Domestic and Gobal Outreach
The Domestic Outreach and Social Justice Committee has over the last several years supported the work of Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA), Upper Valley Interfaith Action, and Camp Agape. The Domestic Outreach and Social Justice Committee has and continues to support the Initiative IV fund of the Discovery 2000 Campaign. This fund makes funds available to parishes for parish sponsored outreach projects with a 2 to 1 matching ratio. We are always open to new and creative projects to assist.
Current members of the Outreach and Social Justice Committee are: Nancy Bower, St Peter’s, Bennington: Cathy Cooke, Cathedral Church of St. Paul; Ron Corkins St Mark’s, Newport; Lee Crawford; Peter Galbraith, Cathedral Church of St. Paul; Bo Halverson, All Saints, South Burlington: Lindsay Huddle, St. James’, Essex Jct.; Stewart Pierson, retired: Margy Zabriske, St James Essex Jct. Stewart Pierson co-ordinates the McClure Initiative IV grants program.
Some of the projects we have funded during the last five years include: JUMP, The Cathedral Church of St. Paul; a ramp to the arts center St Mary’s, Wilmington; Habitat for Humanity, St Dunstan’s Waitsfield; Camp Agape, Good Shepherd, Barre; Kids4Peace, St Stephen’s Middlebury; Food Shelf, St. Peter’s Bennington; Brookhaven Scholarship, St. Paul’s White River Jct.; Emergency funds in response to a fire at the Brooks Hotel, St. Michael’s, Brattleboro.
With additional funding The Outreach and Social Justice Committee could provide support to emerging programs, including additional support to existing programs.
Ever since the Diocesan Council passed a resolution in 2006 establishing The Global Reconciliation Committee, initially to distribute 0.07% of the diocesan budget to projects dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals, half a dozen congregations have regularly applied for grants. Over the years, the Global Reconciliation Committee has awarded grants to NetsforLife, Episcopal Relief and Development, Foundation Cristosal, CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS), Diocese of Jerusalem as it reconstructed the Al Ahli Arab (Anglican) Hospital in Gaza, a hospital in Tanzania, two different organizations working in Sudan, and Pure Water for the World working in Haiti. Grants also responded to disasters in El Salvador and Haiti.
When a congregation decides to raise money for global outreach, it may have an outreach committee who applies for grant money or it may involve more people. Saint Mark’s, Newport and Saint Barnabas’, Norwich have annually engaged the entire congregation to participate in educational activities while raising money for Episcopal Relief and Development or Bricks for Haiti or NetsforLife. Saint James’, Essex Junction, has held dinners to support work in Sudan.
Outreach money has touched lives in so many ways. Here are but a few examples:
Foundation Cristosal was founded more than a decade ago initially to foster relationships between Salvadorans and North Americans and to serve as an educational source about the mission of the Episcopal Anglican Church of El Salvador. Now in its second decade, Cristosal works with the support of North American “base communities” such as our own Champlain Cristosal Base Community to accompany Salvadoran communities in their efforts to break the cycle of social, economic and political marginalization.
Foundation Cristosal received money to support a community in its efforts to become self-sufficient. The small community now has a large chicken coop filled with egg-laying hens. Not only have community members learned how better to care for the chickens but they are also learning how to manage their funds, organize a cooperative and practice sustainable agriculture.
Even before the 2010 earthquake that leveled so much of Haiti, The Global Reconcilation Committee awarded grant money to Pure Water for the World. The lack of potable, safe water is a perennial problem for many countries. If a community has clean water, health problems decrease, children do not get sick and miss school and mothers do not have to worry about their pregnancies as much.
The Sudan Development Foundation, SUDEF, received funds to support the Maternal and Child Health Training Center in Kalthok. Last year, the clinic saw over 13,000 patients. Between May and July, the area suffered a severe outbreak of malaria. More than 75 patients each day came to the clinic to receive needed treatment. Without the medicines and care, many people would have died from malaria.
Your contribution to the Alleluia Fund will enable The Global Reconciliation Committee to continue to award grants to Vermont congregations as they partner to make difference in the world.