St. Barnabas Episcopal Church performs outreach ministry to the greater community around us.
Addiction
Alcoholics Anonymous — AA: AA Meetings are held Tuesday through Fridays in the evenings. See the schedule below
Tuesday — 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday — 8:00 p.m.
Thursday — 6:30 p.m.
Friday — 7:30 p.m. (Women’s)
Friday — 9:15 p.m. (NA)
Domestic Violence
Shelter for Battered Women: Monthly donations of sheets, underwear, and other goods have been a great help to the victims of domestic violence. Special collections are made on Mother’s Day and during Vacation Bible School. See the newsletter for which donations are most needed this month. Contact Stephanie Carr for further information.
Special thanks to Lackland Self Storage for their donation of storage space to hold large items awaiting delivery to families being re-located. Contact Stephanie if you have large items to donate (smaller items can be brought to the church) or if you wish to help pay for the insurance costs for the free storage unit.
Hunger / Homelessness
Crop Walk: The crop walk is an annual 10K walk in South Brunswick to raise money to benefit Church World Service to help fight hunger and respond to disasters. The Crop Walk is held every October. Please contact Tony Thompson.
Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen: Volunteers are needed to serve dinner to the needy at Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick once a month on the third Tuesday. Transportation is provided via car pool. See the calendar for the next day to serve at Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick. A car pool leaves the church at 4:30 pm, returning by 7:45pm. If you have any questions or would like to meet the group on site, call Stephanie Carr.
Food Banks: Members of St. Barnabas can donate to the Franklin Food Bank and the South Brunswick Food Pantry simply by bringing items to Church on Sunday. Last year, we donated 592 pounds of food to the Franklin Food Bank and nearly as much to the South Brunswick Food Pantry.
Non-perishable food for the Franklin and South Brunswick Food Banks can be put in the marked baskets under the table just inside the Fellowship Room. Rice, peanut butter, jelly, healthy breakfast cereals and healthy juices are needed. Please contact Kirt Wedemeyer
Ozanam Men’s Shelter: St Barnabas supplies volunteers to Christ Church, New Brunswick, which provides shelter for homeless men when the Ozanam shelter is full. We partner with Christ Church, New Brunswick to staff its hospitality for the Men’s Homeless Shelter for two weeks each winter. St. Barnabas has participated in this ministry the last 4 years. The people who have done this for several years running have found it to be an extraordinary spiritual experience in ministry to those to whom we are called to serve, the friendless and the needy. Newcomers to this ministry are certainly welcome.
Mission Trips: Members of our youth group participated in two recent mission trips.
- The youth group went Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, June 20-25, 2010. Nine youth and two leaders made the trip in two cars, sleeping bags, T shirts and pants, airbeds and pillows, sunscreen and bug spray – to spend a week at Youthworks worksites. They had a wonderful experience being the hands and feet of Christ in action and spending time with youth from three other church communities and their leaders. Look forward to a deposit raiser spaghetti dinner in September when they will show you the pictures of what they did.
- From July 25 to August 1, 2009, parishioner Noel Ilogu, MD was part of a mission team to Kenya to train health care providers on the dangers of substance abuse and its impact on the spread of HIV and Aids in Kenya. Since 2004 the Annual Kenya Healing Mission has been one of the outreach missions of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. The mission was organized under the auspices of GOAL Project (Global Outreach for Addiction Leadership and Learning) and included eight missioners from other churches. Goal is headed by Terry Webb, Ph.D. former parishioner of St. Barnabas Church. This year the mission trained about 70 physicians, nurses and counselors and visited with programs which had been started during previous mission trips under the Kenyan led SARAH (Substance Abuse Recovery and HIV/Aids) Network. To learn more about this mission opportunity, contact Noel Ilogu.
Racism
Anti-Racism Team: St. Barnabas had a 2 hour introductory Anti-Racism training workshop led by two members of the Anti-Racism Team of the Diocese of New Jersey and attended by 28 parishioners. The St. Barnabas Anti-Racism Team, which so far includes Leon Merriweather, Maureen Beebe, Pauline Devonish, and Noel Ilogu, is pondering future programs. We also combat racism by celebrating our being made equally in the image of God and being made one community in Christ every Sunday, but especially on International Sunday (usually in February).
Contact Leon Merriweather if interested in the anti-racism team.
Other
Mitten Tree: Each year during Advent, the mittens harvested from our “mitten tree” are donated to those in need. In 2009, we provided:
- 37 hats and 10 pairs of gloves to the Seaman’s Church Institute.
- 17 scarves, 78 hats and ear warmers, and 81 pairs of gloves and mittens to the Ozanam Family Shelter in Edison.
- 18 pairs of gloves and mittens and 18 hats to the Shelter for Battered Women and their children.
Warm Up America: Last year was our first year of participating in the national Warm Up America! program in which afghans are made and donated to various charities. A group of 20 people donated their time, skill, and yarn to make three afghans which were given to local shelters. Contact Brenda Evans for further information.