MISSION AND OUTREACH
There are many opportunities to get involved in mission work and outreach programs at Saint Mary’s. Please contact Father Jay Smith for more information or if you would like to donate time or money to our outreach efforts.
Food Pantry
Saint Mary’s partners with the food pantry run by Saint Clement’s Episcopal Church (on 46th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues). If you would like to support this outreach effort, you are invited to bring non-perishable food items on Sundays and place them in the basket at the back of the church or on the table in Saint Joseph’s Hall. The food is then delivered to Saint Clement’s Food Pantry. Thank you to all those who have given so generously and so consistently to this very important outreach effort.
NYC AIDS Walk 2009 (& 2010)
Thirty three Saint Marians and friends completed the AIDS Walk on May 16 and May 17 this year (2009). This was our largest team ever, and we raised more money than ever. Congratulations to all. A special word of thanks is due to all those who walked and raised money, to all our donors and patrons, to those who worked on publicity, and, especially, to team captains MaryJane Boland and Andrew Smith, who provided such able and enthusiastic leadership.
The 2010 AIDS Walk is already being planned. Please visit www.aidswalk.net/newyork for details. You should be able to find information on our team by clicking on “Teams” and then scroll down to “Saint Mary the Virgin.”
Financial Support for the Church of San Juan Evangelista, Villanueva, Honduras
A group of parishioners visited our friends at the Church of San Juan Evangelista in Tegucigalpa in January 2007 and again in 2008. We were involved in some programs with the children of the village, a construction project, the effort to provide good meals for the whole parish during the work week, and a mentoring project with some of the young adults. A mission trip is not practical or possible every year, but we continue to support the church with monetary gifts. Click here to read A Poem about Honduras by Rebecca Weiner. Deacon Weiner led our last Mission Trip to Honduras.
Saint Mary’s Gift Shop
Proceeds (the exact percentage is determined annually by the Gift Shop and the Board) from the Saint Mary’s Gift Shop go directly to a variety of Mission and Outreach efforts. The Gift Shop is open after Solemn Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. Buy a mug or a T-shirt and know that you are supporting one of our outreach efforts.
Maundy Thursday Offering
Money collected on Maundy Thursday is traditionally given directly to the poor. In recent years the offering has been sent to the Church of San Juan Evangelista in Tegucigalpa and to Saint Clement’s Food Pantry.
Votive Candle Shrines
Donations to the shrines located throughout the church keep the doors of the church open every day of the year. On an average day over 500 people enter the church, some stay all day, others stop in for a service, to pray, or to light a candle and make an offering at a shrine. All gifts make an enormous difference and help us continue to be a place for Worship, Prayer, Mission and Outreach. Thanks for your support and for your prayers.
AA and other groups at Saint Mary’s
Saint Mary’s Mission House hosts a wide variety of groups every week. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups meet every day of the year. Monday through Friday there is a meeting in the morning, three meetings at midday, and one meeting in the evening. On Saturdays, Sundays and Federal Holidays there is one meeting.
The Theater at Saint Mary’s
The Theater is Saint Mary’s Parish House. Currently the American Globe Theatre is in residence. AGT offices are also located in the Parish House. In addition to shows, AGT offers a variety of classes and workshops for adults and children.
Other Mission and Outreach opportunities that Saint Marians participate in…
Bag Lunch Program
Every Saturday morning at 9:45 AM throughout the year, volunteers gather in the Parish House of Saint Thomas Church (One West Fifty-Third Street) to prepare between 350 and 400 bag lunches consisting of soup or fruit cup, a sandwich and cookies. Distribution of the lunches along routes in mid-Manhattan begins at 11:00 and is completed by 12:30 PM.
