Missions Committee Annual Report 2008

St. Paul’s Mission Committee

2008 Summary

The St. Paul’s Mission Committee is charged to “Proclaim the Gospel by Word and Deed.” We show God’s love through our service to others in Akron, in the United States, and internationally.

Thank you to the dedicated members of the 2008 Mission Committee for serving the congregation and the community, and for providing opportunities for members of the congregation to become part of mission work: Elizabeth Armstrong, Bill Baird, Carol Ficken, Nan Bartlett, Rob Cockfield, Sarah Cravens, Paul Frank, Bruce Freeman, Co-chair, Jeannie Kienzle, Shannon Kotradi, Dave & Cindy McBee, Maura O’Shea, Co-Chair, Karen Oyler, Chuck and Bonnie Severt, Mary Shepherd, the Rev. Polly Glanville, Deacon and the Reverend Mark Pruitt, Rector. New members for 2009 include Anne and Antony Cannon and Tammy Guenther. Special thanks also to Dawn Frank, Tom Valtman and Marcheta Scott for all their support.

St. Paul’s has served the community in the following ways this year:

• In December, the Common Mission Coalition completed our Habitat House at 189 Thorpe Street in Akron. We are anticipating a family will move into their new home soon. Participating churches included St. Paul’s, Church of Our Savior, St. John’s, St. Phillip’s and St. Luke’s. Dozens of St. Paul’s parishioners, young and older, contributed their skills and resources to make this house a reality. Key leaders from St. Paul’s included Mary Shepherd (Project Director), Diane Genetti, Janna Burns, Bruce Freeman, Shannon Kotradi and Elizabeth Armstrong.

• St. Paul's continues to be a support congregation for Interfaith Hospitality Network of Summit County (IHNSC) through volunteering for 5 designated weeks throughout the year. The work includes coordinating food, providing fellowship to the homeless families and staying overnight at the host church (Fairlawn West United Church of Christ) for three evenings during the week. In 2008, 25 St. Paul's volunteers served 78 people consisting of 21 families with 47 children. The average length of stay of a family in the network is 28 days. Cindy McBee coordinates our effort with this program.

• Several members of the Missions Committee, Vestry and Youth Group visit the Haven of Rest facility on the third Sunday each month to serve a meal to approximately 100 homeless men and women. Dave McBee leads this important effort for St. Paul’s.

• As a covenant church with OPEN-M, St. Paul’s participates in many volunteer activities. This Fall, 250 boxes of Instant Mashed Potatoes were collected for Christmas baskets, and we still continue to collect jars of peanut butter and over-the-counter medications on an ongoing basis. . St. Paul’s also provided support for their clinic as well as emergency assistance. Karen Oyler is our liaison with Open-M.

• Food collections and funds collected from the "Souper" Bowl in January went to the Akron Canton Food Bank and to Interfaith Housing Network. Cindy McBee coordinated this successful effort last year.

• We participated in St. Paul's Lay Ministry Fair to inform parishioners of mission work and to recruit volunteers.

• Committee members and parishioners joined 125 walkers on a cold, windy day in April at the annual Greater Akron Interfaith Council Crop Walk for Hunger. Shannon Kotradi and family led St. Paul's involvement.

• The Bishop's Bike Ride from Defiance to Alliance stopped by St. Paul's for dinner in their fundraising bike tour for Diocesan Youth Mission trips. Bruce Freeman joined the bike "chain" in Akron and made it to Trinity Church in Alliance. A beautiful ride with wonderful fellow riders. Join us in 2009 for the ride from Marion to Steubenville June 28-July 3. Go all the way, or pick one of 6 segments.

• Our Fall Emergency Food Drive with the Church School 6th graders provided many bags of groceries that went to Good Samaritan Hunger Center. Thanks to Elizabeth Armstrong for publicizing this effort.

