The community of St. James participates in a wide variety of outreach opportunities. From contributions of financial support to countless hours of volunteer efforts, St. James is dedicated to helping others in need.
Dinner at Your Door
Global
Health Ministries ISAIAH
Loaves and Fishes
The Power of One Partnership
Quilting
NEAR
Ebenezer Auxiliary
Meet and Eat
Blessing of
the Animals
Car Care Saturday
Outreach Partners
Dinner at Your Door
The Northwest Suburban Dinner at Your Door (DAYD) is an ecumenical, non-profit
community service program in Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, Eastern Plymouth,
and Robbinsdale sponsored by churches and civic organizations as well as North
Memorial Health Care, Calvary Lutheran Church Senior Dinning Program, and
Crystal Community Center, as an expression of their love and concern for all
people.
The program furnishes hot, nourishing meals at a nominal cost to shut-ins who
cannot cook for themselves. Meals are planned by dieticians according to the
individual's needs and delivered by volunteers from sponsor congregations.
St. James provides drivers for DAYD on a monthly basis. Currently 8 drivers per
month deliver about 70 meals in the Crystal, Robbinsdale, New Hope, and Plymouth
areas. Pickup sites for St. James' drivers are the Crystal Community Center and
North Memorial Hospital.
Global Health Ministries
Global Health Ministries are truly the "Helping Hands That Heal." Global Health
Ministries provide a gift of life, both spiritual and physical, through Lutheran
health care work across the world.
Volunteers from St. James assist with gathering, sorting, taking inventory and
packing supplies and medical equipment on a weekly basis at the Global Health
ministries warehouse. St. James has also contributed Midwife kits, Aids/Hospice
kits, quilts, school bags, and supplies.
The Reverend Tim Iverson is the Executive Director. To learn more about Global
Health Ministries go to: www.ghm.org.
ISAIAH
ISAIAH is an ecumenical organization for building congregations and promoting
societal change. St. James is a founding member of ISAIAH which includes
approximately 70 congregations in the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and St. Cloud
areas.
Using the principles of church based organizing, ISAIAH uses the tools of
relationship building and networking, to invite people to work out of their
passions to accomplish Isaiah’s goals.
Currently, ISAIAH is working on issues relating to housing and immigration. The
northwest caucus of ISAIAH meets on the second Thursday of the month at one of
the caucus churches. New members are always welcome.
ISAIAH is affiliated with the Gamaliel Foundation,
www.gamaliel.org .
Loaves and Fishes
Loaves and Fishes, with thousands of dedicated and committed volunteers,
provides nutritious meals to the hungry of the Twin Cities metro area at site
locations where the need is greatest.
St. James is active on the third Thursday of every month preparing and serving
food at River of Life Lutheran Church (formerly Bethlehem Lutheran) located at
22nd and Fremont Avenue North in Minneapolis. In 2005, St. James members and
youth served over 1,750 individual meals. Twelve or more volunteers prepare the
meal at 2:00 pm. Over fifteen volunteers serve the meal at 5:30-6:30 and then
clean up the dining room. This is a service opportunity for all ages. Adults and
middle school youth work in partnership with House of Hope Lutheran church, and
have been serving together at River of Life Lutheran Church in 1984.
For more information about Loaves and Fishes visit their website at:
www.loavesandfishesmn.org.
The Power of One Partnership
The Power of One is a volunteer program sponsored by St. James Lutheran Church
in partnership with Forest Elementary School to help children who are struggling
academically. The program began in December 1996 with the goal of increasing
children’s developmental assets by fostering positive relationships with
non-parent adults.
Each volunteer is paired with a student or students from Forest School who have
been selected to participate in the program. Volunteers do not need teaching
experience. The tutoring takes place at the school, with volunteers spending a
half hour or more working on reading, writing and relationship skills.
Volunteers arrange their time and days with the teacher they work with to
coordinate with the Forest school (and the volunteer’s) schedule.
There is no religious content involved in the Power of One program. St. James
Lutheran Church is supportive of the mandate of our public schools to serve and
affirm all children regardless of faith affiliation, without endorsing or
promoting beliefs and practices relating to religion.
