Friday, 09 May 2008
For more information, please contact The Reverend Pat Lykins, Minister of Missions and Evangelism Ministries, or refer to the Lay Leadership page for the Chair of the Missions Ministry.
Local Missions


 Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network…A Community Response for Homeless Families

  • What is Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network (WIHN)?

      • WIHN assists homeless families achieve independent living and educates the community about the plight of these families.

      • Guests are families of two or more or a pregnant woman. Guests must have the potential to achieve independent living with short-term assistance and have a willingness to work on improving their family situation. To be considered for this program, guests must not have an active drug or alcohol problem.

      • Guests are offered counseling and assistance in job/residence search from a paid professional staff. Daytime shelter, a phone number, mailing address and other support services are offered at a Day Center in downtown Raleigh.

  • How does our church participate?

Since 1998, Saint Francis has been one of the many congregations from various denominations affiliated with WIHN. Our church lives out a call for hospitality by opening our doors as a one-week shelter four different times each year. Support includes providing transportation for guests to and from the Day Center, providing food (breakfast and dinner), providing companionship, eating with the guests, and serving as overnight support hosts. Congregational representatives are available in the church at all times when guests are present. We transform our church school classrooms into sleeping rooms for each family group.

  • How can I get involved?

2008 WIHN host dates are: February 10-16, 2008, May  2008, and October 2008. Each time Saint Francis serves as a host church, there are numerous opportunities for you to sign up as an individual, as a family or as part of a group (Sunday School classes, Scouts, Youth, Men of Saint Francis, etc.). More than 100 individuals are needed to assist with six different volunteer areas (set up/clean up, transportation, dinner providers/hosts, supplies, overnight hosts and evening activities). Are you retired with the availability to serve as an overnight host at the church? Perhaps your child’s school schedule is such that your family could “camp out” in the church and as overnight hosts. Do you have a flexible schedule that would allow you to donate an hour to drive the van from the church to WIHN site? These activities take as little as 30 minutes or as much as an overnight stay.

Look for volunteer sign-up information in the Gathering Space of the Sanctuary Building or contact Barb Trapnell for more information.

 

The Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen

The Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen (located at 125 Hillsborough Street at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh) needs regular volunteers on the first, third and fifth Tuesdays of each month. Volunteers from Saint Francis regularly offer their hearts and hands to feed the hungry. To volunteer, contact the Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen at 831-2010.

 

Meals on Wheels Deliveries

Eight Meals on Wheels routes are delivered through this congregation. These meals provide nutrition for the homebound in our community. For information on how to get involved, contact Elissa Fisher.

 

Angel Tree

The Angel Tree is a joint Christmas project with Community Partnership's "First In Families" program. It is a project where you are the angel who helps to make Christmas a happy occasion for individuals in need. The tree is put up in the church’s Gathering Space the Sunday following Thanksgiving, and tags are hung, noting special gift requests. Take a tag from the Angel Tree, purchase and wrap the items, then return the gifts and tag to the church before Christmas. Specific dates are posted each year. For more information contact Tobi Nguyen.

 

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is a nationwide organization, which provides low cost home ownership for low-income families. Several homes have been built in the Cary area, and others are planned. In 2003 and 2006, Saint Francis partnered with four other United Methodist Churches in the Cary area and built a home. For more information, contact The Reverend Pat Lykins, Director of Missions Ministry.

 

Society of St. Andrew…The Gleaning Project

Spend half a Saturday or so in Wake or a neighboring county gleaning non-marketable food or overabundant crops from a field or warehouse. The time commitment is a half to a full day. For more information go to The Society of St. Andrew website.

 

CROP Walk

CROP stands for Communities Reaching Out to People, and is an annual ecumenical, interfaith, multi-cultural event sponsored by Church World Service to promote hunger education. We walk because people in other nations walk - many walk 10K just to find fresh water or firewood.

The Cary Area CROP Walk is a community-wide effort to address the problem of hunger, both here in our home area and around the world. CROP Walks are held across the nation and are a special project of Church World Service, which works with 33 church bodies to meet human needs in more than 70 countries. 

The Cary Area CROP Walk begins and ends at the Cary High School track. There is a 1K walk for children, and a 5K or 10K walk for youth and adults in neighborhoods around the school. The children's 1K walk emphasizes hunger awareness by incorporating activities like carrying firewood and buckets of water, and walking to avoid land mines (bubble wrap).

Saint Francis CROP-walkers and sponsors can sign up in the church Gathering Space on Sunday mornings during September, or contact Jim Amy or Brenda Kerr.

Read more about CROP Hunger Walks.