Outreach – Page 2 – St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Youth Mini-Mission Event – Refugee Resettlement

During these winter and spring months, our young people will be learning about and helping people who are displaced. These people will include refugees (people who come legally into our country to escape persecution), people who find refuge in domestic violence shelters (Women in Need), people who live at a Ronald McDonald House while their children are being treated at a nearby hospital, people who are homeless, people who are in military service, children of migrant workers who move with the farming work, and people returning home from military service.

This past Sunday we were blessed that Nina, an American citizen who came to our country and specifically to Shippensburg 22 years ago with her family due to persecution in Bosnia, shared her story with us. Nina and her son are amazing people who are dedicated to make the best of their lives here, in gratitude for the opportunity afforded them. Nina’s family were sponsored by Memorial Lutheran Church, whose members helped her parents find work, and who helped them settle into school and our community.

We also were fascinated by the story of David Luo, a faithful member of our parish family, who shared his journey into American citizenship as a refugee as his father resisted the actions of the Chinese government in the Tiananmen Square protests. Christina Luo, then shared her experience as an attorney helping those seeking asylum due to persecution in their home country. It was a very rich experience we were able to share.

Our young people then prepared goodie bags for the adult refugees they will be helping in their ESL class sponsored by Catholic Charities in Harrisburg. Nina shared how helpful these classes were for her parents, which makes our work seem very meaningful. It is a gift that we can teach our young people how to take Jesus’ commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” very seriously.

Feeding the body and soul.

Yesterday was a spiritually “full” day, by that I mean, it was a day when the presence of God seemed to saturate us at St. Andrew’s. At expected and unexpected moments, I kept bumping into the awareness of the presence of something bigger than any of us, something more pervasive than effort any of us could sustain, and something richer than any of us could image. After a remarkable morning of glorious worship, when Deacon Wanda, Mother Carenda and I stood behind the altar, raising up in our hearts all those who have worshipped and ministered in our parish over the past five years, when we were uplifted by a homily by Veteran Amber Endrusik, our youth gathered in the afternoon to help others, and by doing so, grew their hearts.

We participated in an effort called Food Recovery Network by collecting leftover food at the Shippensburg University, packed it in aluminum containers, then served it to the residents of the Episcopal Square. We presented an abundant feast, helped them fill their plates, offered them coffee, and sat and shared a meal with them. Then something marvelous happened! All of a sudden our young people were playing dominoes with them. Our young people didn’t know how to play this game, but the residents paired up with our young people and jumped right in to teach them. We went from serving others a meal to being with new friends. This is what Jesus is all about: making that shift from helping by giving to being in communion with others. We fed and were fed.

In our conversations following the meal, I became aware of how big the hearts of our young people are. They were willing to walk into the uncomfortable place of unfamiliarity to help other people. This is the zone where Jesus shows up: in our hearts, when we’re reaching out to help other people, when we’re struggling with the bigger issues affecting other people, when we want to make a difference, and when our hearts are turned toward justice. I thank God for our amazing young people, for their parents and our community who are forming them to be faithful Christians through their love of others.

Youth Mini-Mission Event: Gleaning

This past Sunday 17 young people and 10 adults gleaned 900 pounds of apples! It was remarkable! The day was beautiful and the energy high as we headed out in the rows of apples to pick any remaining fruit from the tree or to choose good apples from the ground. it was an amazing experience to have so many of us show up to gather food, which was then transported to SPO (Shippensburg Produce Outreach) and was distributed today to their clients.

We are forming our young people in their faith by offering them the opportunity to do hands-on mission work, so they can actively make a difference in reducing the problem of hunger in our area.

After the gleaning, the youth gathered in age groups to discuss their experience and reflect upon how this connects with our scripture (The Book of Ruth) and any social justice issues raised by our experience.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Pumpkin Patch Fundraising for The Episcopal Home

Our parish has a long-time commitment to supporting The Episcopal Home, a personal care home located in Shippensburg which offers exceptional care for its residents. Our annual fundraiser often raises $4000.00 which is donated to The Episcopal Home for their benevolent care fund, which helps supports those residents who need additional funds for their care.

This Saturday our St. Andrew’s quilters offered many wonderful items for sale — baked goods, yard sale items, homemade quilted items, delicious vegetable soup, jewelry, and a lovely quilt which has been handmade over this past year.

We are grateful for our commitment to care for those in need, especially our nearby neighbors who live at The Episcopal Home.

To see more photos of this event, please click here.

Youth Mini-Mission Project has begun!

Today, 13 of our young people gathered to peel apples, measure dry ingredients, mix everything together, and wash the dishes ~ all to prepare fresh apple cakes for our community meal tomorrow. It was such a joy to see our young people working together to help other people!

Oh those messy hands make for sweet cake!

How many different hands can be involved?

Tomorrow evening we serve our community meal. Each month, we offer a delicious and homemade meal to about 60 people from our neighborhood. It is an offering born out of our desire to make the world a better place by meeting the needs of others and by getting to know those who walk through our doors as friends. Our meals have become real community events, being a communion of those of us who serve and those of us who receive.

After our meal tomorrow, our young people will gather and reflect upon their experience. We want to know what they think of the hunger problem in our area, what they think they can do about it, what the scriptures tell us to do, and how they think we can feed those hungry (in many ways) they meet.

Our youth program is focused on making an impact in our community. We are grateful for our young people and their parents who make this a priority. We are all blessed by it!

Blessing of the Backbacks

Each year our parish joins with others in the community of Shippensburg to make sure all the school children have the back-to-school supplies they need for the start of school. This year, in collaboration with the employees of Volvo and the residents of The Episcopal Square, we collected over 500 pencil boxes and 1000 colored pencils.

Sometimes, this is what love looks!

Members of our parish also helped out on the day of the Blessing, running the games and seeing the happy smiling children who can start school with a backpack full of the supplies they will need.

This is another expression of how we are committed to care for our neighbors. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve.