ANGEL TREE
Each year, St. Augustine's Church, its members and friends join together to bring the spirit of Christmas to a group of local children identified as being economically disadvantaged and in need of our prayers. We do this by providing each of these children with a Christmas gift consisting of an article of clothing and a toy.
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate in this ministry. On the 1st Sunday of Advent, volunteers place a Christmas tree in the chapel. The tree is decorated with paper angels that have each been inscribed with the name, sex and age of a particular child. Simply remove an angel of your choosing from the tree, find the clip board in the Narthex on which to write your name and the name of your "angel," shop for your angel's gift, and return the wrapped gift to Church by the given deadline. An Angel Tree instructions sheet will be available in the Narthex with gift-giving guidelines and deadlines. It will also include a recommended minimum/maximum dollar value for the gift so that each child receives equally.
Contact: Stacey White (504)818-8090, sjwhite12@gmail.com
ANGOLA PRISON MINISTRY
On the 1st Tuesday of each month, a group of people, including retired Deacon Michael Hackett travel to Angola Prison to minister to the incarcerated men and celebrate the Eucharist at four locations within the prison.
Volunteers for this important ministry are always welcomed, but must first obtain security clearance and undergo special training which is conducted four times a year in Baton Rouge.
Contact: Michael Hackett (504)888-5074, (504)343-0020, michael.hackett@cox.net (this ministry or the Kairos Prison Ministry).
BISSONET PLAZA PARTNERSHIP / STAIR
Since February, 2013, St. Augustine’s Church has been a Start The Adventure In Reading (STAIR) site, tutoring second-graders from Bissonet Plaza Elementary School in reading.
The STAIR program began in New Orleans in 1984 to assist the public schools by focusing on those children who are having difficulties reading at grade level. Volunteer tutors are recruited, trained and provided with curriculum materials by STAIR, and the children who participate are chosen by the schools based on test scores and teacher recommendations.
The program started at St. Augustine’s as an outreach project to help serve Bissonet Plaza and the community. Tutoring sessions are held in Byrd Hall from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon during the school year and are staffed by a site director and ten volunteers who individually tutor seven boys and girls. Volunteers may serve either Tuesday or Thursday or both days. The number of students is determined by the number of available tutors.
In order to become a STAIR tutor, volunteers are required to attend a STAIR training session, pass a background check and participate in a Boundaries Training session offered by the church. Previous teaching experience is not required. Classes are scheduled in September and January each year.
Contact: Ann Sale, STAIR site director, (504)888-7438
CHRISTMAS CAROLING
Christmas caroling can be heard throughout the neighborhood surrounding St. Augustine's Church on the evening of the 4th Sunday in Advent. Everyone is encouraged to meet in Byrd Hall right before sunset to gather (battery lit) candles and song sheets before bundling up and heading out on foot to spread Christmas joy to our neighbors. No singing experience is necessary, although the neighbors probably appreciate it when our group includes choir members and those who can carry a tune.
For those who want to help with this event but do not want to carol, the carolers always appreciate returning to Byrd Hall to find hot chocolate, apple cider, and homemade soup waiting.
Contact: Jim Whitesell, jameswhitesell1@gmail.com
COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES (CASA) FOR CHILDREN
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) serve children who have been abused, neglected, abandoned, or otherwise found to be children in need of care, and who are in foster care (in the State's custody) through no fault of their own. Jefferson Parish has its own chapter of this national child advocacy organization, CASA Jefferson.
St. Augustine's Church and its members have long supported this important organization and its mission. Our Church membership includes both active and past CASAs. St. Augustine's Church has been the site for fundraisers, school supply drives, and awareness/recruitment efforts.
Anyone interested in this critical service for children in foster care should explore the organization and process for becoming a CASA.
Contacts: Jan and Mike Hackett (504)888-5074 and June Mire (504)232-2119, june@junemire.com
FOOD BANK
St. Augustine's Church maintains a "food bank" for those occasions when a visitor comes to us hungry and in need of assistance. A volunteer keeps the "bank" stocked with prepared bags containing 2 days worth of nutrition by way of non-perishables like potted meat, canned or dried fruit, granola and bottled water.
Contact: Jim Whitesell jameswhitesell1@gmail.com
HONDURAS PARTNERSHIP
St. Augustine's Church has a "sister" church in economically depressed Tela, Honduras, Church of the Holy Spirit.
- Clothing
St. Augustine's collects donations of clean, gently worn clothing and shoes all year long, and twice a year ships the donations to Church of the Holy Spirit. Once there, volunteers price the clothing and shoes for sale to their Church members, teachers, students, and the public. The funds raised are used to provide electricity to the Church, have enabled the repair of the Church's leaky roof, and have covered the costs of a myriad of other necessary repairs that could not have been funded without our support.
