Our outreach and service is guided by Jesus’s command to love our neighbor and build the Beloved Community. Here are a variety of opportunities to love and serve our community.
Contact Joy Shillingsburg, Director of Outreach, JoyS@stjohnswf.org
Immediate Need: Over the last month Mother Sarah and a few members of our Outreach Leadership Team have been walking with a Wake Forest family that was evicted from their home and are currently living in a hotel. This family consists for three school aged children and is led by a single disabled Dad. As our team has walked with the family to connect them to much needed resources including housing, it has become clear that we need a broader circle of folks who can help with meals, gift cards and donations to the Rector’s discretionary fund to help this family save their limited income during this transition time. If you would like to support this family, please carefully read the instructions on the Sign Up Genius , Donate to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund or contact Joy if you have any questions.
Welcoming Ukrainian Refugees:
All are welcome to assist in this new outreach opportunity of welcoming two Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Wake Forest and are now living with family members. The refugees are a 16 year old girl who will be starting school at WFHS and her mother. They moved in with the daughter/sister who has been in America for 10 years and has a young family of her own. We will start this welcoming ministry by purchasing and delivering groceries once every other week and getting to know the Mother/Grandmother when we deliver the food. From there we will expand the ministry as our relationship with this family. If you would like to learn more about this opportunity or become involved, please Sign Up.
Farm to Fork is Back!!! All ages are welcome! Mark your calendars:
April 18, 5/16, 6/13, 7/18, 8/22, 9/19, and 10/7 from 5:30-6:30 at the Wake Forest Presbyterian Church Giving Garden (12605 Capital Blvd)
All are welcome to join us on these Tuesday nights in the garden to care for creation, plant, feed, weed and harvest the garden, which provides thousands of pounds of food for local food ministries including Wake Forest Community Table. Bring your garden gloves and water for a fun evening of outreach and fellowship!
Habitat for Humanity: We are thrilled to join our neighbors and partner churches for two Habitat work days on April 22 and April 29.
More details to come as we get closer! Register here: http://vhub.at/northernwake.
Ongoing Outreach Opportunities:
4. Wake Forest Presbyterian Giving Garden: Needs a group or individuals to help harvest and plant this Fall. This well-established large garden has yielded thousands of pounds of produce for Wake Forest Community Meals and many food pantries in our region. Please Sign Up!
Wake Forest Community Table:
If you would like to make desserts on Monday nights so that we can add a sweet treat to the meal bags- SIGN UP HERE
If you would like to distribute meals, produce and groceries on Monday and Wednesday evenings. SIGN UP HERE
This group leads faith reflection and action on environmental crises such as climate change, and promotes individual and community-wide actions to improve our stewardship of the Earth. This group planted and maintains a lovely Pollinator Garden between our main church and Education buildings as a teaching garden for our preschool and parish community.
Church Net is a Wake Forest coalition of churches that provides financial resources to pay for prescriptions and utility bills for people in the community. Donations are collected at St. John’s. Church Net office is staffed by volunteers from local churches.
Our Joy of Christmas ministry provides gifts and gift cards to local families and seniors at Christmas.
TAM collects donations of food and necessities for distribution to local families. St. John’s has been a part of this organization since its inception and continues to support TAM’s nearly 9,000 clients each year with food donations. When we are back to in person worship, look for the red wagon in the Narthex to deposit food and hygiene items. Visit their website for more information and volunteer opportunities.
Hope House is a ministry of Friendship Chapel Baptist Church. St. John’s supports this ministry which serves weeknight meals and builds relationships in Northeast Wake Forest.
St. John’s participates in a coalition of local churches to help build and fund affordable housing with soon-to-be-homeowner families in Wake Forest.
This ministry packs food weekly during the school year for food-insecure students at local schools.
Each September, many St. John’s parishioners take a 1-mile or 3-mile walk to help raise money to fight hunger locally and around the world.
St. John’s has been the organizing partner of this program housed at the Alston Massenburg Center in which we’ve joined over a dozen church and civic groups to share meals and playtime with children and families in Northeast Wake Forest for 10 weeks during the summer when food insecurity increases for children in traditional calendar schools. This summer program has now been extended due to COVID-19 to serve the food-insecure in our community every Monday night at Hope House from 5:00-6:00 pm and every Wednesday night at Olive Branch Baptist Church from 6:00-7:00 pm. Dinner plates, Backpack Buddies Bags, clothing from Note-in-the-Pocket, and shelf- stable food from Tri-Area Ministries (TAM) and the Northern Community Food Security Team are distributed each week.
ONE Wake is a broad-based, multi-racial, multi-faith organization of 40+ faith communities and non-profits across Wake County. Members of St. John’s work with other leaders from ONE Wake member institutions to research and propose specific local initiatives to address issues creating pressure for Wake County residents such as a shortage of affordable housing and problems in public education. ONE Wake leverages the collective influence of faith communities and community non-profits to create positive change.