Outreach Ministries of The Redeemer

Outreach
Ministries

Our NEW Outreach Missions monthly newsletter debuted on February 7, 2010. Each month, one of our "hands-on" mission opportunities will be featured. We kick-off the publication with a feature on African Children’s Mission. In addition, the back page will feature information about stewardship and how we fund our ministries together. Click on the link here to download the current issue.

Outreach Missions: Vol. 1. No. 1, February 2010

The Outreach Committee
The Outreach Committee of Church of the Redeemer supports the efforts of the congregation to develop deeper awareness, understanding and commitment to opportunities for outreach that exist within the Delaware Valley and our greater world community. The committee annually reviews agencies it supports through grants and promotes hands-on outreach efforts in the Parish and the Community.

The Outreach Program

Through its outreach program, the congregation of the Church of the Redeemer is spiritually committed to improving the lives of individuals and communities in need by sharing our financial resources, our time and our energy in ways that ensure that we make a difference where it is needed most.

Outreach Grants
Our support in the past has generally been to smaller organizations rather than to ones with large, substantial budgets. A list of the organizations the Committee supported in 2008 can be found in the October issue of the Voice of The Redeemer (still available on www.TheRedeemer.org) and is in the Annual Report. The mission of Outreach Grants is to provide meaningful support to programs and institutions whose work directly impacts, and seeks to improve, the lives of the elderly, disabled, women and children both locally and throughout the world. Funds for distribution through the Outreach Grants program are largely raised through the efforts of the annual Christmas Bazaar and the ongoing efforts of The Shop.

Hands-On Outreach Projects

African Children's Mission
The African Children’s Mission at Redeemer funds community-based projects organized by local leaders to benefit infants and children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi. We partner with the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) which not only works with us to identify worthy projects but also provides oversight of the funding to ensure that funds are indeed applied effectively and efficiently.

Blankenburg School
Three years ago members of Redeemer reopened the Library at Blankenburg School in partnership with WEPAC, West Philadelphia Alliance for Children. The Library now offers an art program in addition to loaning books and reading aloud to the little ones. The Library collection has been significantly improved by the gift of hundreds of new and recycled books given by members of Redeemer through the Bazaar. We also have a member of the parish assisting the Middle School science program and have provided programs for assemblies and the gift of new books to Kindergarteners and 1st graders through the Reading is Fundamental Program. Plans are also underway for the creation of a playground which we are undertaking with partners in the West Philadelphia neighborhood. Blankenburg is located at 4600 W. Girard Ave. and serves children in Head Start through 8th Grade. Reading tutors are always needed as are new members of the Library team and supporters of the playground effort.
Parish contact: Carol Chew 610-526-9059 or Margaret Sipple 610-527-9410

Christmas Baskets

Provides Christmas dinner for local and Philadelphia inner-city families in need,

as identified by Eldernet. Parishioners fill approximately 200 baskets with non-perishable goods and the Redeemer supplies turkey or ham, and fresh fruit and vegetables. Volunteer needs: (before Christmas) deliveries by parishioners. Parish contact: Tom Ramsey, 610-687-3267

Episcopal Community Services

The official outreach arm of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, ECS operates or oversees more than 30 outreach projects and programs in the Philadelphia area.

Volunteer needs: tutors in our after-school or evening literacy

programs in Philadelphia; sharing a special skill: family meal planning and cooking; teaching simple budgeting; hosting a kitchen shower among your friends and supplying needed household items to a former homeless client now getting permanent housing.

Parish contact: Rodger McKinney, 610-645-5816

Food for Friends
Food for Friends gathers monthly to prepare 60-65 frozen meals. These meals are delivered to Aid for Friends, a non-profit, interfaith agency which arranges for their distribution to persons who are isolated, handicapped or frail.

Interfaith Hospitality Network
of the Main Line

The mission of IHN is to help momentarily homeless families achieve lasting independence, stability, and self-esteem. In the interim, the local network provides safe, temporary housing; a hot evening meal; and support services. Hosting responsibilities rotate weekly among the 10 currently participating interfaith congregations.

Volunteer needs: Individuals or families to prepare a simple dinner, to spend time with the parents and children after dinner, and to provide comfort and security by spending the night at the church.

Parish contact: Susan Ayres, 610-964-8286

Click on these links for more IHN information:

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