Respectfully submitted by Paul McCright, Clerk
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
August 31, 2021 As Episcopalians, as followers of Jesus, as people of faith, we mourn the recent loss of life in Afghanistan, the ongoing chaos and instability, and the risk that many Afghans face, in particular women and girls. The situation in Afghanistan is changing quickly with many lives lost and thousands more at risk. The current crisis leaves over 5 million displaced Afghans in the country, in bordering nations and many more around the world who have been evacuated, who are trying to find long-term safe solutions. As Afghans arrive to the U.S. with the hope of safety, The Episcopal Church, through the work of Episcopal Migration Ministries, is assisting our new neighbors through the Afghan Parolee Support Program. This new U.S. program, dependent on private resources and community-led welcome and support, will provide security and foundation necessary for arriving Afghans to begin life in the U.S. The ministry…
Fellow Doubters, The Outreach Committee is excited to announce a new partnership with Cathedral of Hope in supporting their three programs that help to serve the food insecure and homeless population of Dallas. Our goal in partnering with other organizations is to support existing, robust programs that assist those in need in our community. In partnering with Cathedral of Hope, we hope to provide volunteer opportunities to our members as well as encourage interaction between St. Thomas and likeminded local organizations. In addition to the three volunteer activities, we Doubters can also support the programs by donating items for the food pantry at CoH. The items to be collected would be canned or nonperishable food items (single serve packaging and protein foods are preferred) and travel sized toiletry items. Both food and toiletry items are distributed to visitors on a regular basis along with hot meals. We will collect the…
Mission Outreach Committee The Mission Outreach met Tuesday and has three projects they are presently focused on. They are the development of a hand bell choir, the partnership with Cathedral of Hope supporting their “I Care” program, and the expansion of our participation with Dallas Champion Academy. Hand Bell Choir: Dave Aston reported that they have identified between 7-8 members of St. Thomas who have expressed an interest in joining the handbell choir. He also said that he had been in contract with some of the handbell members from Central Christian, but nothing was settled. One end of the north room will be dedicated to the storage of the multiple handbells we have. Cathedral of Hope Partnership: Cathedral of Hope’s “I Care” program is directed at the homeless who come to their church for meals. Each person is given a small bag of personal toiletries. Randy Hering is our lesion…
The Mission Outreach Committee met on Tuesday July 13, 2021 for their regularly scheduled meeting. The purpose of these meetings is to receive updates on the progress of various outreach projects. We partner with other groups and churches to support some of their ongoing projects that fulfill our mission by “serving our community with joy, without walls!” Committee member Caroline Hoffman defined bite sized projects as a one-time activity that require one or all of three things: money, items, or time. Collecting school supplies for Dallas Champions Academy was St Thomas’s first outreach project. In the July 1 Doubter, Father Christopher wrote about the Dallas Champions Academy and four of the programs that help break the cycle of poverty. The picture is the trunk space in Virginia Holleman’s car with all the school supplies We had delivered to the church. She and Stephen Toon counted what we had collected and…
Dallas Champions Academy has the school supplies they need for their initial project; several DOK chapters donated to their effort, supplies have been ordered and are coming in. DOK members are meeting at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Royal Lane to assemble backpacks for the students – next Tuesday and Wednesday (June 29 & 30) at 10:00 am. Then on Saturday, July 3, the backpacks will be handed out at St. Matthew’s Cathedral from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. The Rev. Virginia Holleman has signed up to help with the project at the Cathedral. If you are interested in helping with either project, please text Linda Cox at 512-750-7983 and let her know you can help. They will greatly appreciate our help!! School Supplies they will need for additional backpacks; these can be left on one of the round tables in the parish hall or dropped off at the church office,…
May 13, 2021 “…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 25:35-36, NRSV My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, Last evening, we held the first meeting of the newly constituted Mission/Outreach Committee at St. Thomas the Apostle, and I have to admit, I think we had a fun time coming together to ponder what outreach means to us, the Doubters of Great Faith, in 2021, on the heels of the great pandemic, racial reckoning, the economic downturn, hunger, immigration, and all the other looming issues that face our community, our country, and our world today. How could any or all of that possibly be fun,…
“I recently saw a post on Facebook entitled “10 Signs You Know You’re Doing Well in Life.” If you have a roof over your head, clean water to drink, ate a meal today, have breath in your lungs, clean clothes to wear, etc… you are doing well. To this list of ten signs, I am adding “knowing Jesus.” By contrast, those who are the recipients of Self Denial grants can often say these things are not true for them. Self Denial grants help fund missionaries or mission trips that serve a variety of needs. The Order’s goal is to fund thirty missions this fiscal year. Daughters have received grants for mission trips to spread the Gospel to girls, some of whom are Junior Daughters in Honduras. Daughters in Spain minister to the elderly and unemployed by delivering food supplied by the government. Others provide Vacation Bible School to young people in…
At its Monthly meeting, the Vestry of St. Thomas the Apostle approved our parish’s Outreach Grants. For several years, we have provided funds to various organizations to assist them with their programs and special projects. We had budgeted $5,000 for 2019 but no grants were awarded in that year so the amount was rolled into 2020 to accompany our budgeted $5,000 for this year. Here are this year’s recipients: Dallas Hunger Relief – a partnership through the Diocese of Dallas and the Greater Dallas Coalition. Each food truck holds 448 boxes of groceries (50 pounds each); each box contains produce, meat, and dairy and each family gets one box. Each food truck costs $600. We are paying for 5 food trucks for $3,000! Christmas Toys for Dallas Children in Need – another partnership with the Diocese of Dallas and the Greater Dallas Coalition. We are contributing $1,000. This is in…
Nothing personifies the mission of Bryan’s House more than the Little Red Socks of Love, which represent the little boy for whom the organization is named. Bryan Allen was the first known child in Dallas to die from AIDS after being infected perinatally from his mother, who had unknowingly contracted the disease through a blood transfusion. Bryan’s mother kept him outfitted in little red socks in hopes that he would live through the holidays. Bryan lived to see his first Christmas, but he died shortly after at only 8 months old. With nowhere to turn for help caring for her children with AIDS, Bryan’s mother Lydia Allen founded Bryan’s House to serve as a hospice for children infected with HIV / AIDS. Sadly, Lydia and her older son Matthew both passed away due to complications from AIDS. Today, Texas is ranked 49th in the USA to serve at-risk children with…
