GRACE-ST. LUKE’S PARISH VISION FOR OUTREACH
Grace-St. Luke’s Parish Vision for Outreach is reaching beyond our internal parish life to serve God’s people and the wider community through acts of charity and volunteer opportunities to further the mission of a particular ministry, agency, or organization. The mission of the GSL Outreach Committee is to spread the simple message of “Love Your Neighbor” by gathering, coordinating, and sharing parish gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
Servant Ministry Partners are the agencies and programs (below) supported by GSL through which we serve our neighbors, beyond and within its doors. Our support is derived from pledges and other funds the Vestry allocates for Outreach, donations designated for Outreach ministries and clergy discretionary funds to further the mission of these agencies and programs. Ministry Contacts are available in to assist interested individuals and households with identifying ongoing or seasonal opportunities to sign up and serve.
SERVANT MINISTRY PARTNER GRANTS
Grace-St. Luke’s Outreach Committee makes grants available to qualified non-profit organizations.
For the calendar year 2023 funding cycle, organizations may apply for one year of general program support. Applications will be categorized and ranked according to our focus areas:
- Feed, Clothe, and Shelter Those in Need
- Care for the Sick
- Welcome the Stranger
- Enable Children and Families to Overcome Disparities
- Support Cultural Diversity
Please download the application instructions and application form. Email outreach@gracestlukes.org if you have any questions.
Applications must be submitted by email to outreach@gracestlukes.org no later than September 30, 2022.
The Outreach Committee will not accept paper applications sent by U.S. Postal Service or hand delivered to Grace-St. Luke’s.
SERVANT MINISTRY PARTNERS
The Clergy and Outreach Team encourage everyone at Grace-St. Luke’s to find a place to serve our neighbors, and we have ample ways to do so with a wide range of Servant Ministry Partners. Multiple opportunities are available to support both our Servant Ministry Partners and individual faith journeys. To get involved please contact outreach@gracestlukes.org or the Outreach Liaisons listed below (contact through Realm Connect). They will be happy to help you identify where your time, talent, and treasure can be used as forms of servant ministry.
Grace-St. Luke’s More Than A Meal hospitality ministry provides fellowship and a healthy, hot dinner in Trezevant Parish Hall every Sunday at 4:00 p.m. The poor, needy, and homeless of all ages experience dignity, Jesus’s love, hot meals on plates, piano music, and conversation and participate in the Prayers of the People before leaving at 5:00 p.m.; some remain for the 5:30 p.m. worship service in the nave. To serve our 100+ guests each week (5,000+ per year), adult, youth and children volunteers offer support for cooking, set-up, greetings, serving, and clean-up.
Team Captains: 1st Sunday: Jonathan Large; 2nd Sunday: Mike Davis; 3rd Sunday: Ruthie Lentz; 4th Sunday: Edith Heller; 5th Sunday: Murray McKay
Grace-St. Luke's Food Pantry: Grace-St. Luke’s (GSL) serves individuals and families in need by partnering with Church Health to provide their patrons with prepared meals that promote health and prevent illness. Through this unique partnership, GSL cooking teams prepare healthy meals for Church Health to distribute weekly to their vetted patrons. Volunteer opportunities include picking up menu ingredients, cooking meals, as well as packing and distributing prepared meals for Church Health to pick up.
Contact: Jerry & Amy Hudson
Metropolitan Interfaith Association operates a variety of programs for low-income Memphians including a delivering service program, Meals on Wheels, through which volunteers bring meals to homebound seniors.
Outreach Team Liaison: Opportunity to be filled
Dorothy Day House of Hospitality provides temporary housing and support services for homeless families. Volunteer opportunities include bringing a meal, tutoring, helping families move to permanent homes, and yard maintenance.
Outreach Team Liaison: Paula Barnes
Mid-South Sober Living provides transitional housing and support services for individuals who are starting on the road to recovery from addiction.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Opportunity to be filled
Thistle and Bee helps women who have survived prostitution and trafficking thrive through a holistic approach that addresses the individual needs of each woman through housing, wrap-around services addressing physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs as well as employment and job skills training.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Barbara King
Camp Able – Saint Columba serves diversely-abled children including those with Down syndrome, autism, ADHD and similar challenges.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Opportunity to be filled
Church Health provides comprehensive health care and wellness services to patients who have low-moderate incomes, are not uninsured, or have little to no access to health care. The organization strives to foster physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being among their patients and the community.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Opportunity to be filled
Friends for Life serves individuals who suffer from HIV/AIDS by providing comprehensive services to enable them to learn life skills and improve their quality of life. Additionally, the organization focuses on HIV awareness, education, and prevention.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Paula Barnes
Gilda’s Club was created in honor of Saturday Night Live’s Gilda Radner and provides a place where men, women, and children with any type of cancer, as well as their family and friends, can come together for free support and education while learning to live with the disease.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Betsy Black
Samaritan Counseling Centers provides faith-based counseling through a ministry of healing to those seeking a balance of emotional, relational and spiritual health without regard to their financial circumstances.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Ruthie Lentz
A Step Ahead Foundation strives to improve educational, economic, and health outcomes for Shelby County women by providing access to the most effective reversible methods of birth control so they can plan their futures and achieve their full potential.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Opportunity to be filled
Kindred Place is a volunteer service organization whose mission is to end family violence by helping adults and children find peace, ending the cycle of anger, violence, aggression and trauma inside their homes.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Barbara King
Memphis Child Advocacy Center provides forensic interviews, victim advocacy, and therapy services for victims of child abuse while also working to prevent abuse from happening in the first place through training and consultation.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Barbara King
Multinational Ministries serves the refugee/immigrant community in Memphis through faith-based programs for cultural transition such as its English for Moms program and achieving academic success through its Homework Help tutoring project.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Betsy Black
Neighborhood Christian Centers guides those in need toward stability and sustainability through Christ-centered ministries and empowerment programs. These ministries and empowerment programs include providing essential items to families in crisis, offering adult and family skill programs for home and work, and youth academic success programs.
GSL Outreach Team Liaison: Ruthie Lentz