OUTREACH "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." -- Matthew 25:36-37 Outreach Projects of Christ Church When you are aware of how blessed you are, you can't help but want to share what you have. Christ Church is reaching out in love and solidarity to friends far and near - raising money, sending books, offering food - and helping to build a residential school for AIDS orphans in Western Kenya. Here are a few of our current projects as a community: Kenya - Our leadership voted to commit $13,000 from the 200th Anniversary Fund to support the purchase of land for a home for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Nambale, Kenya. This project is being developed by the Rev. Evalyn Wakhusama and the nonprofit group WIKS (Women's Initiative for Knowledge and Survival). At present there is no such home in Western Kenya. Peter Stebinger has agreed to serve on the board and to serve as chief U.S. fundraiser. We plan to raise the vast majority of the funds for this project from sources outside Christ Church. AmityCares - Habitat for Humanity - Christ Church joins in periodic Saturday workdays (9-3) at the housing site in New Haven. The next two are November 5th and December 3rd. Please contact Kathy Heard at 393-2155 if you'd like to go. Volunteers must be 16 or older; wear heavy shoes and warm clothes. St. Andrew's, New Haven - Our companion relationship with this parish in Newhallville is full of new energy. Members of each church are coming together monthly to talk about joint worship, outreach and mission projects. Rosebud Episcopal Mission - Groups from Christ Church have visited the Lakota people on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota for the past four summers. We have built Habitat homes and offered Vacation Bible School. We hope to go back in the summer of '05, and are busy sending badly needed clothes and books to our sisters and brothers out there. Kairos Prison Ministry - Kairos is a ministry in prisons - teams go into the prisons for four-day weekends, bringing the love of Christ to the incarcerated. Our Assistant Rector and one of our members have served on Kairos teams in women's and men's prisons, and youth facilities in the state. Four women from the parish are serving on the first "Kairos Outside" weekend this spring, geared toward people with family members in prison. The Iranian-Anglican Prayer Group - Christ Church houses the only active Iranian church in our state? Led by Sharoq Dezhbod, a deacon in the Anglican Church of Iran, the group meets each Saturday night at about 6 pm in our church. They often share a meal afterward. Other - What's your passion? Who do you want to reach out to? Let us know, and see if we can support you. Outreach Projects of Individual Members of the Community Many of our members are involved in outreach projects as individuals. All are invited to share this work with the community. AIDS Project New Haven (Fred Jenks) - "For now over five years, I have worked for AIDS Project New Haven on a voluntary basis three days a week delivering meals for their Caring Cuisine program. Originating as a program of AIDS Project New Haven in 1988, Caring Cuisine is a free meal delivery program that serves individuals who are homebound or otherwise unable to purchase or prepare food for themselves and their families." "Each delivery consists of a hot meal (prepared by our staff in our kitchen) and other items such as household groceries, breakfast foods, juice, and nutritious snacks and supplements as required. Our aim is to fulfill the daily requirement of 2000-2400 calories for people living with AIDS. Food and groceries are delivered three times per week to provide for a seven-day period. The program offers nutritional counseling on an individual basis and accommodates special diets such as diabetic, low-lactose, low-salt, and renal." "There are various opportunities for this and other volunteer work with the agency. Their website is http://www.apnh.org/."