• In July, five youth and two adults spent a week in Niagara Falls, NY working with youth throughout the country in forming positive relationships throughout this western New York community as well as improving the lives of local residents. They helped organize donations and sort clothing for victims of domestic violence and families in crisis at the Community Mission, served lunch and interacted with seniors at Niagara Town, helped feed homeless men, women and children at the Community Kitchen, did yard work and painting preparation at the home of an elderly resident, and sorted and sanitized nearly 5,000 pairs of sandals that Project Angel Shoes will ship around the world to those who are without shoes. Jerry Smith and Jeannie Kienzle coordinated this effort with lay trip leaders David May and Heather Costa.. Youth participants included Anna Burton, Kristopher Drew, Emma Haney, Kyle May and Jennifer Smaltz

• Work has been completed on a new church and school near Cavalla, Liberia through the Frank World Mission Fund. Building dedications were attended by Paul Frank in the Spring. The new church is named St. Paul’s Church after our parish in Akron and the new school is named the Elizabeth Frank School.

A new educational project for a four (4) classroom permanent school in Mambe Junction, Diocese of Maridi, southwestern Sudan is in the planning stages.

• The Mission Committee, led by Bonnie Severt, conducted a Fall UTO (United Thank Offering) drive which collected $548.93 for projects designed for needy women and children. Two drives are held each year in the Spring and Fall.

• Bruce Freeman, co-chair of the Mission Committee, attended the 2nd Diocesan Mission Summit in September in Elyria, Ohio and learned of new local and international mission initiatives to consider for St. Paul’s involvement.

• The Christmas Angel Tree project, managed by Maura O’Shea and Nan Bartlett, provided the Broken Chains Ministry with 137 gifts from St. Paul’s parishioners distributed to 100 children during the Christmas holidays.

• Maura O’Shea coordinated a school backpack/supplies drive with another local parish. A total of 298 backpacks were received and filled. St. Paul’s contributed 41 of the new backpacks.

• The Diocese of Ohio awarded Diocesan Millennium Development Goal funds to two St. Paul’s projects:

o A “Cantina” in conjunction with the new church and adjacent school in St. Etienne’s, Haiti ($3,000)
o In Liberia, a cattle-raising project is underway, and 40 acres of land has been donated ($4,000) to enable the schools to be self-sustaining

• The Mission Committee managed the Christmas Emergency Fund. A total of $30,383 was collected in the Christmas season of 2007/8, and was distributed to needy individuals primarily through Love, INC., Akron/Summit Community Action, Inc. and OPEN-M), with an additional distribution to Good Samaritan Hunger Center ($4,000), Open-M ($5,000), Love, Inc. Coat drive ($1,000), Interfaith Hospitality Network ($2,500), Access, Inc. ($1,000) and the Open-M Clinic ($1,000).

• St. Paul’s generous Easter Missions Projects contributions ($19,736) went to support Youth mission trips and continuing mission outreach projects such as completing a Habitat home on Thorpe Street in Akron in 2008 with the Common Mission Coalition ($40,000) and our ongoing mission work in Haiti. Mary Shepherd has been managing this year’s successful Habitat effort with 4 other local parishes. Bill Baird has been coordinating our involvement in St. Etienne’s, Haiti.

• Through the Vestry, the Missions Committee received a generous $12,500 gift from the D’Ianni Trust for use in our parish’s mission work. Planning is underway to explore possible directions.

• The parish celebrated our 1st Mission Sunday on Christ the King Sunday in November, with a mission-focused service and lay presentations during the education hour.

• In September, the Mission Committee conducted a wonderful retreat at Rob and Kathy Cockfield’s home to explore and reflect upon our work, to clarify our goals, and to begin to plan for 2009. We confirmed that we wish to explore expansion of St. Paul’s involvement with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), explore possible mission outreach to Africa, investigate opportunities for joint mission work with other parishes, as well as working with St. Paul’s Health and Wellness Committee on a joint effort relating to health.

Monthly profiles of mission opportunities are provided in the St. Paul’s Messenger, as well as other Missions updates. Also, check out the St. Paul’s Missions blog at http://stpaulsmissions.blogspot.com/ for news and updates.

The Missions Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00PM. Call the church office to verify the room location. All parishioners are invited to attend!