Outreach at St. Mark's Episcopal Church 

Missions and Outreach are an integral part of the St. Mark’s community. Volunteerism is a wonderful attribute enjoyed by our parish and is one of the adhesive forces that bring us all together.

Outreach programs at St. Mark’s Church are extremely active. This is indeed one of our major assets.
- We have volunteers who actively participate in Meals at the Crossroads at Some Other Place. Every Thursday our volunteers cook and serve a meal to 150-200 people. 
- The Treasure House is a wonderful source of second hand clothing as well as many other sundry items. The number of people who continuously use this facility is astounding.
- The Friday Morning Ministry which originated a number of years ago has continued to grow. Approximately 80-100 people are fed breakfast each week by a loving dedicated group. These people give tirelessly of their time and money and offer a worship mode that many of the homeless enjoy. 
- In addition to this the Pantry Ministry is a source of food for many of the hungry and homeless. Some 60-80 bags of groceries are given out each week and serves a need for those in the downtown area.
- Ubi Caritas continues to be an incredible ministry in the south end of Beaumont. Since its inception several years ago, it has shown progressive growth. It is an outpatient clinic which provides low cost health care for the needy. The clinic is already embarking on an expansion program in order to serve more people. 

Visitation Ministry
   This Ministry brings love and greetings from St. Mark's Church providing a link to our shut-ins. As volunteers we hope to give support and encouragement to the home-bound, those in nursing and retirement homes. Once a month as partners or alone we visit our special saints in their lodgings often times taking a small gift such as flowers, magazines or home-baked cookies. We remember their birthdays by sending a greeting. After Christmas the poinsettias are taken from the Altar and delivered to the homes by the volunteers.  The rewards are so many as hearts are touched, faces brighten up, love is present and God's mininstry serves us all.
  If you have a loved one confined, please notify the Church office. The Visitation Ministry wants to meet every need in our Church community.

The Pantry Ministry
   The Pantry Ministry provides groceries to 60-100 families each week. At 9:00 a.m. after our Friday Morning Ministry, individuals and families, who are homeless or in need, receive a bag of groceries containing canned goods including fruit, vegetables, tuna, salmon and/or beef stew, grains or potatoes and cereal and peanut butter. They can also receive baby food and diapers when available. 
   Each week St. Mark's orders 2500-3000 pounds of food from the food bank at a cost of approximately .16 cents a pound. St. Mark's also receives donations from parishioners and occasionally applies for grants for free food from the Food Bank or other agencies. For more information about this ministry please contact the Church office at 832.3405.

Nuture and Care
   A ministry of St. Mark's Episcopal Church Women, the Nurture and Care group cooks soup to be delivered to the sick and homebound. The soup is cooked and then frozen so that it is ready to be delivered when needed. Any church member may pick up soup and delivere it. Funeral receptions are a function of this ministry as well. 

Meals at the Crossroads at Some Other Place
   St. Mark's provides food and volunteers for cooking and serving lunch every Thursday of the year, except Thanksgiving at Some Other Place.
   Cooks begin preparing the food at 8:00 a.m. Servers arrive at 11:00 a.m. and serve from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Some Other Place has their own employees who give us valuable assistance every week. We also have workers, paid by St. Mark's, who help lift the heavy pots, do all clean up work and assist us as needed.
   This has been one of the most rewarding ways to volunteer time.  Most of the people who eat at Some Other Place depend on this food for their main - if not only - meal of the day. Their gratitude is heart warming. We feed between 200 and 250 people every Thursday.
 
Friday Morning Ministry reports...
   We are happy to announce that our numbers have grown. We serve approximately 350-400 people a month. Our volunteers are so dedicated and wonderful but there is room for more. 
   When our regulars have to be away on a Friday it puts a burden on the others. If you would like to volunteer, please just show up one Friday morning. All are welcome and even just one Friday a month would be a great help. There are so many needs and so few volunteers we hope each of you will search your hearts and see what you can do to help. If you can’t volunteer maybe you would like to make a donation to the FMM! 
   As Philip Yancey says in his book, PRAYER Does It Make Any Difference?  “God is present in the beauties and oddities of creation, most of which go undetected by any human observer. God is present in his Son Jesus, who visited the planet and now serves as advocate for those left behind. God is present in the hungry, the homeless, the sick and the imprisoned, as Jesus claimed in Matthew 25, and we serve God when we serve them.”
   We need more folks to join us on Friday morning to help feed the homeless and the poor. If you like to cook and have some time to give we need your help between 6:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. If you don't cook but want to serve we need your help too. Join us at 8:00 a.m. to serve breakfast and befriend folks who are less fortunate than we are. The future of this important outreach program depends on you and your helping hands.