Collections for three Sundays in May will be shared with Lemay Housing Partnership.  Their mission -  to enhance the quality of life and create socially and economically healthy living environments in the Lemay area of South St. Louis County with the goal of revitalizing blighted neighborhoods - is supported by many volunteers, including Eliot Chapel’s Social Action Team.  Our next LHP workday is scheduled for Saturday, May 5.  If you would like to join us in work that will help our neighbors stay in their homes, please sign up on the bulletin board or contact socialaction@eliotchapel.org.  Learn more at www.lemayhousing.org. 

The offering on May 27 - the Animal Blessing service - will be shared with the Humane Society of Missouri.  A representative from the Human Society will be joining us that day.

Get Involved

If you would like to get involved in any of Eliot's Social Action opportunities, please contact Nancy Spargo at socialaction@eliotchapel.org.

Fair Trade

The Fair Trade team sells chocolate, shade-grown organic coffee, and other fairly traded products in accordance with Eliot Chapel’s mission to act for social justice. Volunteers staff the sales cart on Sundays in Adams Hall following both services.  Fair Trade will be donating a portion of its profits to a to-be-identified cause in a coffee producing country this year.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Tim Gardner or socialaction@eliotchapel.org .

Cardboard City, originally scheduled for May 11-12,
has been cancelled due to low enrollment.  

Thanks to all who expressed interest in the event.

Social Action Team Tackles Hunger and Homelessness

Eliot Chapel’s Social Action team organizes and mobilizes the church’s actions for outreach in the local community.   For the 2011-2012 church year, the team has narrowed its scope to focus on efforts and projects targeting hunger and homelessness. 

Outreach efforts include:

• Gifts of time through intergenerational service project opportunities open to all Eliot members. 
  • The Social Action team selects projects with diverse opportunities in terms of time required, the type of task, location and the duration (one-time vs. ongoing).
• Gifts of talent, such as financial mentoring for adolescents in foster care who are aging out of the system.
• Gifts of treasure, including monthly shared offering donations. Each month an organization is selected by the Social Action team to receive half of the offering collected at Eliot worship services.
•  Participation in local need drives.  Eliot often serves as a collection site for items.  Recent drives include:
  • teen clothing drive collection to benefit the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition (Re)Fresh clothing store for youth in foster care
  • hygiene product drive for Youth in Need’s Street Outreach program
  • ongoing drive collecting non-perishable food and toiletries for Kirk Care
• Continued efforts through established relationships.  Last year Eliot worked with Gateway 180 and Youth in Need, and we will reconnect this year for sandwich-making and another hygiene product drive.
• Education and witness through sponsoring community forums.
• Exploration of the possibility of a global project. The team is currently exploring the possibility of working with nationally-recognized Standing on the Side of Love.  
• Organizing a Social Action travel team for summer of 2012.  We hope to go to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota with an intergenerational group (12 and over) through Re-Member
• Ongoing initiatives (see below for more details on these initiatives):
  • Room at the Inn
  • Collection for Kirk Care
  • Fair Trade coffee and chocolate sales
  • Weekly Sunday morning donut sales
  • Crisis Nursery volunteer team
  • Lemay Housing Partners

Room at the Inn

Room at the Inn (RATI) is a year-round program sponsored by the Sisters of Divine Providence. The program, which involves more than 60 churches in the St. Louis area, provides shelter for up to 20 persons per week. Most of the guests are single women and women with children, who stay with RATI for a maximum of four weeks. 

During the day, the shelter in Bridgeton, Missouri, helps adults find work and housing and provides daycare for young children, transportation to school for older children, and personal counseling. Each evening, the guests are divided between two of the churches, which provide an evening meal and sleeping quarters.

Eliot has been participating in this program since 1992. Every Thursday, except the fourth Thursday of the month, Eliot drivers pick up our guests at the shelter and bring them to Eliot where our cooks serve a delicious home-cooked meal.  Two Eliot hosts arrive at 5:30 pm, enjoy a meal provided by other Eliot volunteers, and help the guests get settled in downstairs classrooms. Hosts spend the night in a separate classroom. Friday morning, hosts wake the guests, provide a light breakfast, and clean up. Drivers return the guests to the shelter and hosts return home by about 7:00 am. Our launderers pick up the sheets and towels, launder them, and return them to Eliot by the next Thursday.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact  Joanne Prats or Karen Gender at  RATI@eliotchapel.org

Kirk Care

Kirk Care is a non-profit organization formed by the Kirkwood Ministerial Alliance.  Its mission is to help the needy who live within the boundary of the Kirkwood R-7 school district.  Eliot participates by collecting non-perishable food and toiletries (which cannot be purchased with food stamps) for the food pantry.  Kirk Care provides food to about 50 families per month.  Donated items can be left in the shopping cart in Adams Hall.

The Social Action team is actively recruiting helpers for two of Kirk Care's teams:

• Assessment Teams:  These teams meet with new clients in their homes to determine the scope of help that Kirk Care can provide.  New team members are needed.  Training and support materials are provided.  Time commitment would be several hours for each new client identified.
• Delivery Teams:  These teams gather food and personal care items from the Kirk Care pantry for delivery to clients.  Delivery teams are called on as needed, usually a few times per month.  Training is provided.

Sign up on the bulletin board to volunteer or contact Mary Quinn.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Jim Lyons or Mary Quinn or socialaction@eliotchapel.org.

Enrich a Child's Life Through the
St. Louis Crisis Nursery

Eliot teams currently serve on Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons.  We ask volunteers to make a commitment of one session for two hours a month.  The commitment is ongoing and service is schedule according to the team preference.  A TB test, doctor's note and orientation are required to participate.  Activities include supervision, meals, and activities for infants to children under 12 years of age.  These kids need lots of love and you can make a difference in their lives.  Volunteers must be at least 14 years old.  To volunteer, please contact socialaction@eliotchapel.org.

Eliot Chapel has teamed up with Lemay Housing Partnership to help with a quarterly workday project.  

The next work day is scheduled for Saturday, May 5 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.  You may sign up on the bulletin board outside the Sanctuary, in Adams Hall after Sunday services or by contacting Nancy Spargo at socialaction@eliotchapel.org.