The Michael D. Fender Food Pantry
at the Church of the Ascension
Each Tuesday and Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m., bags of canned food are handed out to individuals outside of Ascension's Parish House at 12 West 11th Street, Manhattan (just west of Fifth Avenue). Bags are given on a first-come, first-served basis to the first 85 people who arrive. Clients line up on the north side of 11th Street, by the fence. Anyone who comes to our door receives a bag of food, so long as supplies last. We do not have any eligibility or needs tests. Three volunteers are needed each morning. Numbers are handed out to the first 85 people in line and the bags of food are handed out to these individuals in order of their number. Volunteers also prepare new bags so that they are ready for the next food pantry day. The food is stored in the basement of the Parish House. The bags are packed in the basement and then brought up and stored by the front door, ready to go. Volunteering takes about an hour and you are usually needed once every six weeks, starting at 8 a.m. To volunteer, call Matthew Snow at 212-475-6224.
Common Ground and Street2Home Initiative
Saint Mary’s works with Common Ground Community to help move people from homelessness to housing. Several times a year, there are street counts of the homeless in West Midtown. Also, Saint Mary’s is working to help develop the Jacob’s Tents program that helps parishioners be good neighbors with the homeless in our area.
Encore Senior Services
The Encore Senior Services Center located at Saint Malachy’s Church, 239 West 49th Street, needs volunteers to help with visiting seniors in their homes, hospitals or nursing homes; escorting and shopping for seniors, packing and serving meals at the Senior Center or assisting with activities. For more information about volunteer opportunities, call 212-591-2910.
Food Pantry at St. Bart’s
The Food Pantry at Saint Bartholomew’s Church (50th Street at Park Avenue) provides non-perishable food for eligible persons once a month. To volunteer, contact the Reverend J.D. Clarke at 212-378-0200.
Hartley House
Hartley House, located at 416 West 46th Street, offers programs to serve the changing Hell’s Kitchen community, offering the Home Outreach Program for Elders (HOPE), after-school programs for children, and educational programs for all ages. To find out more about how you can help further the mission of Hartley House, call 212 246-9885.
Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen
The Soup Kitchen at Holy Apostles (Ninth Avenue and 28th Street) serves 1,100 meals everyday to the homeless, elderly and the working poor. To find out more or to volunteer, contact call the coordinator of volunteer programs, Clyde Kuemmerle, at 212- 924-0167 ext. 237.
Diocese of Chennai (Madras), India
Department of Liturgy and Music
Dr. Randall Giles is an appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church. Since 2000, he has been working with the Church of South India's Madras Diocese, as director of its department of Liturgy and Music. In that capacity, he has mounted workshops and short courses for church musicians in the diocese, an annual Summer School of Music specifically designed for Village church musicians, and workshops for parishes wanting to work through issues of liturgy and music's place in it. He has initiated a large project to restore several of the nineteenth century pipe organs in the city of Chennai (formerly called Madras), where no work on maintaining these instruments has been able to be done for many decades. Interest in this work has spread to other localities in South India, where pipe organ restoration has begun with European builders engaged to do the work. Join us at Saint Mary's as we continue to discern new ways of supporting Randall and the church in South India. For more information about the ministry there see www.randallgiles.org
The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Sagada, Philippines
In 1904 the Reverend John Staunton, former curate of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, New York City, established a mission in the mountains of Luzon, Philippines. Out of this mission grew the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Saint Mary’s School, and many other programs to help the Igorot people. As the Episcopal Church in the Philippines moves toward full financial self-sufficiency, there increasing opportunities to be mission partners with the parish and the school in Sagada.
Office of the Anglican Observer to the United Nations, New York, New York
The ministry of the Anglican Observer is essentially to interact with various entities of the United Nations and of government missions and covey the concerns of the Anglican Communion. The office works with appropriate Non Government Organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies and also aims to keep the Anglican Communion informed about United Nations initiatives and how they could benefit from, or be effective partners to UN programmes. Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Matalavea, Anglican Observer, is a friend of Saint Mary’s, and Brother William Jones, OSG is a member of Saint Mary’s. To volunteer, contact Brother William at 212-716-6263.
