Outreach

The New Testament clearly tells us that first and foremost we are sent people. Archbishop William Temple once said, the Church is the only institution in the world that exists for the sake of non-members. Our model is Jesus, who himself was the sent One from God. Jesus, in turn, sent the apostles into the world to spread the good news of the kingdom by word and deed. As followers of Jesus, we are inspired to follow his example.

St. Michael’s Church has a strong commitment to our outreach ministry and is recognized as being a servant church in our community. You might say that outreach and service are in our DNA. Nevertheless, we are aware of the magnitude of human need, so our goal is one of continuing to challenge and stretch ourselves.

A decade or so ago, the Vestry made the commitment to fund outreach ministries through the church budget. We have an active outreach committee that allocates those dollars. Dozens of members routinely give of their time and talent to support a wide variety of outreach efforts.

Current Opportunities & Donation Drives

Thanksgiving Donations

Thanks to your support, we were able to provide 89 Thanksgiving dinners, 61 turkeys, and $750 in gift cards to our Outreach partners in ministry.

Lent 40 Days of Giving 2024

This year’s donations benefited Partners in Housing, Care & Share Food Bank, Mercy’s Gate, Tessa, ASD20 Family Resource Center, and Inside Out.

Be sure to watch the Weekly eNews for upcoming seasonal donation drives!

More about our Outreach Partners …

St. Michael’s Outreach Committee meets on the second Monday of the month. Anyone is welcome to join! Often we have guest speakers from a partner organization. Each January, voting outreach members determine how the money set aside for outreach will be granted for the coming year. We build relationships with partner organizations to see how St. Michael’s can support them with donation drives and giving. In 2023, St. Michael’s allocated nearly 15% of its annual budget to the Diocese of Colorado, local partners, and initiatives across the country as we responded to natural disasters. Once a year we reflect on our practices to determine how and where the needs are greater and what shifts might be appropriate in our efforts.

Laundry LOVE

Laundry Love launched in July 2021 in hopes of washing a few clothes for those who needed it in order to gain job interviews. That has grown into hundreds of loads each month ensuring homeless guests have dry blankets and families have clean clothes to send their children to school in. This ministry is one of two outreach ministries completely maintained by St. Michael’s and their friends. Deacon Gary and friends can be found after church on Sundays making sandwiches, and they spend Monday mornings on the west side washing clothes all morning long.

The Lord’s Dinner

The Lord’s Dinner has continued serving meals throughout COVID and relocated from Sacred Heart to Academy Christian West in January of 2022 where they were invited back inside to prepare hot meals. No sacrifices are made when it comes to these meals—home-cooked and hot, and appreciated by all who attend. As all things during COVID, numbers took a hit, but with a dedicated team, we are seeing growth and possibility there. Most recently, St. Andrew’s, Manitou started helping, and Grace & St. Stephens has started financially contributing for the months that St. Andrew’s covers. The Lord’s Dinner can be found serving guests on the second Sunday of each month. Diane Verlinde can be contacted about this ministry.

Care and Share

Care & Share’s mission is to provide food, partnering opportunities, and education to fight hunger and food insecurity in Southern Colorado communities. Care and Share provides free food to partner agencies including soup kitchens, food pantries, community centers, churches and schools. They also provide services directly to people facing hunger with tools to address gaps in the emergency food system. These include a mobile food pantry, mobile markets, and the Sunny Side Market. There are many volunteer opportunities as well as ongoing needs for donations of food and money. If you are interested in volunteering directly at Care & Share, please contact Justin Morrill at justin_morrill@msn.com.

CREATION CARE

 The Episcopal Church’s Covenant for the Care of Creation is a call to care for God’s Creation as individuals, congregations, ministries, and dioceses, with the knowledge that the poor and disenfranchised disproportionately suffer the ill effects of environmental neglect. At St. Michael’s, we are answering the call by providing parishioners with opportunities to learn about environmental concerns and discuss how we, as members of this faith community, might respond. After offering the 10-week program Sacred Water in the spring of 2023, this fall a group is participating in Sacred Air. We intend to present additional programs focused on other environmental topics in the coming year. All are welcome to participate. Contact Jon Numair for more information - jnumair@verizon.net

ASD20 Family Resource Center

The Family Resource Center (FRC) is a food pantry and clothing closet open to families that have children enrolled in Academy School District 20 schools. Clients in need are referred to the FRC by school principals, teachers, and word of mouth. In addition to providing food and clothing, the FRC connects families in need with housing, employment, and mental health resources in Colorado Springs. St Michael’s has been supporting the ASD20 FRC with Outreach Committee grant funds since it opened in 2021. Grocery store gift cards donated by the congregation provide support to families in need during the school holiday break. Contact Susan Futey for more information.

