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Social Action at St. Paul’s
The St. Lawrence Guild helps members of St. Paul’s take action outside our parish walls by discerning and responding to the needs of those both near and far. St. Paul’s is located in the urban heart of Seattle, so we need not look further than our own doors to find persons in need. And while this group does focus on local ministries such as efforts to help the homeless, we also are joining our sisters and brothers in the larger Episcopal Church to respond to needs across the world.
Current Projects
St. Paul’s is deepening its relationship with the Millionair Club Charity, an 88-year-old agency in Belltown that provides services and job opportunities to homeless and near-homeless men. In the fall of 2009, we are supporting the MCC in two ways: providing and training volunteers to teach basic computer skills to MCC clients, and offering occasional food drives and other volunteer work to support MCC’s meal program. In the spring of 2010, we plan to host another fundraising event at St. Paul’s similar to the successful fundraiser we held on Holy Thursday 2009.
We are continuing to collect donations of nonperishable food for the Food Bank at St. Mary’s.
Finally, we are collaborating with the St. Paul’s Adult Formation program to provide opportunities throughout the year for learning and discernment, including a Foundations course on Anglo-Catholic sources of social action; a class that explores the ministry of all baptized persons in their daily lives, workplaces, and families; and other events (to be announced) that will improve the ability of St. Paul’s parishioners to connect their faith to social action.
Homeless Neighbors Reflection Group
Have you volunteered to help out at a soup kitchen, and wondered how you could do more? Have you wanted to volunteer, but somehow never gotten around to it? Do you worry whether you should give money to people on street corners? Do you feel anxious when you interact with homeless men and women, and want to fix that? Is it hard for you to reflect theologically on all of this? Stephen Crippen is starting a reflection group for people who want to wrestle with these questions, listen to each other, and reflect on the gifts and challenges that arise in our relationships with our homeless neighbors. This group could be a way for you to deepen or expand your volunteer work, but it could also simply be a way for you to reflect and pray more deeply on this issue.
We will be meeting on the first Sunday of each month in the Gallery. If you have questions, ideas, or wish to participate more actively in these ministries, please contact Stephen Crippen at (206) 214-7650 or .
Breakfast Celebration on MLK Day
The Millionair Club Charity is planning a breakfast with guest speaker James Bible, president of the Seattle/King County NAACP, on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, January 18, 2010, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Mr. Bible is an inspiring speaker who will talk about the prevalence of people of color among the homeless population in our area, how the MCC is making a difference, and how we can help. If you’re interested in attending, please save the date now. If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the meal, please contact Stephen right away at 206-214-7650 or stephen@stephencrippen.com. We need just seven volunteers. This promises to be a great event!
Previous Projects
Advent 2007 and 2008 Malaria Net Challenges
We helped Episcopal Relief and Development by selling malaria nets that protect people in sub-Saharan Africa from this disease. Widespread use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and state-of-the-art drugs has succeeded in cutting malaria deaths in half in two countries most heavily affected by the disease, Rwanda and Ethiopia, the World Health Organization reports.
Northwest Harvest
The St. Lawrence Guild (f.k.a. Social Action Group) helped St. Paul’s collect more than 1,000 pounds of food and $1,600 for Northwest Harvest. Visit www.northwestharvest.com to learn more about their statewide work on behalf of persons in need.