.
Contact: Margaret Errington
Housed at St. John's in our renovated Outreach Center, Hagar's Basket is a ministry of St. John's that offers household products to families of all ages in need. Household items such as laundry detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper, and paper towels, are collected from parishioners which are then distributed monthly from the pantry. Volunteers are needed to help collect, sort, and stock the shelves throughout the month, find corporate sponsors, and staff the pantry the third Saturday of every month from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Contacts: Erin Richardson, Louise Palmer, Lauren Phillips, and Betsy Blalock.
Nourish Up and the Galilee Center Food Pantry
Nourish Up, formerly Loaves & Fishes and Friendship Trays, nourishes our neighbors with food and compassion. Serving Mecklenburg County, Nourish Up provides groceries through a network of food pantries and home-delivered groceries, as well as prepared meals through its Meals on Wheels program for seniors and neighbors who are unable to easily prepare or obtain a meal.
The Nourish Up food pantry at the Galilee Center is one of the community locations that provides groceries to neighbors experiencing food insecurity. The pantry primarily serves the Central Avenue community, offering families the opportunity to select the food items that best meet their needs. This client-choice model supports dignity, provides greater flexibility, and helps reduce food waste.
St. John’s Episcopal Church supports the Galilee Center pantry through nonperishable food donations and volunteer service. Church members volunteer at the pantry two to three times each month, on the first, third, and fifth Thursdays, ensuring that neighbors have access to the food they need.
Food distributed through Nourish Up comes from a variety of sources, including individual donors, faith communities, food industry partners, and grocery retailers. St. John’s Episcopal Church is a valued partner, contributing an estimated 10% of the food provided at the Galilee Center location.
Through these ongoing donations and volunteer efforts, St. John’s helps Nourish Up advance its mission of nourishing our neighbors with food and compassion — one family, one pantry, and one act of service at a time.
Contact: Louise Palmer
Roof Above is the 2019 merger of Urban Ministries and the Mens Shelter of Charlotte. Roof Above is dedicated to ending homelessness in Charlotte. St. Johns volunteers provide dinner for up to 225 men 6 times per year at the Roof Above location. Volunteer team of 5 or 6 individuals prepare and serve dinner at the Men’s Shelter.
Operation Sandwich Ministry: The Operation Sandwich program is committed to feeding those in need. They serve 600 sandwiches or provide 300 lunch bags each day – that is over 200,000 sandwiches/100,000 lunch bags on an annual basis. Their goal is to continue helping our neighbor’s by providing bag lunches and additional sandwiches through individual and group volunteer opportunities. St Johns Parishioners purchase supplies, make sandwiches, and drop them off at Roof Above typically once a month.
Contact: Tim Comin - Roof Above Dinners
Operation Sandwich - Thomas Walker
St. Johns partners with Communities in Schools (CIS), an agency of Children & Family Services, to support Merry Oaks in numerous ways throughout the year, including a fall backpack and school supplies drive, the Win Robinson Christmas giving tree, Teacher Appreciation breakfasts, and uniform and winter coat drives. STJE Volunteers can help by donating items throughout the year such as baked goods for breakfasts, back to school items, Christmas gifts, and clothing. Volunteers can also help with proctoring and tutoring programs.
Contact: Melissa Conway
The Lunch Project (TLP) has merged with Thrive Global to continue providing lunch to children in five primary schools in Tanzania. TLP has created and manages a grass-roots, sustainable program which employs mothers and fathers to prepare corn porridge for the children’s lunch, contracts with local farmers to grow the corn and a local mill to grind the corn. Over 4,000 children receive lunch each school day at 5 Arusha area primary schools and graduation rates have more than doubled. TLP has also pioneered an education program for children in the U.S. teaching Empathy Education to elementary children in schools and churches on order to share the values of caring and service.
The Lunch Project partners with the youth of St. John’s by sponsoring Fill the Bowl, an annual youth event to raise funds for The Lunch Project. For this event, middle and high school youth raise funds, fast for 30 or 40 hours and camp out in a cardboard tent city on church grounds.
Contact: Sarah Brock Rhodes