Habitat for humanity

Habitat for Humanity “seeks to put God’s love into action, and bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope.” During 2022 and 2023, we have helped build houses on numerous occasions and have volunteered at the ReStore on St. Michael’s weekend. As we heard recently in one of the community stories, this type of housing not only provides a safe roof and yard, but a more permanent home for many years to come. George Hammond or Deacon Gary can be contacted for more information.

IHN

The Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) has served Colorado Springs families since 1997. St. Michael’s and the Outreach ministry partnered with IHN prior to COVID-19, and we plan to renew our partnership in 2024. We will be hosting up to four guest families at St. Michael’s for one week, and we will be looking for volunteers to serve afternoon shifts, overnight shifts, and prepare meals. More information to come in early 2024, but if you are interested in supporting these families or if you want more information about IHN, contact Kelly Belvis at kellydean04049@gmail.com or Susan Futey at SusanFutey@gmail.com.

INSIDEOUT

InsideOut builds access, equity, and power with LGBTQIA2+ young people (ages 13-24), through leadership, advocacy, community-building, education, and peer support. Not only does InsideOut provide a physical space for students, but they also help students navigate losing stable housing, health services, food, and school support. Lesley Priest or Deacon Gary can help get you connected with InsideOut.

KAIROS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY (Prison Ministry)

The mission of the Kairos Prison Ministry is to share the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to impact the hearts and lives of incarcerated men, women and youth, as well as their families, to become loving and productive citizens of their communities. St. Michael’s currently supports a men’s, women’s, and youth program (called Spiritual Journey). Through these programs, the men host afternoons down in Canyon City at the prison, and the women host gatherings in Denver and Pueblo. They also host several day retreats that are just starting to pick back up. Deacon Gary Darress, Lee Kulbitski, and Bill Oliver are leaders in each of these sections.

Partners in housing

“Partners in Housing (PIH) provides one year of transitional housing and supportive services to 68 families experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency.” The Colorado House is the largest transitional housing facility within PIH, and it contains the Resource Center, a Food/Clothes Pantry, and the Child Enrichment Center. At the Resource Center, partners search for jobs, and receive services, such as: case management, and education/counseling for life skills, budgeting and credit, and career preparedness. Children attend the Child Enrichment Center (CEC) while their parents receive services, and St. Michael’s Snack Brigade provides snacks and supplemental food for children attending the CEC. In 2021-2022, 92% of families served moved to stable housing. Judy Morrill is the contact for Partners in Housing if you’d like to get involved..

Mercy’s Gate

Mercy’s Gate was founded in 1982 as Northern Churches Care by five area churches who wanted to offer low-income families a simple food pantry. In 2012, the name changed to Mercy’s Gate to better represent the expanded services offered to neighbors in crisis, now throughout El Paso County. Today, in addition to an on-site food pantry, the ministry offers a range of services including rental and utilities assistance, transportation and clothing vouchers, medical and prescription assistance, tax services, and spiritual support and church referrals. In 2022, Mercy’s Gate directly impacted 26,877 people in crisis. St. Michael’s supports Mercy’s Gate with grants through the Outreach Program and periodic food drives to benefit the food pantry. Volunteer opportunities are listed on the ministry website: www.mercysgatecs.org. Jim Moore is the liaison, and volunteers regularly with Mercy’s Gate.

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is undertaking a renovation of their current building in order to change over to a family shelter where family units will finally be able to stay together. As we learned recently, the city is desperately short of family housing. In 2022, St. Michael’s helped with their kettle bell ringing on December 10 and 17 at the King Soopers on Woodmen and Academy. We would love to have your help and support in helping them achieve their goals for the city. Rick Couch can be contacted about this ministry.

Candles for the Homeless

Old candles, small coffee cans and others with a 4” diameter and height of 4 ½” are collected in the labeled container by the kitchen, and then are made into new candles for light and heat, and distributed at the Lord’s Dinner. Donations anytime! Call the church office for more information.