The
people of the Cathedral strive to fulfill the goals of proclaiming
and living the Good News of Christ as servants in the world and using
their resources to serve others through the donation of time, talent
and money to a variety of activities that take place outside the Cathedral.
Although the amount of money that the Cathedral donates varies from
year to year, the Cathedral is committed to tithing 10% of income
received for outreach projects.
The
Cathedral has an Outreach Committee that meets regularly to discuss
and decide how to spend the money allocated to outreach. Past recipients of grants have included Abbottston Elementary School (through the Greater Homewood Interfaith Alliance), Association of Africa Societies in Maryland, Women's Housing Coalition, Episcopal Relief and Immigration Center Alliance, B.R.I.D.G.E., Deaf-Blind Camps, All God's Children Camp, Morija Health/Lesotho, Church of the Guardian Angel Food Pantry, Cathedral House Re-Entry Program, Children's Peace Center, Paul's Place and Sandtown Habitat for Humanity. If you are interested
in more general information about outreach or would like to serve
on the Outreach Committee, please contact our Outreach Coordinator,
Amy Myers
.
The Outreach
Committee also tries to develop a personal connection with various
outreach ministries by providing opportunities for Cathedral members
to offer additional donations of money, time and talents.
Although
the projects with which the Cathedral is involved change from time
to time, the following is a fairly regular list of ministries with
which we are involved and encourage participation.
Angel Tree Christmas
B.R.I.D.G.E.
Children's Peace Center
Episcopal Refugee and Immigrant Center Alliance
Guardian Angel Food Pantry
Habitat for Humanity
Public School Partnerships
Women's Housing Coalition Thanksgiving Day Meals
Angel Tree Christmas
Each year during Advent the Cathedral partners with Angel
Tree Christmas to provide toys and clothing to children of incarcerated parents in the neighborhoods closest to the Cathedral. The Christmas
gifts are from the prisoner parent; Cathedral volunteers are the hands and feet of prisoner parents to help them reach out to their children.
Angel Tree Christmas is a national program of Prison Fellowship Ministries that works to strengthen the connection between a child and his or her
imprisoned parent. Over 2 million children in the US have a parent in prison and these children are at high risk to be involved in the criminal
justice system themselves at some point in their lives. Maintaining family relationships is one way to try to break this cycle. Volunteers are
needed to shop for and deliver gifts.
B.R.I.D.G.E.
The
Cathedral is a member of Baltimore Regional Initiative Developing Genuine Equality (known by the acronym BRIDGE).
BRIDGE is an organization comprised of churches from around the greater Baltimore area
who have joined together to create change and "build a bridge that crosses the gulf which divides us by race, class and jurisdiction."
After canvassing members of each congregation, the organization identified three issues on which it has been focusing its energies: housing and livable communities, crime and drugs, and education.
Children's
Peace Center (CPC)
The CPC offers programs for Baltimore City children with a focus on developing
a sense of God's peace through creative expression with the arts. For the past several yers, the CPC has operated a Saturday morning program where children met one Saturday a month
to work on a variety of art projects, cook, and go on field trips in and around Baltimore. More recently, the CPC has experiemented with
an after-school program. If you want to participate in or learn more about the CPC's current efforts at ministering to inner-city youth, please contact
Van Gardner
. You can also visit the CPC web site.
Episcopal Refugee
and Immigrant Center Alliance (ERICA)
ERICA is a church-based community resource center offering
assistance to refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in the greater Baltimore area. ERICA was founded by former refugees who have experienced first
hand the challenges faced by those new to American society. The Center offers many services to refugees, including interest-free legal aid loans,
monthly workshops, crisis support and transitional aid during housing and utility emergencies, personal assistance from volunteer mentors, winter
clothing drives, local community referrals and INS documentation assistance. ERICA has an immediate and ongoing need for mentors, volunteers for its
workshops, advocates, transporters and help leading winter clothing drives and open houses. For more information on ERICA or to volunteer,
contact Peter Kirchgraber
or visit the ERICA Web Site
Guardian Angel Food Pantry
The Cathedral sponsors an ongoing collection of canned goods
and other nonperishable food items for the food pantry at the Episcopal Church of the Guardian Angel in our neighboring community of Remington.
Items may be brought at any time and placed in the bins in the Cathedral hallway.
Habitat for
Humanity
Many
Cathedral members have been actively involved in Habitat for Humanity’s
efforts to build houses in West Baltimore in a neighborhood known
as Sandtown. The Cathedral congregation has been involved in Sandtown
Habitat since 1992 and dedicated its fifteenth house in December 2007.
In addition to
helping rehab houses for low-income home ownership, volunteers have
worked with the school programs, health center, and other ministries
of the New Song Community Church which is located in Sandtown. Volunteers are currently embarking on a new effort--The
Sandtown Habitat ReStore which is projected to open in May 2008. The ReStore will collect donations of new or gently used
building materials and sell them at a discount to Sandtown residents. Proceeds from the sales will be used to refurbish additional houses.
For more information on Habitat or to volunteer, contact the Cathedral's Habitat Coordinator.
For more information on the ReStore, visit the Habitat ReStore web site.
Public School Partnerships
The Cathedral has partnered with the Greater Homewood Community
Corporation to develop a relationship with Abbottston Elementary and Waverly Elementary and Middle Schools, two local public school. Through these
relationship we have provided hundreds of books for the school library, school supplies and tutoring support. Cathedral members also serve on the
Greater Homewood Public Education Committee which acts as an advocate for City schools. If you want to participate in or learn more about this
ministry, please contact Amy Myers
.
Women's Housing Coalition Thanksgiving Day Meals
Each year at Thanksgiving the Cathedral partners with the Women's
Housing Coalition, a non-profit organization that offers safe and affordable housing and support services to homeless and very low-income women and
families in Baltimore City. Volunteers adopt a single woman or a family and purchase the ingredients for a Thanksgiving dinner for them. Volunteers
are needed to adopt families and to assist with delivering the food to the Women's Housing Coalition offices..
