We serve: outreach and social justice

Epiphany Outreach Mission Statement
Striving for justice and peace, and seeking to serve Christ in the world, our parish Outreach seeks to mutually transform and empower lives through hands-on service and by sharing resources with our neighbors, both locally and globally. 

How to get involved...

The Outreach Commission has, over the past year, continued to support and communicate the many ongoing outreach activities taking place within the Epiphany community. This has been done in two ways. First, parishioners who are involved with local, national or international service groups or agencies have brought the needs of these groups to the commission allowing us to publicize these opportunities for involvement and offer monetary support, goods donations or time and talent. Secondly, we have planned larger parish wide outreach projects like the Lenten Project, the Thanksgiving Basket food drive and the Advent Giving Tree. These events invite the participation of all members of the congregation.

Click here for a list of the criteria that organizations need to meet to be supported by our Mission and Outreach Commission.

Click here for a mission goals form

Epiphany has discovered Sign Up Genius, an online sign up sheet! Follow the links below and join us in any of the following ministries:

1. * Click here to serve at Rosie’s Place (feeding lunch to homeless women Tuesday mornings)
3. * Click hereto work on The Blackstone Elementary School Library Project (help us run a library in the South End)             
5. * Click hereto work at St. Luke’s Food Pantry (help organize pantry and prepare bags of food for Chelsea residents in need)
6. * Click here to work at St. Luke's Soup Kitchen (help serve breakfast or lunch to Chelsea residents in need on Saturdays)
8. * Click hereto deliver Meals on Wheels (deliver meals in Winchester to shut ins and others)

                                                                                  

                                                                                Ministries Supported by Mission and Outreach at Epiphany

Last updated: January 2011

Advocacy in the civic square

From time to time individuals within our faith community work to address social issues. We believe that our baptismal vows compel us to do our part to decry discrimination in all its forms, and to strive for justice and peace among all people. For more information about our work with justice ministries contact one of our priests, or the chairs of the Mission & Outreach Committee.

American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem                      

AFEDJ supports the work of the Episcopal Diocese in Jerusalem. $425 was raised through the Advent Giving Tree.

Books to South Africa                                                            

BSA collects books at the transfer station and then ships them by container to South Africa where they are distributed to small libraries and schools. This ministry also bought Zulu picture books through the Giving Tree.

Blackstone Elementary School Library Renovation Project

In September 2010 a new outreach mission project started with a community service day shared with St. Stephens church in the South End and 190 other volunteers where the library at the Blackstone was renovated and thousands of donated books displayed on shelves in a new brightly painted space.  This library team will travel to the Blackstone once a week and help shelve books or read to the children responding to the needs of the principal and teachers at the Blackstone school. 

Brookview House              

BH is an agency that provides transitional housing, education and services for homeless women and their children. BH received Christmas gifts for 50 women and children plus an additional $825 through the Giving Tree. As part of the Fall Focus on Hunger, Epiphany families hosted Brookview families for an apple-picking trip to Honey Pot Hill Orchards.

Children’s Book Shipments                                                                

CBS is currently sending books to an orphanage in Sri Lanka, the New Orleans Recovery School District, Church of the Redeemer in D’Iberville, MI, the Reading Food Pantry, Cardinal Cushing School in Hanover, MA and Ambrose School, Winchester.

Council of Social Concern                                                                                 

Previously known as Woburn Council of Social Concern, CSC is an agency that provides services to address unmet needs in the surrounding community. They receive monthly food deliveries to their food pantry and as part of the Fall Focus on Hunger, we collected food for the Thanksgiving baskets (estimated at $4000) distributed by CSC. We provided 45 Christmas gifts for children in their day care program through the Giving Tree.

Ecclesia Ministries                                                                              

EM is a street ministry to the homeless in Boston. We collected warm clothing in January and February for the homeless.

El Hogar Ministries                                                                

EH is a home and school for 250 extremely poor children (grades 1-9) in Honduras. We send up to 3 mission teams to EH each year. The El Hogar Ministries headquarters are housed at Epiphany. $410 was donated to El Hogar through the Giving Tree.

Environmental Partnerships                                                        

EP supports sustainable garden, environmental and food projects. EP also helps to support projects at Mount Calvary Holy Church in Dorchester. EP received 15 items for the feeding program at MCHC through the Giving Tree. They are running a program for teens this summer called Setting the Table.

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD)                                                                        

ERD is an agency within the Episcopal Church that provides "emergency assistance in times of disaster; rebuilds devastated communities and offers long-term program development solutions to fight poverty.” For the past several years we have raised money to support ERD’s work on the Gulf coast and this year raised almost $3000 for Earthquake relief in Haiti.

