The overall goal of our Outreach & Advocacy Committee is to be an advocate and voice to those at St. John's, and the broader population, in our mission as a community of faith. During the last two years, members selected various organizations to serve. Currently, our work is focused on environmental stewardship and advocacy that supports the mission of St. John’s. Although we are a small parish, we try to respond to all requests for help. Some of our initiatives are discussed below. If you would like more information, please contact Jude Hutchinson, Chairperson, at Outreach & Advocacy Committee, or jhzw@mac.com.
Outreach
Epiphany School: Epiphany School in Boston provides education, meals and services to children in grades 6 – 8. Our team, led by Pat Boyd, prepared dinners for 75 children once a month for two years. Several members of St. John’s volunteered for this service.
Home for Little Wanderers: St. John’s is a collaborative partner of the Home for Little Wanderers and provides reading help to children and other services. Our initial work focused on the Night’s Children’s Center. Alicia Faxon, Project Lead, logged in over seventy-five hours cataloguing all the books in an electronic directory.
BPL Sedgwick Library ESL Conversation Groups: Jamaica Plain has a large population of non-English speaking people who want to learn English. Tom Ward, Project Lead, worked with the Boston Public Library to set up discussion groups in JP’s Sedgwick Branch Library. For close to two years, Tom and his team led discussions with visitors from all over the world. Topics ranged from local customs, history, current events, favorite art museums, music, food and job applications. Although we are not currently involved, the conversations continue on Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM.
Barbara McInnis House, Roxbury: Dr. Marcus Butler led this ongoing project that provides services and housing to Boston’s homeless. Marc and Assistant Minister, Gretchen Grimshaw, collected clothing, shoes and toiletries from our community and made monthly drops to the House. This project is currently on-hold due to our basement renovation, but will restart in 2008.
Be an Angel Holiday Campaign: During the holiday season, St. John’s reaches out to children in need. Ann Wetherilt and Peg Huff lead this project which brightens up our church and our hearts. Gifts are delivered to children in the care of the Department of Social Services in Boston. Our Angels pride themselves in collecting over 200 gifts for fifty children each year.
Advocacy
Faith & the Environment: Caring for the environment is important to our church and our community. This year, the Committee reactivated St. John’s Environmental Stewardship Group. Helen Waldorf, Project Lead, led two viewings/discussions of An Inconvenient Truth. The Committee joined MA Interfaith Power & Light, encouraged St. John’s to do an environmental audit of its facilities and find better ways to reduce its carbon footprint and be fiscally responsible. Recently, Alicia Faxon and Waldorf facilitated a juried show on Communicating Climate Change through Art.
Pride March: St. John's participates in the annual Pride March to raise awareness of GLBT issues and to promote unity within the community. Tee Shirts, designed with St. John’s logo, adorn our walkers. Funds collected for Tee’s are given to St. John’s Capital Campaign.
Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry: Led by our Rector and Assistant Rector, St. John's plays an important role in RCFM's advocacy for maintaining Equal Marriage in Massachusetts.
Other Projects: Bread for the World, Aids Walk, Health Care and Affordable Housing, Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina Relief, Walk for Hunger and fund-raisers for our community.
Note: Photos courtesy of Jude Hutchinson, just out photography.