Helping others beyond our doors
Sharing our lives, our gifts and our resources with others
National Day of Prayer gathering at Holy CrossWhile it can be a challenge for a small congregation to make an impact on the needs of the world and our community, we help our neighbors whenever we can by giving money and joining in community efforts, and we do it with all our hearts. We have stopped counting the number of animals we have sent overseas through the Heifer Project; and after one diocesan appeal for disaster-relief, our treasurer got a call from the office about the check we sent, so large that they thought there must have been some mistake.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross staffs the weekly North East Food Pantry (NEFP) distributions for two months every year and has three representatives on its governing board. We were a major contributor to the NEFP’s recent new building and equipment.
In the North East Council of Churches’ program to outfit needy schoolchildren with clothes and supplies, Holy Cross took on seven kids this year and maintain an ongoing supply of resources for this need.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross contributes volunteer time and money every year to the Council’s Christmas Basket program of food for the needy, including being the coordinating church for the effort in 2011.
A major goal of our recent refurbishing efforts was to make our buildings available to agencies or groups offering programs of benefit to the community.
We currently host an Alcoholics Anonymous group, a local crafting group and a course in financial management for the poor offered by the Greater Erie Community Action Council (GECAC). We plan more work with GECAC and other groups who need what we now have. A free monthly dinner for Food Pantry clients is also being planned.
We also try to exploit the talents of some of our members in music and the other arts, encouraged in this by our 2006 production of Archibald MacLeish’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning drama J.B., a modern re-telling of the Old Testament book of Job. Though recognized as ‘one of the half-dozen “hardest” plays of the twentieth century’, our J.B. had a cast made up entirely of members and friends of the parish (some of whom had never been on stage before), under the supervision of Broadway director Dale McCausland, a friend of one of our members, a former actress and producer. The production was a stunning dramatic success, and allowed us to make a substantial contribution to Habitat for Humanity as well.
Our current project in the arts is the Second Sunday Performance Series. On the second Sunday of each month during the fall, winter and spring (except December, when Sugar Plum Sunday falls on the first Sunday) Holy Cross will present a concert, recital, film or other performance to delight and inspire the adults and children of North East. Everyone is welcome at all the events, which will feature food for mind, soul and body, encouragement for the local artists and organizations presented and a place for people to express and enjoy their God-given talents.
Each year our members also participate in the United Thank Offering which supports mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and in invited Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world. Learn more about the United Thank Offering…
