Saturday Collection 11/20/2010

This week’s collection of parish news around the Episcopal Church has a congregation partnering with local business to renovate a homeless shelter, a parish celebrating three hundred years of ministry to a community and youth sleeping outside in the middle of the city in solidarity.


There was a bit of a dust up last year when reports of serious building issues surfaced at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison Wisconsin’s homeless drop-in shelter. But a local business stepped in and working in partnership with the parish, everything is ready to go just in time for this winter:

“It will make guests feel that they are decent human beings instead of problems, and inspire them to turn their lives around,’ said Steve Schooler, executive director of Porchlight, which provides shelter, housing and other services in Dane County.

After reading news reports of deteriorating conditions at the shelter, 116 W. Washington Ave., representatives from Epic Systems Corp. toured the space last spring and decided to give money to upgrade the sleeping area, bathroom, kitchen and laundry facilities. Many of the contractors provided their services for free.

Schooler and Bern Tan of Epic wouldn’t comment on the size of the gift. ‘It was significant, very significant. I can say that much,’ Schooler said.

Tan said he wanted the focus to be on Porchlight, not Epic. ‘We think we did the easy part and Porchlight bears really a good deal of responsibility for providing services to the homeless.'”

More here.

The rector, The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Grieser had some words to share at the opening of the renovated shelter.

St. Paul’s in Newburyport Massachusetts was founded in 1711 is gearing up to celebrate 300 hundred years of ministry to the people of the community, and rededicating itself to its future. The celebration kicks off tomorrow on the Feast of Christ the King and then will have special events that occur throughout the coming year.

Over the centuries, St. Paul’s has established itself as a fixture in the community and donates space and services to programs like Harborside Adult Day Care, Strings in Motion, Among Friends, Sangha Meditation Group and many others.

“A lot of community groups use the building on a regular basis,” Hubbard said. “It is wonderful. We have a large building in good repair, and we’re happy that it is not sitting empty during the week.”

The church has played host to groups that grew from fledgling community services to established programs in the region. Many years ago, the church housed a women’s crisis center that was the genesis of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, Bellairs said. The church also played a role in starting the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival.

St. Paul’s boasts the record as the oldest continuing Episcopal parish in Massachusetts. This record is all the more impressive considering the setbacks it has faced through the centuries.

More here.

And just to the south of Newburyport, in North Haven CT, local youth from St. John’s Episcopal Church and North Haven Congregational (and their friends) slept outside in what’s come to be known as “Abraham’s Tent City”:

[…]Geared to raise both awareness and a portion of the $20,000 it will cost to run the coming season of Abraham’s Tent, the event was conducted in partnership with Columbus House, Interfaith Cooperative Ministries and the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project.

“Just the name ‘tent city’ intrigued me,” said Vasas, who learned of it during gospel time at St. John’s. “We got into a discussion of how it would be in support of homeless people and I thought it was a really fantastic idea.”

While some of her contemporaries slept in cardboard boxes, Vasas slept in a tent with two others. The experience is one she won’t soon forget.

“It wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be when we went to bed,” she said. “But when we woke up in the morning it was pretty cold.”

The experience isn’t just about fund raising though. It also allows the young people to experience what is like to have to brave the cold every night, and helps them to understand the daily challenges the homeless people in their community are facing.

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