Saint Anne's Episcopal Church : Missions / Outreach

Saint Anne's Episcopal Church

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Missions / Outreach

The Mission Pledge of St Anne’s:

Let us go forward in Christ’s name as a community of faith; to grow in faith through worship, witness and love for one another and our neighbors.

St. Anne’s continues to be a community that is sensitive to the needs of others and generous in giving to those less fortunate. Our most visible outreach is the John T. Walker Transitional House situated on the church property.

Lent is a time of focusing on basic elements of our spirituality and piety. Among those are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The Lenten offering is dedicated to local, national, and international missionary efforts. Weekly progress is documented on a bulletin board in the parish hall. The distribution is made among DELAI (Damascus Ecumenical Laymen’s Association) which addresses the needs of people in our community, Samaritan Ministries, which reaches out to inner city Washington, and SAMS (South American Missionary Society) an international arm of the Episcopal Church which supports the ministries of many missionaries in Central and South America and especially Barbara Boghetich, a missionary in Honduras. In 2006, the Lenten offering was dedicated to Camp Coast Care, Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi. Chosen because youth of our diocese (Washington) participated in a work camp there during Lent. This camp continues to address the needs of those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The children’s 2008 Lenten offering for the Heifer Project was one of their most successful. An anonymous donor matched it and the children were able to send two cows to needy families in third world countries.

The third Sunday of each month is Hunger Fund Sunday. The monies collected are distributed by the Diocesan Hunger Fund committee. There is no overhead and all money goes to help the hungry in our Diocese. St. Anne’s has participated in this effort for many years.

St. Anne’s sponsors families through the Damascus Holiday Giving Project. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners as well as extras such as cereal, juice, and lunch supplies are provided to each family. Both children and adults receive many wonderful Christmas gifts through the generosity of our community. Each year books are included in all gifts to children.

A portion of the operating budget for the church is dedicated to outreach. This will be divided between Damascus HELP, DELAI and our missionary in Honduras.

St. Anne’s is responsible for stocking the shelves at the HELP food closet for the month of May. Collections are going well.

Each month, a group of women meet to pray and knit shawls and throws for those in need in our parish, including patients with long-term illnesses and the dying. These soft, comforting pieces are blessed by the Rector and given as the need arises.

St Ann’s community collects school supplies during the summer, part of a “back-to-school” program sponsored by DELAI and Damascus HELP. Donations include three-ring binders, back packs, composition books, folders, spiral notebooks, scissors, paints, colored pencils, rulers, No. 2 pencils, glue sticks and crayons.