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St. Jude’s parishioners participate in many Outreach Programs. If you are interested in these or other outreach opportunities contact Frank McCarty at (850) 803-2809 or fjmccarty8@cox.net.
Supper on Saturday Meal Delivery
Supper on Saturday has been our most active Outreach Ministry. St. Jude’s joined with other churches in the area to support a program called Supper on Saturday (SOS) starting in October 2008. Over the past year, St. Jude’s has had a designated route that we support every 4th Saturday of the month with 6 to 8 volunteers. We have had additional St. Jude’s volunteers assist with deliveries on the odd month that has a 5th Saturday. We delivery a hot or cold entrée, and a plastic bag containing bread, a bagel, dessert, a spoon and a blessing to less fortunate families on our route. We also have pies, cakes and loaves of bread that we offer to the families. When available, we bring a basket of toys for the children to select in the various neighborhoods. Our St. Jude’s youth group has also been very active in providing volunteers for this program. We thank Doug Smith for leading this outreach ministry.
Sharing & Caring Food Bank
St. Jude’s provides donations to Niceville Sharing and Caring every week. Please bring nonperishable food items or a donation to church on Sunday. In addition to donations of food and funds there are volunteer opportunities at Sharing & Caring to assist with the day to day operation of this activity. Sharing & Caring provides names of families to us who have requested Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner baskets, and as well as Angel Tree requests. Many thanks to BJ Gross for organizing and leading this most important ministry.
Christmas Baskets and Thanksgiving Food Baskets
We participate in food basket programs for Christmas and Thanksgiving. We collect food donations from our parishioners and package them in decorated baskets with the help of our St. Jude’s youth. St. Judes’ volunteers deliver the baskets to less fortunate families designated by Niceville Sharing & Caring. Dottie Dougherty leads this very successful program.
Angel Tree Christmas Presents
We have a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments that indicate requests by local families for toys and clothing to improve their families Christmas. Parishioners select an ornament and donate toys and other gifts that match the age of the child on the ornament. Toys are collected in the church office for distribution. Dottie Dougherty leads this very successful program.
Christmas Shoe Boxes for Waterfront Mission.
Parish members collect various toiletries and clothing items that are packed in decorated shoeboxes to be distributed by the Waterfront Mission at Christmas. The Waterfront Rescue Mission (http://www.waterfrontmission.org) was created to spread the Good News of Salvation through Christ by serving the needs of the poor, addicted, abused and homeless. Through their various programs, help is given to men and women to improve the quality of their lives by producing real change through the love of Christ.
Dinners for the Opportunity Place Homeless Shelter
In cooperation with other churches and businesses we began participating in a food program for Opportunity Place starting in October of this year. St. Jude’s provides an evening meal on the first Wednesday of each month. We found we can provide the meal for 30 people for approximately $25-$30 by preparing the food concurrently with our St. Jude’s Wednesday night dinner. Delivery takes an hour. St Jude’s volunteers assist with food preparation, funding, and delivery of the meal to the shelter.
Opportunity Place provides short term shelter and food for women and families from Okaloosa and Walton Counties. It is located at 305 Lovejoy Road, Ft. Walton Beach. It is one of the homeless shelters supported by Opportunity, Inc. which serves as an umbrella agency for local groups addressing homelessness
(http://www.okaloosawaltonhomeless.org/). Individuals staying at Opportunity Place receive assistance and counseling from local groups in vocational training, job searches, apartment access and other services that will help them to live independently again. We thank David Evans and Wendy Winters for finding this outreach opportunity.
“By the Bayou” Arts & Eats Charity Event
Our Second Annual Arts & Eats Charity event provided a fun event for our church and the community. We sold spaces to arts and crafts vendors and sold red beans and rice along with other kid friendly food. We also had art displayed from the Niceville High School Art Department. We had entertainment for the Blue Water Bay Elementary school chorus, Jazz saxophonist Matt McCarty, and music from a Jazz DJ. Many thanks to all those who helped to support this event. Special thanks go to Dianna Banning and Robin May for the great food,
John Tyler, Jeff Howard, and Jake Gross for logistics support, and Anna Wells for administrative support, advertising, and vendor liaison. The event raised $1,000 for the Children’s Neighborhood group foster care home.
Support for the Children’s Neighborhood Group Foster Care Home
In addition to the $1000 raised by the Arts & Eats event, the St. Jude’s Sewing Guild has provided quilts for children at the Children’s Neighborhood. These hand crafted quilts are their personal quilt that they keep when they leave the home. Parishioners have also provided funding for movie outings for the children. This facility is managed by Children in Crisis, Inc. (http://www.childrenincrisisfl.org/ChildrensNeighborhood/) a non profit organization which supports children from three of our local counties.
Emerald Coast Autism Center
The Emerald Coast Autism Center (ECAC) School celebrated their grand opening in October 2009 with a ribbon cutting by the Niceville Chamber of Commerce. This non-profit organization provides a school for children with autism 12 months a year. Directed by Staci Berryman, this school is filling an important need in the community and has grown rapidly from 4 to 8 students and 8 staff from August to October 2009. Many thanks to the congregation of St. Jude’s for supporting this important activity. For more information check their website at http://www.ecautismcenter.org/.
American Cancer Society Relay for Life
St. Jude’s participates in the Relay for Life event each year raising money for the American Cancer Society. We have fund raisers prior to the event and food sales at the event. Parishioners participated in the various walking events on the days of the event. The St. Jude’s youth participate in the fund raisers and some of the all night events at the Relay for Life. Many thanks to Deanna Banning and Jean Bishop for serving as St. Jude’s team leaders for this event.
Disaster Preparedness and Relief
St. Jude’s volunteers respond to disasters in our area. We assisted with hurricane cleanup, disaster relief, and rebuilding in Mississippi after hurricane Katrina. We supported Camp Coast Care which was an Episcopal/Lutheran partnership for cleanup and rebuilding in Mississippi. More recently we responded with volunteers for disaster relief and cleanup after the tornado in Enterprise Alabama.
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