Outreach Ministries

Salvation Army - Sally's Kitchen

Charitable Union

The Charitable Union provides many items for families but the main item is shoes and clothing. St. Peter members volunteer at the Union site on the 1st Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. – noon. The main task assigned is to sort and hang up clothing that has been donated. Donations of funds and/or clothes is welcome at any time during the year. 

 

CROP Hunger Walk

This is organized as a community wide event by a small group of people in the community, and member Linn Kracht has been on this community committee. The event's purpose is to raising funds for Church World Service (CWS) hunger projects around the world and also food projects in Battle Creek. CWS receives 75% of the money raised and the local food agencies receive the other 25%. The event has a long and short walk course and is held the last Sunday in September, generally at 3p.m. Most of those who participate are members of many of the local faith communities. The way it works is that participants receive a pledge form. Then they ask people if they will pledge an amount. This event has been held over 35 years and has raised well over 1 million dollars. Members are encouraged to take a pledge form and/or pledge a monetary donation to a member that is walking.

 

Neighborhood Food Pantry

There are 6 food pantries, set up geographically, that service all of Battle Creek. St. Peter, along with several other faith communities, is assigned to the one located at Lakeview Baptist Church. The food pantry distributes food to needy families including non-perishables, bread, fruit, meat, and etc. Families are allowed to receive food one time per month. It is open M, W, & F from 9:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.  Click here to visit our Food Pantry page

Each month at St. Peter there is a specific item identified that St. Peter members are to bring. All items brought, then are taken to the food pantry and used in the distribution. Each food pantry, also receives food from other sources, such as the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, and have several funding sources. Donations from individuals are always welcome.

St. Peter members, generally 6-10 at a time, work at the Lakeview Food Pantry several times during the year, but it is not a set date each month. Tasks include registering the recipients, stocking the shelves, filling the bags that are given out, and etc.

 

Kambly Living Center

Kambly is a residential adult home for the disabled. St. Peter members have traditionally visited the site a couple of times during the year and assisted residents as they participate in leisure activities. Most visits in recent years have been on Sunday afternoons for 1 hour. Members are simply asked to come and help the resident participate in the planned activities for that day.

 

St. Thomas Episcopal Summer Breakfast Program

St. Thomas serves a breakfast in the summer (date it starts each summer may vary) every M-F from 8:30 a.m.- 10 a.m. St. Peter members have volunteered for one full week during the summer. St. Peter members help in a variety of tasks, including food preparation, cooking, serving the meal, setting up, cleaning up and dishwashing; all the tasks we each perform when providing a meal at our own home.

 

ELCA God's Work, Our Hands

Our national church, ELCA, initiated this service day a few years ago. It is generally held annually on the second Sunday of September.  The idea is for all the ELCA churches in the U.S. to plan and conduct some type of outreach/service project on the designated day, with the local congregation determining the outreach/service project. St. Peter participates in this ministry day and we generally have more than one project available for the members to volunteer. This volunteer opportunity usually is occurs on a designated Sunday afternoon for about a 2 hour period.

ELCA World Hunger

This is the major program through the ELCA, our national church body, that raises funds to support projects around the world that are striving to end hunger. St. Peter helps support this ministry by offering ELCA World Hunger envelopes in the pew racks which members may use to donate money. The Outreach Committee also seeks to plan at least one activity during the year that is focused on raising funds for ELCA World Hunger. This year's activity is planned for Sunday, October 23, 2016.

 

Thanksgiving Baskets and Christmas Family projects

This project involves helping a number of families in need each year during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The Outreach Committee chooses the number of families to be adopted and request names of these families from the non-profit Santa's Helper organzation. For Thanksgiving, St. Peter provides the food to make a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. Members' responsibility with this project is basically to help the Outreach committee by purchasing the food and bringing to church or donating money for food purchasing. Usually, the baskets are picked up or delivered to the families the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The same families are then adopted for Christmas, with St. Peter members providing food and gifts for each family member. The Saturday before Christmas is often designated as the day for the families to come and pick up their food and gifts.  The Outreach Committee welcomes assistance from members of the congregation with any task associated with this project.

 

Stamp Ministry

St. Peter members participate in the Alliance Stamp Ministry, a global ministry where used postage stamps are collected, sold to stamp distributors who in turn sell the stamps to stamp collectors.  The funds generated from this process are used to support the work of missions and are presently being used to support the mission of a publishing house in Argentina that writes and publishes Sunday School materials in Spanish.  Anyone interested in supporting this ministry by donating their used stamps simply need to cut their used stamps with a 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch border and drop them in the collection box located in the St. Peter narthex. Below is an example of a stamp trimmed with a 1/4 inch border.

       

Below is an image of our first package of cancelled stamps sent to the Stamp Ministry.