Outreach

Christ Central / Hannah House · Cooperative Ministries · Foreign Missions · Giving Tree

SisterCare · Harvest Hope Food Bank · HomeWorks Irish Children’s Summer Program · Kairos · York Place

Harvest Hope Food Bank

St. John’s regularly donates food to Harvest Hope Food Bank. Each week everyone has an opportunity to bring non-perishable food items to Sunday services. Food items are left in the basket that is placed inside the front door of the church. The basket of food is brought forward along with the monetary offering during the Sunday service. Items are donated to Harvest Hope Food Bank for distribution to those in need. At various times of the year, parishioners directly assist Harvest Hope in the collection and distribution of food.

Homeworks

What is Homeworks?

Homeworks is a nondenominational program in which teens and adults make repairs to the homes of homeowners in need. During the summer, teams are organized for week-long mission trips to John’s Island near Charleston. The teams stay in local churches or gymnasiums. Teams spend time praying, singing, listening to and talking about messages focusing on God’s love. During the school year, one-day blitzes are held to repair homes in Columbia. For more information, please contact our parish secretary, Nancy Garvin.

Irish Children’s Summer Program

The Irish Children’s Summer Program is an ecumenical program that brings children ages nine to eleven years old from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Columbia for five weeks in the summer. It allows Protestant and Catholic children to cultivate friendships among themselves and with American children. The children stay with host families and participate in a variety of organized activities in the community. Host families are selected through an interview process and must participate in an orientation program prior to the children’s arrival.

Kairos

Kairos is a ministry to bring prisoners to Christ. Based upon Cursillo, Kairos is lay-led and ecumenical.  Volunteers are first carefully trained. Then, in teams, they visit a prison monthly to meet, teach, pray and dine with prisoners selected for the program. To show their love, volunteers give homemade cookies to all prisoners – not just those in the program.   Kairos was established in Florida in 1975 and is now an international ministry located in 33 states and several foreign countries.

In part because so many correctional facilities are located in and around Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, St. John's has become a center for Kairos. The parish sponsors a Kairos team and frequently hosts Kairos training. Parishioners may volunteer to serve on a team, bake cookies for an upcoming visit, or participate in some other way, as their time and skills permit.  Check the bulletin and Messenger for announcements about Kairos.  For more information about the ministry, please call the church office.

York Place

A ministry of the Episcopal Church, York Place is a residential treatment facility for children and adolescents located in York, South Carolina.  St. John's appropriates a portion of its outreach budget to this agency annually.