JOIN SAINT MARIANS IN THE AIDS WALK

On Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, 2008, nearly thirty Saint Marians walked to support the effort to combat HIV and AIDS.  Thanks to all who raised money, represented the parish at the walk, and to all those who supported the team.  Thanks also to MaryJane Boland for organizing the team’s efforts this year.  If you would like to discuss the goals of the Walk or plans for 2009, please contact MaryJane (mjboland3@gmail.com) or Father Jay Smith (jrsmith@stmvnyc.org). 

At the beginning of July 2008, we received final tallies for AIDS Walk donations, and our Saint Mary's AIDS Walk team celebrates its accomplishments.  Of 1,779 teams, Saint Mary's team ranked No. 43!  Saint Mary's walkers raised $16,977.  We had five Gold Walkers (people who raised at least $1,000), and we almost made it to Gold Team status (the top 20 fundraisers).  Next year, we hope to go for Gold – and we hope you will join us, either as a donor a walker/fundraiser, or both.

Local Opportunities for Mission

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 49^th 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 (50^th 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 46^th 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 28^th 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.

Global Opportunities for Mission

The Church of San Juan Evangelista, Villanueva,Honduras
We will be visiting our friends at the Church of San Juan Evangelista in Tegucigalpa January 15, 2007 through January 21, 2007.  Though we will know more as time draws closer, we will most likely be 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.  In late summer or early fall there will be a meeting for those who are interested in hearing more about the upcoming trip.  The overall cost of the trip per person would be around $1,100.00.  Each person pays his or her own way so that all of the mission funds raised by the parish may go directly to the people of Villanueva. 

A Poem about Honduras by Rebecca Weiner
Information on the 2008 Honduras Trip


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.