Germaine Lawrence                                                                 

GL is a residential treatment facility for “at-risk” teenage girls in Arlington, MA. A group of women from Epiphany visits GL once a month providing activities like knitting, baking and yoga. We provided Christmas gifts for 25 girls through the Giving Tree.

Habitat for Humanity                       

Merrimack Valley Habitat is a program that helps economically disadvantaged people build their own housing. Parishioners participate in Habitat work parties on the 4th Saturday of each month.

Meals on Wheels

Help Winchester Hospital deliver meals to shut ins and others in need on Tuesday mornings. Celia Ceruolo leads this ministry. 

Microlending                               

In June 2009, Epiphany made a small loan of $100 to a female entrepreneur in Honduras and in December 2009 used $150 from the Giving Tree to invest in a group of women in Paraguay. These loans will be repaid and then loaned again.

Rosie's Place

The mission of Rosie's place is to help women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives.  Each month, on the second Tuesday and group of Epiphany gathers to serve lunch to Rosie's women.  Susan Becker leads this ministry. 

Saturday’s/ Sunday’s Bread   

SSB is a program that feeds the hungry in Boston. Parishioners volunteer to prepare and serve food on the second Saturday of the month.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church             

St. Luke’s- San Lucas is a mission church in our deanery. Epiphany became involved at SL-SL when we sponsored a week of the  BSAFE program there and in September 2009 we joined a group of churches that prepare and serve meals every Saturday. Epiphany now serves on the third Saturday of every month and SL- SL received $815 from the Giving Tree to support their “Community Kitchen” feeding program. We also help hauling, shelving and bagging food in the food pantry every Friday morning from 9-11am. This year’s Lenten Outreach Program focused on the feeding programs at St. Luke’s.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church             

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, a mission church, is our sister parish in the South End. In late July, we sponsored a week (sometimes 2) of their B-SAFE Summer Enrichment Program supplying lunch and snack each day and a Friday full day field trip. We also provide the Annual “Turkey Wahoo”, a Thanksgiving feast, for the students and families (180+/- people in all) of the after-school program. POE volunteers donated the food and we provided games and crafts. Through the Giving Tree, we provide gift cards to Target that are given to the children of St. Stephen’s on Christmas Eve.

Winchester Multicultural Network                                                                  

The Winchester Multicultural Network educates, advocates and responds.  The Mission of the Winchester Multicultural Network is to promote the recognition, understanding, and appreciation of diversity; advocate for each and every person’s civil rights and confront intolerance.

If you would like to learn more about the Mission and Outreach Team or are interested in any of the above mentioned ministries, please contact Betsy Walsh or Kate Reynolds.  We’d love to hear from you!

The Lenten Project

In the Spring, during the 40 days of lent our Mission and Outreach team plans a project with a special focus and opportunity for parishioners and their families to reflect on others in need beyond our community.  In recent years, we have learned more about El Hogar, HIV/Aids in Africa, Habitat for Humanity, Environment sustainability and St Lukes soup kitchen and food pantry in Boston.  In 2011 we will focus on Empowering Women globally and locally. The goal will be to broaded our understanding about organizations that support women's empowerment including Rosie's Place, Brookview House and Microlending.  We also plan to read and discuss the book Half the Sky by Pulitzer Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn.

Thanksgiving Baskets

During the month of November parishioners donate food baskets to the Council of Social Concern in Woburn to help families in need enjoy their Thanksgiving.  The list of items needed is distributed to the parish and posted online then baskets are delivered to the CSC the week before Thanksgiving. 

The Giving Trees

Each December the advent Giving Trees, in Hadley Hall and in the back of the church, are decorated with wish list tags from all the organizations we support.  You can choose from tags requesting toys, gift cards, food, clothing, books and household items to support local and Boston area families in need.  There are also tags for financial donations to support our global mission work in Palestine/Israel, Honduras, Sri Lanka and South Africa.  One specific initiative includes financial support for the teaching staff at El Hogar, a thriving orphanage and school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with whom the parish has a special relationship.  Each Christmas hundreds of grateful children feel remembered and cared for by Epiphany when they open gifts they wouldn't have otherwise received thereby spreading love and hope far beyond Epiphany. 

Stay in touch with our ongoing Outreach efforts by reading the newsletters below:

2011 January edition

2010 September edition

2010 May edition

2010 January edition

2009 September edition, Fall 09 slideshow

2009 May edition

2009 January edition
2008 September edition