Mission and Outreach

The Mission & Outreach Commission supports the following ministries: The Angel Tree, Beaufort Women's Center, Diocesan Medical Mission Team to the Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic Missionaries, Summer Mission Team to the DR, Family Promise of Beaufort County, HELP of Beaufort, KAIROS Prison Ministry, Operation Good Neighbor, Solar Light for Africa, support of African primates and an orphanage in the Rift Valley of Tanzania, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, The Parish Church of St. Helena Preschool, Senior Services of Beaufort, York Place, the community at large with the Thanksgiving Dinner, and various seminarians.


Mission Trips to the Dominican Republic
Our companion diocese
 

DR Bible School/Construction Mission Team
July 15-22, 2008

The 5th annual DR Bible School/Construction Mission Trip to the parish of Santa Cruz located in the community of Santa Fe, Dominican Republic, will be July 15-22, 2008. The St. Helena's team again will work with Fr. Felix Encarnacion and his parishioners at a Vacation Bible School and a construction mission. Previously, the team has painted the church, helped to build a school, painted the school, and helped to build an outdoor basketball court. The biggest project, however, is the building of Christian relationships with Dominicans through each year's Vacation Bible School. More than 300 kids pour into the classes each year for worship, crafts, games, and snacks.

Important gifts to the school each year are scholarships. Without them, few students would attend the Colegio Episcopal "Santa Cruz" and probably not the public schools either, since they are a distance away from the parish. Scholarships are $300 each for the 2008-2009 school year. For more information, please contact Jane Manos, 521-1488 or Jim Cato, 522-2009, or any of the team members from the Summer Mission to Dominican Republic.

 

 

 

 

 



Annual Diocesan Medical Mission Team
June 4-14, 2008

St. Helena's and many other churches within our diocese give financial, medical, and spiritual support to missionaries and their work in our sister Diocese of the Dominican Republic. In the spring a small group of our parishioners join other workers from the diocese (and beyond) on a medical mission to the Dominican Republic. While they go as a collective group of medical specialists and support staff, the real crux of this one-week mission trip is to spread the message of God's love and Christ's sacrifice for us. "We go to minister and are ministered to."

Contact: Pete Smith, 525-9287


KAIROS Prison Ministry

You came into prison and you visited me ( Matthew 25.36)

..(meaning “God’s Special Time”) is conducted, in cooperation with the chaplain and warden at Lieber Correctional, by teams of laity and clergy who are qualified by their experiences in Christian renewal programs. The purpose of KAIROS is to establish a strong Christian community among the residents at Lieber. This is done by the presentation of a three-day short course in Christianity. It is offered by an interdenominational team of about 55 persons for a group of 42 residents. The chaplain carefully selects the inmates from the prison population. There is also a kitchen team that prepares over 250 meals per day for the weekend, feeding the residents and team members.

Please contact Chuck Pollak if you have any questions or an interest in this ministry.

Contact: Chuck Pollak, 843-538-6497


29th Community Thanksgiving Dinner
Thursday, November 27, 2008

Providing Thanksgiving dinner for the community is a favorite tradition at St. Helena’s. Dinners are served to our guests from 12 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. and are also packed up for delivery to shut-ins.

Cooked turkeys and other traditional homemade Thanksgiving foods are donated by many parishioners. Parishioners set tables, serve, and clean up, in a wonderful spirit of Christian love and sharing.
                                                 
Due to the hard work of more of more than 100 volunteers, the 2007 Community Thanksgiving Dinner was bigger and better than ever before with more than 600 sit-down dinners and approximately 450+ take-out dinners.


Join us for this happy occasion of service to the community. We need volunteers to help. Volunteers are needed to buy and cook a turkey, casseroles, vegetables, desserts; deliver meals; cook in the kitchen; carve turkeys; serve; make table arrangements. Monetary donations are welcome.
 


Contact: Rosalind Dixon, 522-1712, ext. 220


The Angel Tree

Just before Christmas each year, gifts are purchased, wrapped, and delivered by parishioners to members of our community in need of help during the holiday. If you would like to participate in this warm holiday tradition, take a name from the tree (that is in the Parish Hall during Advent) and purchase a gift for that person. Place your wrapped package under the tree, and St. Helena’s lay ministers will deliver the gift.