Donations of clean, gently worn clothes and shoes are welcomed and needed. Children's clothing is needed in abundance. Given the climate and conditions in Tela as well as the high
cost of shipping, please consider sorting through and confining your donations to light-weight fabrics like cotton, and sandals/flat shoes. (We do not ship wool, silk, heels, heavy coats, etc. to Tela.)
Contact: Willmuth Allen (504)887-6141.
- Mission Trip
St. Augustine's Church organizes a mission trip to Honduras on an annual or at least biannual basis. The trip usually takes place the 3rd week in June. The mission team teaches Sunday School for the children, and past projects have included making repairs to the Church of the Holy Spirit and building stoves for the people of Tela.
Members of St. Augustine's Church, family members, and friends are all welcomed to participate in the mission trip. This is a pay-your-own-way trip and costs vary from year to year. Planning meetings will be held in early Spring and people interested in the mission trip can obtain further information on costs and planned projects at that time.
Contact: Father AJ Heine (504)887-4801, ajheine@bellsouth.net
- Shoebox Ministry
Each Christmas, the Christmas shoebox ministry elves of St. Augustine Episcopal Church send about 100 individually-wrapped shoeboxes fully-stuffed with gifts to the children of our sister church in Tela, Honduras, The Church of the Holy Spirit. Each box is designated a girl or boy of a particular age (lower school, middle school, high school). We include toys, personal items, and school supplies.
Everyone and Anyone can join this ministry. We prepare all year by gathering gifts. Our all-hands effort is in October when we assemble and wrap the shoeboxes and prepare them for delivery to Tela. You can make prayer cards whenever you have some free time. And you can pray for this ministry unceasingly.
Contact: June Mire (504)232-2119, june@junemire.com
Maundy Thursday Socks
St. Augustine's church members are asked to bring clean, new white socks to the Maundy Thursday service to be collected during the service. The clean new socks are delivered to the Ozanam Inn homeless shelter for their clients. The clean new socks are given to the poor and homeless as our demonstration of and reflection upon Jesus' humble service in washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper and command to care for one another.
Contact: Susan Scotton (504)258-6648
Each year, St. Augustine's Church, its members and friends join together to bring the spirit of Christmas to a group of local children identified as being economically disadvantaged and in need of our prayers. We do this by providing each of these children with a Christmas gift consisting of an article of clothing and a toy.
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate in this ministry. On the 1st Sunday of Advent, volunteers place a Christmas tree in the chapel. The tree is decorated with paper angels that have each been inscribed with the name, sex and age of a particular child. Simply remove an angel of your choosing from the tree, find the clip board in the Narthex on which to write your name and the name of your "angel," shop for your angel's gift, and return the wrapped gift to Church by the given deadline. An Angel Tree instructions sheet will be available in the Narthex with gift-giving guidelines and deadlines. It will also include a recommended minimum/maximum dollar value for the gift so that each child receives equally.
Contact: Stacey White (504)818-8090, sjwhite12@gmail.com
ANGOLA PRISON MINISTRY
On the 1st Tuesday of each month, a group of people, including retired Deacon Michael Hackett travel to Angola Prison to minister to the incarcerated men and celebrate the Eucharist at four locations within the prison.
Volunteers for this important ministry are always welcomed, but must first obtain security clearance and undergo special training which is conducted four times a year in Baton Rouge.
Contact: Michael Hackett (504)888-5074, (504)343-0020, michael.hackett@cox.net (this ministry or the Kairos Prison Ministry).
BISSONET PLAZA PARTNERSHIP / STAIR
Since February, 2013, St. Augustine’s Church has been a Start The Adventure In Reading (STAIR) site, tutoring second-graders from Bissonet Plaza Elementary School in reading.
The STAIR program began in New Orleans in 1984 to assist the public schools by focusing on those children who are having difficulties reading at grade level. Volunteer tutors are recruited, trained and provided with curriculum materials by STAIR, and the children who participate are chosen by the schools based on test scores and teacher recommendations.
The program started at St. Augustine’s as an outreach project to help serve Bissonet Plaza and the community. Tutoring sessions are held in Byrd Hall from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon during the school year and are staffed by a site director and ten volunteers who individually tutor seven boys and girls. Volunteers may serve either Tuesday or Thursday or both days. The number of students is determined by the number of available tutors.
