Caring for Each Other
Outreach
Lending a Hand...
The Outreach Ministries of St. Thomas Episcopal Church include many partnerships – with St. Thomas School, our Youth Group, other churches, and established non-profits.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Outreach at St. Thomas offers opportunities for people with different time availabilities and different passions and interests. Find an outreach activity that appeals to you and contact the person in charge to find how you can help. Thank you!
Wendy Coles and Lelia Harrington, Co-Chairs of Outreach
Feed My Sheep
Volunteers from St. Thomas Church and School meet twice a month to make sandwiches for people living on the streets of downtown Miami. With the help of Bethel AME personnel, the sandwiches are distributed. Throughout the year, socks, shoes, and backpacks are also collected for people in need. The Church’s FMS volunteers meet the 3rd Monday of each month from 4:00-5:00 p.m. at St. Thomas. We give service hours!
Contact: Elena Levis egurrilevis@gmail.com
Chapman Partnership
Chapman Partnership provides emergency housing, meals, health care, day care, job training, and job placement. Monthly at the Downtown and at the Homestead facility, St. Thomas provides the cost of a meal and the volunteers to serve the meal (volunteers are subject to being onsite according to Covid protocols). For dates and times to join us, email one of the contact people listed below. Volunteers are needed!
Contact for Downtown: Karen and Bob McCammon kcmcammon@msn.com
Contact for Homestead: Mike Fleming adekoyejo57@gmail.com
St. Joan’s Guild of St. Thomas
St. Joan’s regularly collects toiletries, books, clothing, handmade items, children’s gifts, and other items for homeless people, including residents of Chapman Homestead. The Knitting Group knits scarves for homeless people, and after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, knitted hundreds of Comfort Dolls for children in Haiti. St. Joan’s also donates to food banks and to non-profits that serve needs in the community.
Contact: Susie Westbrook susiewestbrook@aol.com
Natalee’s Have-a-Heart Tree
St. Thomas provides supplies and gifts for newborns to age 2 through the Jasmine Project, sponsored by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics and Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade. Join in Christmas giving by taking a child’s name from the tree during late November or early December and providing a gift or by making a contribution online. Contact: Reed Humphery Reed.h.humphery@gmail.com
Holy Comforter Episcopal Church
Holy Comforter Episcopal Church and St. Thomas are sister parishes in Miami that have built a lasting companionship in outreach ministries. In the heart of Little Havana, Holy Comforter offers a daily food distribution program for homeless people, low-income senior housing, and assistance for parishioners with economic challenges. St. Thomas Parish – Church and School – have a long partnership in major outreach that responds to critical needs in that community. Food bags at Thanksgiving for the homeless people served by Holy Comforter, Christmas gifts for children in December, and food bags at Easter for the residents in Senior Housing are major projects supported by all ages at the church.
Contact: Kitty Espinosa catherinefkoch@gmail.com
Caring for Haiti
Working parallel with the School in outreach to Haiti, the Church has raised funds for the summer leadership conference and tuition scholarships for the Women and Girls Initiative in Haiti through coffee hour presentations and the annual Shrove Tuesday Crepe Dinner. Following the 2021 earthquake, funding also went towards basic needs for girls whose families had suffered profound loss. Numerous volunteers are needed for the Shrove Tuesday fundraiser. For more information on our work with the Women and Girls Initiative in Haiti, click on the tab “Building Bridges in Haiti.”
Contacts:
Didi Bertrand-Farmer didihaiti@gmail.com
Lelia Harrington Harringtonlelia@gmail.com
St. Andrew’s Food Pantry
St. Andrew’s Episcopal church is inviting St. Thomas volunteers on Thursdays from 9:15 to 12:00 to help pack and distribute food bags for people in need. Clients come from as far south as Homestead and West Kendall. Pantry client numbers are still not up to the pre-pandemic levels, so the number of volunteers needed changes from week to week. We are very excited to join the St. Andrew’s community to help grow this valuable mission. For more information please
Contact: Lelia Harrington Harringtonlelia@gmail.com
First Communion Class involved in Outreach
The First Communion Class is taught that outreach is a central part of Christian ministry. Throughout the year, they are led in age-appropriate outreach activities that foster a sense of caring and action for people who have needs they can respond to. In addition to collecting food and other items, they make things and write notes to bring some joy to people who are experiencing tough times.
Contact:
Claudia Carmona clcarmona@stepsmia.org
