Community Outreach

St. Mary's has a long tradition of helping our neighbors in need. Some activities have included cooking and serving at Raphael House, helping renovate homes for the elderly and the Episcopal Charities walk-a-thon. Our outreach fundraiser allows us to provide grants to eligible organizations.

---Heifer Project - As is tradition, Lent brings Heifer International! Help support those around the world in need with an animal or animals. Sunday School families: Please continue to use the Ark and the Calendar that you got last Sunday! If you weren't here last Sunday, please remember to grab one this Sunday!

If you are not a Sunday School family you are still invited to contribute! Learn more about Heifer Project through the inserts in the bulletin or go to http://www.heifer.org. If you want to make a financial contribution to heifer, make your check out to St. Mary's and add HEIFER to the memo line!

"With all the money donated to help fight famine around the world, with all the grandiose plans concerived to conquer poverty, sometimes all it takes to save a child is a goat" --60 Minutes, CBS News Magazine Program 

---San Francisco Food Bank - Saturday, April 10 from 12:30 - 3:30 PM. This reservation is for 20 people ages 8 and older. If you are interested in helping or would like more information, please contact Stephanie at 441-6193 or slehman21@yahoo.com.Each year during the last weekend of April, Rebuilding Together San Francisco completes over 30-40 residential and community improvement projects that help change the lives of thousands of people.  This year, St. Mary’s has once again partnered with St. James to provide volunteers for this year’s project.

---Rebuilding Together - April 24 - Oakes Children's Center - If you enjoy painting, gardening, building, or are yearning for a creative project that will also brighten the lives of children, we need you!   Please join us at Oakes Children’s Center on April 24th where you can put your talents to work.The mission of the Oakes Children’s Center is to help developmentally delayed and emotionally disturbed children develop the independence and self-awareness necessary to live and continue learning in the least restrictive setting possible within their local community.  The Oakes Children Center provides high quality therapeutic and educational programs, services and facilities to help children thrive.

Across the country due to the efforts of Rebuilding Together, April 24th will be a day on which thousands of volunteers will better their local communities.  I hope you join us in contributing so profoundly to the children and parents of our community.To register and complete an on-line waiver, please go to www.rebuildingtogethersf.org.  Once you complete the forms please email me at slehman21@yahoo.com or David Sullivan at david@djsully.net so we know how many volunteers to expect, and so you can earn credit towards a free day at Disneyland.

---The Village Well - Looking for donations for Canon Barcus - Visit the Village Well website and click Outreach Wishlist to see what is needed and how to make the donation

---Sandwiches for Seniors - Our parish community has launched a new outreach service in response to the funding cuts to Canon Kip Senior Center. Canon Kip is supported by Episcopal Community Services (ECS) and serves homeless and at risk seniors. As part of Canon Kip’s service, a hot meal is served daily at noon to any senior in their program. Funding cuts have forced ECS to close Canon Kip’s Sunday lunch service. Various parishes have taken on providing and serving bag lunches to close this gap. St.Mary’s is responsible for the 4th Sunday of each month.

This easy project takes only a few hours. It consists of adding a few extra groceries to your weekly basket at Costco or Safeway, setting up 60 brown bags, making 60 basic meat and cheese sandwiches, filling the bags with sandwiches, fruit and a cookie, and serving them on Sunday morning at Canon Kip House (8th and Natoma) to 60 grateful seniors who are living on the brink. They have open hearts, appreciative smiles and some great stories to share. If you are interested, please call Sheri or Michael Coholan at 415-921-3308 or email michael@hilltopllc.com

---Raphael House: First Monday of the month - cooking starts at 3:00 PM and serving begins at 5:00 PM - To sign up, contact Marisa at 415-927-2716

Grant request deadline is Friday, November 5, 2010

---SMV Outreach in Action - by John Walsham
St. Mary the Virgin’s outreach dollars help to support a number of worthwhile Bay Area charities. One of them, Bayview Mission has garnered media attention and is poised for expansion.

The Rev. Nina Pickerrell, a deacon at Grace Cathedral, founded the mission at her own home in 2004 to provide a community resource and safe haven for families and children in the tough Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.

Nina started the mission by inviting local children to come pick out their very own pumpkins from her pumpkin patch. Mutual trust grew from there and eventually her garage became a food pantry.

Now every Monday a team of volunteers distributes bags of groceries and other household staples to needy families.  An old garden room in the basement houses a children’s lending library and a selection of children’s books are often included in the food bags. 

In its early days the mission served about fifteen families each Monday. A recent count at the food pantry showed that 358 families were served including over eighty children and infants. Nina recently purchased the house next door and will be using that to expand the mission.

ABC News profiled Nina and Bayview Mission not long ago. The profile video can be viewed on http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/media?id=6191026

TALK Line Telephone Crisis Counselors - the core of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center's network of family support services - 24 hour crisis and counseling line for parents. For more information or to learn how you can volunteer, call Anita Moran at 415 387-2684 X325

Volunteer Child Caregivers - Childcare assistants in the Children's Playroom and at the Respite Center - observe, care for and play with some really great kids. For more information, call Jacky Bloom at 415 387-3684 x243

Canon Barcus Community House - They are in need of school supplies: backpacks, spiral notebooks, loose leaf paper, pens and pencils and small, handheld solar calculators. 