Contact: Rosalind Dixon, 522-1712, ext. 220


Senior Services of Beaufort
Home meal delivery ministry

Many of St. Helena’s parishioners deliver meals to elderly and shut-in people in our community. This agency always needs new volunteers to drive and to fill in for vacationing drivers.

Contact: Susan Kinnaird, 838-2810 or Beaufort County Senior Services Center, 524-1787
 

HELP Mobile Meals

Dietetically-correct meals, prepared by Beaufort Memorial Hospital, are delivered to the infirm and housebound in our community. Funding for this ministry is provided by various churches, the United Way, and individuals. We are always looking for volunteer drivers. It takes about one hour once a week to make this vitally-important, personally-rewarding contribution.

Contact: Jim Cato, 522-2009
 

HELP Sunday

Parishioners are invited to bring canned or packaged, nonperishable food items to the church on the first Sunday of the month—HELP Sunday. Place them in the HELP wheelbarrow, parked outside the main entrance to the church. Those who forget to bring food may leave a monetary donation in the cash box. The proceeds are distributed within our community by HELP of Beaufort. Suggested staples include:

white rice
grits
pasta 
peanut butter
canned spaghetti sauce
canned baked beans
canned tuna 
boxed macaroni & cheese
canned soup 
canned veggies
canned tuna 
canned juices
canned fruit  

Please do not contribute sodas or unusual or esoteric foods.

Contact: Jim Goettle, 838-4858


Hurricane Katrina Response

St. Helena’s continues to support parishioners at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Long Beach, Mississippi, through prayers, personal contact, and other outreach. The community and church was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the church was completely destroyed. The parish still has unmet needs.


The Rev. David Knight, rector of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Long Beach, Mississippi, holds the church flag in front of an empty lot where the church formerly stood. The church also was destroyed during Hurricane Camille in August 1969.

Working with the Diocese of Mississippi and St. Patrick’s rector David Knight (seen above), St. Helena’s was able to help bring the love of Christ to this community. Thanks to the selfless Christian charity of our parishioners, the church collected $104,745, which went directly to the parish, and we sent a crew of volunteers to help with the clean-up effort.


Beaufort Women's Center

St. Helena’s spiritually and financially supports the Beaufort Women's Center, which advises women in crisis situations.


Solar Light for Africa

St. Helena’s supports with prayers, finances, and volunteers the Solar Light for Africa project. In 2006, three member of St. Helena's visited Africa as part of the project.

Solar Light for Africa, Ltd., is a nonprofit Christian organization whose mission is to transform lives and empower the people of East Africa by providing light and energy using the natural power of the sun (visit www.solarlightforafrica.org).

The SLA goal is to educate the public on the advantages of renewable energy for the benefit of impoverished communities throughout the world.  Funding support for solar installations is provided through, but not limited to, Christian church outreach support, fraternal organizations, government agency grants, and corporate and individual donors.
Founded by Retired Episcopal Bishop Alden Hathaway in 1997, some of SLA’s accomplishments to date are:

* The provision of light and power to more than 2,000 facilities, such as medical clinics, orphanages, schools, churches, and private homes located in rural regions of East Africa.

  * The provision of clean water to three hospitals and an orphanage.

  * The decreasing of environmental and human degradation by providing a clean energy source, replacing the noxious fumes of kerosene lanterns that shorten people’s life spans.

 * The aiding in economic development by providing light after the sun goes down for increased productivity and the enabling of students to study at night.

 * The facilitating of young people’s access to the 21st century by providing solar power for computers and televisions, enabling global education and internet connection through satellites for more than 15 schools.

 * The creating of goodwill ambassadors for “two-track diplomacy” through the organization of annual youth missions involving American and African high school and college-aged young people who live together for three weeks as they work in teams installing solar units.

 * The generating of an optimistic vision for Africa in the future when all people will have access to a clean energy source provided by the natural rays of the sun.