In order to become a STAIR tutor, volunteers are required to attend a STAIR training session, pass a background check and participate in a Boundaries Training session offered by the church. Previous teaching experience is not required. Classes are scheduled in September and January each year.
Contact: Ann Sale, STAIR site director, (504)888-7438
CHRISTMAS CAROLING
Christmas caroling can be heard throughout the neighborhood surrounding St. Augustine's Church on the evening of the 4th Sunday in Advent. Everyone is encouraged to meet in Byrd Hall right before sunset to gather (battery lit) candles and song sheets before bundling up and heading out on foot to spread Christmas joy to our neighbors. No singing experience is necessary, although the neighbors probably appreciate it when our group includes choir members and those who can carry a tune.
For those who want to help with this event but do not want to carol, the carolers always appreciate returning to Byrd Hall to find hot chocolate, apple cider, and homemade soup waiting.
Contact: Jim Whitesell, jameswhitesell1@gmail.com
COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES (CASA) FOR CHILDREN
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) serve children who have been abused, neglected, abandoned, or otherwise found to be children in need of care, and who are in foster care (in the State's custody) through no fault of their own. Jefferson Parish has its own chapter of this national child advocacy organization, CASA Jefferson.
St. Augustine's Church and its members have long supported this important organization and its mission. Our Church membership includes both active and past CASAs. St. Augustine's Church has been the site for fundraisers, school supply drives, and awareness/recruitment efforts.
Anyone interested in this critical service for children in foster care should explore the organization and process for becoming a CASA.
Contacts: Jan and Mike Hackett (504)888-5074 and June Mire (504)232-2119, june@junemire.com
FOOD BANK
St. Augustine's Church maintains a "food bank" for those occasions when a visitor comes to us hungry and in need of assistance. A volunteer keeps the "bank" stocked with prepared bags containing 2 days worth of nutrition by way of non-perishables like potted meat, canned or dried fruit, granola and bottled water.
Contact: Jim Whitesell jameswhitesell1@gmail.com
HONDURAS PARTNERSHIP
St. Augustine's Church has a "sister" church in economically depressed Tela, Honduras, Church of the Holy Spirit.
- Clothing
St. Augustine's collects donations of clean, gently worn clothing and shoes all year long, and twice a year ships the donations to Church of the Holy Spirit. Once there, volunteers price the clothing and shoes for sale to their Church members, teachers, students, and the public. The funds raised are used to provide electricity to the Church, have enabled the repair of the Church's leaky roof, and have covered the costs of a myriad of other necessary repairs that could not have been funded without our support.
Donations of clean, gently worn clothes and shoes are welcomed and needed. Children's clothing is needed in abundance. Given the climate and conditions in Tela as well as the high
cost of shipping, please consider sorting through and confining your donations to light-weight fabrics like cotton, and sandals/flat shoes. (We do not ship wool, silk, heels, heavy coats, etc. to Tela.)
Contact: Willmuth Allen (504)887-6141.
- Mission Trip
St. Augustine's Church organizes a mission trip to Honduras on an annual or at least biannual basis. The trip usually takes place the 3rd week in June. The mission team teaches Sunday School for the children, and past projects have included making repairs to the Church of the Holy Spirit and building stoves for the people of Tela.
Members of St. Augustine's Church, family members, and friends are all welcomed to participate in the mission trip. This is a pay-your-own-way trip and costs vary from year to year. Planning meetings will be held in early Spring and people interested in the mission trip can obtain further information on costs and planned projects at that time.
Contact: Father AJ Heine (504)887-4801, ajheine@bellsouth.net
- Shoebox Ministry
Each Christmas, the Christmas shoebox ministry elves of St. Augustine Episcopal Church send about 100 individually-wrapped shoeboxes fully-stuffed with gifts to the children of our sister church in Tela, Honduras, The Church of the Holy Spirit. Each box is designated a girl or boy of a particular age (lower school, middle school, high school). We include toys, personal items, and school supplies.
Everyone and Anyone can join this ministry. We prepare all year by gathering gifts. Our all-hands effort is in October when we assemble and wrap the shoeboxes and prepare them for delivery to Tela. You can make prayer cards whenever you have some free time. And you can pray for this ministry unceasingly.
Contact: June Mire (504)232-2119, june@junemire.com
Maundy Thursday Socks
St. Augustine's church members are asked to bring clean, new white socks to the Maundy Thursday service to be collected during the service. The clean new socks are delivered to the Ozanam Inn homeless shelter for their clients. The clean new socks are given to the poor and homeless as our demonstration of and reflection upon Jesus' humble service in washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper and command to care for one another.
Contact: Susan Scotton (504)258-6648