Food for those in need - Now more than ever our community needs your donations of canned goods or dried foods, or foodstuffs appropriate for after school snacks for homeless kids.  Proceeds go to St. Gregory's Food Pantry where 2 tons of food are given away every Friday.  Volunteers are welcome anytime 1-6 p.m. to help distribute food.  If you can help in delivering these goods on Fridays around 1 PM, please call Mother Beth at 921-3665, ext. 314

Simple Gifts for Kids - Provides birthday gifts for children in need.  Please wrap an appropriate gift for a child ages 2 to 12.  Indicate the age of the which for which it is appropriate on the bottom of the gift and leave it in the narthex in the "Simple Gifts for Kids" box.  Some families are encouraging their children to donate a gift in the month of their birthday

Raphael House:  After retrofitting and renovations, Raphael House has just re-opened its doors to shelter homeless families in San Francisco.  They are looking for assistance in the Evening Children's Program (5:45 to 8:00 PM), and in the Evening Residential Program (5:45 to 9:00 PM). If you are interested in being an important part of the lives of these struggling families, please call Carol Field, Volunteer Coordinator, at 345-7265 or contact her at volunteers@raphaelhouse.org.  You can visit their website at www.raphaelhouse.org.

Pastoral Care Team: If you can give assistance or know of someone who will need some extra care, please give us a call at St. Mary's office: 921-3665, ext. 362.

Disaster Relief 
Disaster relief contributions can be sent to: The Episcopal Relief and Development, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ  07101. One hundred percent of your dollars go directly to those in need.  Designate on your check to which disaster you want your contribution applied. For more information on this organization, visit their website at www.er-d.org.

Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities for Individuals
Helping Homeless Families

Raphael House  is an emergency shelter that serves homeless families in crisis and helps them regain stability. Casework, counseling, education, and a children's program all provide necessary ingredients for families to find and maintain permanent housing and to strengthen family bonds. Aftercare programs help families hold on to the gains that they made while in residence. 

Most positions are in the field of family service:

Children's Program volunteers coordinate arts and crafts projects, play games, tell stories, lead singing and facilitate numerous other activities. Daily in 3 shifts: 1) 7:30 AM to 11 AM; 2) 4 PM to 6 PM, 3) 6 PM to 8 PM.

After-School Tutorial volunteers help both current and former resident children with homework and in scholastic areas where they need additional attention. Tuesday through Thursday, 3 PM to 6 PM

Residential Service volunteers stock supplies and assist the shelter manager with routine responsibilities during the day and provide support for the orderly progress of evening activities, including maintaining supplies and assisting residents. Volunteer opportunities daily in 4 shifts: 1) 9 AM to Noon, 2) Noon to 4 PM, 3) 4 PM to 6 PM, and 4) 5:45 PM to 9:30 PM.

Activities volunteers conduct a variety of classes, including creative writing, cooking, computer skills, exercise, sewing, jewelry making and other crafts. Activity hours are 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM daily for residents, with volunteers coming once week. 

Additional positions are available in the kitchen and thrift store. There are also opportunities available for fundraising projects, administration, and special projects.

Requirements: Training is mandatory and is held in September, January, and May. Training consists of one or two five-hour sessions on consecutive Saturdays, depending on where you want to volunteer. Most volunteers work one shift, about three to five hours a week.

Information: Volunteer Coordinator, 1065 Sutter Street, 415-474-4621

Prepare Dinner at Raphael House.  Join St. Mary's parishioners to help serve dinner to the women at Raphael House on one Monday night per month.  (3:30 for cooking - 5:30 for serving)  If you would like to help and join the fun cooking, serving or cleaning up, please call 415 927-2716. 

Visiting the Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities
The San Francisco Ministry to Nursing Homes (MNH) offers an opportunity to establish life-affirming connections between elderly residents of long-term care facilities and the wider community. One-to-one visits with our institutionalized elderly are the heart of this program, which contributes significantly toward meeting the social, emotional, religious and spiritual needs of these residents. A volunteer's presence and gift of time on a regular basis can have a major effect on an older person's well being.

In 1985, Rector Richard Fowler of St. Mary the Virgin founded this ministry. Today it has grown to include 23 faith congregations and a number of other community organizations, with hundreds of trained volunteers developing vital relationships with our most isolated senior citizens.

Requirements Volunteers participate in a ninety-minute orientation to familiarize themselves with the needs of elderly people in institutions and to help diminish fears or reservations they have about visiting long-term care facilities. Spending an hour a week with someone is desirable, but even an hour a month makes a great difference in a resident's life. Daytime visits (including weekends) are preferable, but evening visits can be arranged.

Supporting Quality Health Care in a Hospital Setting
Founded in 1871 and strongly supported over the years by the Episcopal Diocese of California, St. Luke's Hospital is the only private, nonprofit hospital south of Market Street providing high-quality medical care to San Francisco. The primary purpose of its volunteer program is to provide efficient and essential services to the staff, patients, families, and friends of patients.

Volunteers assume responsibility for:

• Staffing the gift shop.
• Giving information at the front desk.
• Cuddling newborns in the nursery.
• Assisting with in-house patient transport, handling discharge procedures, and escorting discharged patients.

Visiting with magazines, books, and playing cards; reading to patients; doing in-house errands; performing other tasks related to patient comfort and dietary services.