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OUTREACH
St. Paul's practices Christ's mission to the world in a variety of ways.
The parish budget includes many grants to organizations designed to help those who are ill, needy or at risk. Among the annual recipient of gifts from St. Paul's are Episcopal Community Services, the Philadelphia Theological Institute (which was founded by the Rev. James C. Ransom when he was an assistant at St. Paul's in the late 1970s), the Northwest Interfaith Movement, the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund and the Heifer Project.
St. Paul's also supports the United Thank Offering.
Each year the parish rummage sale (a description follows) raises significant funds which the Outreach Grants Committee designates aid to local groups.
Over St. Paul's history, parishioners have been actively involved with the diocese of Pennsylvania and the national church. St. Paul's members have served as deputies to General Convention, as president of Episcopal Community Services, as a member of the national church's executive committee and at least two have served as the diocesan chancellor.
Twice each year St. Paul's hosts homeless guests as part of our participation in the Interfaith Hospitality Network (described below).
Outreach at St. Paul's enables parishioners to share their love, time, talent and treasure with all of God's children, both in the Philadelphia area and the world at large.
Outreach affirms the tenets that in giving we receive and that in loving we are loved. Each year parishioners give more than 6,000 hours to programs that help those outside of our immediate family.
Interfaith Hospitality Network
The Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) provides lodging, meals and hospitality for families that are currently seeking permanent housing. The program mobilizes community resources: churches and synagogues for overnight accommodations, congregations for volunteers, social service agencies for family assessment and referrals and existing facilities for day programs.
In November, 2004, St. Paul's hosted five adults and 11 children for a two-week period. St. Paul's has newly renovated facilities for our IHN guests that allow them to be housed in separate rooms containing sitting and sleeping areas. Our guests also can use a newly installed shower in one of the bathrooms
St. Paul's joins forces with two neighboring congregations: the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Our Mother of Consolation Roman Catholic Church. Our two companion parishes supplied dinners for the guests, while St. Paul's supplied the accommodations, breakfast and lunch.
St. Paul's houses IHN guests twice each year. The program is chaired by Ann Stevens and Sue Dure.
Rummage Sale
The St. Paul's Rummage Sale is an amazing example of fellowship for the cause of outreach.
Held on the first Saturday following Labor Day, the work of collecting and sorting the treasures from our closets, basements and attics begins in July. Throughout the summer the volunteers collect and sort thousands of items from elegant clothing for the French Room and special antiques to bargains in toys, clothes, books, linens and household items.
Sorting takes place on Wednesday mornings and alternating Wednesday evenings throughout the summer. The Friday evening preview sale grows in numbers each year.
The Saturday sale draws huge numbers from the community, who begin lining up early in the morning to browse through and purchase treasures. Literally dozens of parishioners are part of the effort that generates a tremendous spirit, not to mention the significant financial contribution to our outreach programs.
Outreach Grants
The Outreach Grants Committee decides where to give the money raised by the St. Paul's annual Rummage Sale. It serves the northwest Philadelphia and Montgomery County area by providing grant money to charitable organizations with operating budgets of less than $275,000.
With an emphasis on aiding fledgling community programs that need financial help, the committee provides total grants of about $20,000 annually. Grants typically vary from $500 to $2,500. They are awarded to organizations which serve those most in need in our community: the elderly, the poor, the young, the indigent.
Examples of recent recipients are Meals on Wheels, after school and breakfast programs, welfare to work programs, tutorial and skills programs for the poor and homeless and several food cupboards and soup kitchens.
We believe that our grants improve life for about 3,000 individuals annually. This endeavor is solely funded by the Rummage Sale. Our committee is comprised of about eight members who usually come from the hard working rummage sale volunteers.
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