Quilting
The St. James Quilters meet the second and fourth Tuesday of every month anytime
from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The group meets to lay out designs, pin edges, and tie
quilt tops. No experience or sewing machine necessary. The quilts are donated to
many local and overseas charities.
NEAR
North Suburban Emergency Assistance Response (NEAR) provides food distribution,
financial assistance, and holiday gifts to sustain the body, mind, and spirit.
NEAR serves the unemployed, disabled, homeless, and seniors (about 165-200
families each month,) in New Hope, Crystal, and Robbinsdale.
St. James was a charter member of NEAR in 1974. There are currently 13
congregations that support NEAR. St. James collects food for NEAR year round,
with special food drives in November and March. Volunteers pack groceries for
clients 5 days a week from 2:30-4:00 p.m. The clients receive extra food for
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with gifts.
Ebenezer Auxiliary
Ebenezer helps older adults and others make their lives more independent,
healthful, meaningful, and secure.
The Ebenezer Auxiliary has a long-standing relationship with many churches in
the Minneapolis area. Some of the services the Auxiliary provides are hosting
different events at Ebenezer sites such as monthly birthday parties, helping in
the gift shop, serving as escorts to worship services in the chapel, Christmas
Tea, Gifts of Love (Christmas gifts from church members), and Operation Love (a
Valentine flower for each resident, sponsored by St. James).
The Auxiliary also assists with fundraisers including the Ice Cream Social,
Spring Luncheon, Fall Festival, plus Hands and Hearts Estate Sales. These
fundraisers and estate sales all go to help support the many programs for the
residents at all Ebenezer facilities.
Meet and
Eat
Meet and Eat is a weekly family friendly dinner and fellowship opportunity. On
Wednesday evenings from September to May, dinner is served at St. James in Wold
Hall, between 5:30-6:30 p.m. $5 per person, $20 family max.
Blessing of the Animals
The Blessing of the Animals is held at 2:00 p.m. on the first Sunday in October.
This event commemorates the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. The
afternoon includes a pet procession around the neighborhood, a blessing of each
pet by the St. James pastors and tasty treats for the animals- human and all
others!
Car Care Saturday
Car Care Saturday is cosponsored by St. James’ Motorhead Ministry, St. Alphonsus
Car Care Ministry, and North Memorial Medical Center. Held twice a year at St.
James on a Saturday morning in October and in April, volunteers provide a
variety of services including a free oil & filter change, total vehicle
inspection including: fluids, hoses, belts and tires, a child car seat
inspection by an injury prevention specialist from North Memorial Medical
Center, window washing, and vacuuming. Snacks and activities are also available
for children.
Participants are referred to St. James by a variety of social service agencies,
with the goal of providing free maintenance to low-income families, allowing
adults to maintain or obtain jobs by having reliable transportation. If you are
interested in volunteering with this program please
email us.
In response to the growing and ever-changing needs that surround us in our community and our world St. James is growing and changing the outreach program. Each quarter will be focused on a specific cause that is important to St. James. Primary partners allow St. James to fulfill our mission to serve and assist the people of God's world while sharing the Gospel message. The primary partners are all non-profit entities that provide opportunities for service and financial support. Secondary partners that allow St. James to fulfill a unique and specific need in the community are listed in parenthesis.
First quarter - Hunger: NEAR food shelf, Loaves & Fishes, Lutheran World Relief Hunger, Feed My Starving Children (Dinner at Your Door, Meet & Eat)
Second quarter -Servant Ministries: ELCA Disaster Response, Global Health Ministries, Lutheran Social Service (Rake-N-Run, Car Care Saturday, Quilters)
Third quarter - Scholarships & Education: ELCA College Scholarships, Forest Elementary School (Ruth Lund Scholarship Endowment Fund, Una Lamb Endowment Fund)
Fourth quarter - Our community: Plymouth Christian Youth Center, Home Free Women's Shelter, Our Savior's Shelter (ISAIAH, Memorial Blood Centers, Child In Our Hands)