St. Margaret's (Belfast, ME)

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St. Margaret's (Belfast, ME)

  • HOME
  • WHO WE ARE
    • About Us
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    • Our History
    • Worship with Us!
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  • WHAT WE DO
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      • Outreach
      • Pastoral Care
    • Creation Care
    • Support Groups
    • Memorial Garden
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  • NEWS
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  • WHO WE ARE
    • About Us
    • Clergy & Staff
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      • Vestry
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    • Our History
    • Worship with Us!
      • Sermons
        • Archived Sermons
  • WHAT WE DO
    • Worship Schedule
    • Ministries
      • Adult Education
      • Knit the Community
      • Outreach
      • Pastoral Care
    • Creation Care
    • Support Groups
    • Memorial Garden
  • LET’S CONNECT
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    • Want to get involved?
    • Ways to Give
    • Contact Us!
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St. Margaret's (Belfast, ME)

St. Margaret's (Belfast, ME)

  • HOME
  • WHO WE ARE
    • About Us
    • Clergy & Staff
    • Lay Leadership
      • Vestry
    • Our Community
    • Our History
    • Worship with Us!
      • Sermons
        • Archived Sermons
  • WHAT WE DO
    • Worship Schedule
    • Ministries
      • Adult Education
      • Knit the Community
      • Outreach
      • Pastoral Care
    • Creation Care
    • Support Groups
    • Memorial Garden
  • LET’S CONNECT
    • I’m New. What do I do?
    • Covid info & Resources
    • Want to get involved?
    • Ways to Give
    • Contact Us!
  • NEWS
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Outreach
Home Archive by Category "Outreach"

Category: Outreach

Outreach
January 31, 2025

Souper Bowl Sunday

No – that is not a typo! Souper Bowl Sunday has long been a tradition at St. Margaret’s – one that lapsed in recent years, but is up for revival!
 
Before we go home from church to settle in at home to watch the game, or attend a Super Bowl party where we will enjoy a variety of dishes from chili to chicken wings to chips and dip, let us think about those whose homes have been ravaged by fire or war, or those who live locally and rely on our local Food Cupboards or the Soup Kitchen.
 
On February 9th a soup tureen will be on the table at the back of church and will be handed around during the Offertory for donations to the World Central Kitchen and the GBAM Food Cupboard.
 

Read More
By Chris Urick
Outreach
October 4, 2024

Still accepting donations for 5th Sunday

All undesignated checks and cash in the collection plate will be used for Outreach. The Outreach Committee appointed the GBAM Food Cupboard as recipient of our 5th Sunday collection.

Matt Markiewicz ([email protected], 603 832-4388) is St. Margaret’s representative on the Food Cupboard Board along with representatives from Unitarian Universalist Church of Belfast, First Baptist Church, Belfast United Methodist Church, River Sangha, Church of St. Francis, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, First Church, and Belfast Area Friends Meeting. Parishioners can volunteer to assist with distribution on the week that St. Margaret’s is scheduled (on a rotational basis). Please speak with Matt if you would like more information on the Food Cupboard.

If donating financially, please make checks payable to St. Margaret’s Church with “5th Sunday” or “Food Cupboard” in the memo line. We will continue to accept donations for the next few Sundays. Thank you! Your Outreach Team

Read More
By Chris Urick
CommunityOutreach
March 18, 2024

St. Margaret’s 5th Sunday Outreach Collectionwill be for the “Keep the Faith Fund”

(for businesses affected by the January 2024 coastal storms)
 

Copy of Keep the Faith Fund January 2024 Storm Damage with link

The Outreach Committee continues to collect funds for this extremely important local initiative, and you can be part of our final gift to the City of Belfast by writing a check to St. Margaret’s with the words “Keep the Faith Fund” or “5th Sunday Plate Offering for March” in the memo line. Please put your donation in the pate offering during any church service in March, or drop it off to the church office. Many thanks to those of you who have so generously donated already!

Read More
By Chris Urick
CommunityOutreach
January 23, 2024

Outreach for Keep the Faith Fund

We have all seen the results of the two storms that recently devastated our waterfront business, properties and parks. The Belfast City Council and Mayor have decided to bring back the “Keep the Faith Fund” (that was more recently used to assist business affected by the shutdown during COVID).The Outreach Committee has designated this fund for the fifth Sunday on March 31st, however, if you would like to donate NOW we are gladly taking donations to help our local businesses in need. Please make your check payable to St. Margaret’s with “5th Sunday” or “Keep the Faith Fund” in the memo line. Thank you!

click image of City of Belfast website
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By Chris Urick
Outreach
November 27, 2023

The Giving Tree is Back!

A St. Margaret’s outreach tradition – the Giving Tree – has returned to its place of honor in the parish house just in time for Advent.

 This year’s tree is adorned with angels ready to fly to Lewiston with your comfort and support for bereaved families struggling to cope this Holiday Season without a loved one they lost in the Oct. 25 mass shooting tragedy. For a donation of $10 you may choose an angel card ornament that can then become your own greeting for someone on your Christmas list to hang on their tree. Funds raised will go promptly to the Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund established by the Maine Community Foundation, and to a separate fund set up by Lewiston Public Schools to support affected students.

 The Outreach Committee is hoping that together we’ll send off dozens of angels during Advent. You may put either checks made out to St. Margaret’s, with “Lewiston angel” written on the memo line, or cash in the donation box by the Giving Tree. Then select an angel for each donation and spread Christmas love even farther.

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By Chris Urick
Outreach
July 17, 2023

5th Sunday – for refugees and asylum seekers in Maine

Photo credit: The Portland Press Herald
 
They are the poorest of the poor, from Angola and Honduras, Haiti and Somalia and other explosive countries, and at this very moment they are huddled in a bewildered mass in the Portland Expo arena.  They are without doubt the “homeless” and “tempest-tost” of Emma Lazarus’ immortal welcome at the Statue of Liberty.  And they are the faces of Christ in exile.
    As we as a parish family ponder how we might assist homeless families in the wider Belfast area, the Outreach Committee is designating the coming Fifth Sunday collection for the desperate mothers and fathers, tumbling toddlers and searching teens down the road a bit in Portland,  the denigrated “wretched refuse” from other teeming shores.  Our money will go directly to provide a plate of food or a bottle of water, diapers or toothpaste, given with smiles and gentle words by volunteers on scene.  It is so little. For now, it means everything.
    As many as 600 asylum-seekers and refugees have smooshed onto the jumble of cots and rumpled blankets at the Expo in recent weeks. According to the Bangor Daily News, there are now around 270 there.  Many have been hoping to move on to Canada and are now snagged in limbo by a new bi-lateral agreement that has stopped crossing the border on foot.  Others hoped to find work in hotels and restaurants or as outdoor laborers in Maine, but are forbidden by federal law from employment for six months.  All will be evicted on Aug. 16, when the city is closing the Expo.  They can then join hundreds more who are overflowing smaller shelters in town, or grab a spot on the street.
 They are the poorest of the poor, from Angola and Honduras, Haiti and Somalia and other explosive countries, and at this very moment they are huddled in a bewildered mass in the Portland Expo arena.  They are without doubt the “homeless” and “tempest-tost” of Emma Lazarus’ immortal welcome at the Statue of Liberty.  And they are the faces of Christ in exile.
    As we as a parish family ponder how we might assist homeless families in the wider Belfast area, the Outreach Committee is designating the coming Fifth Sunday collection for the desperate mothers and fathers, tumbling toddlers and searching teens down the road a bit in Portland,  the denigrated “wretched refuse” from other teeming shores.  Our money will go directly to provide a plate of food or a bottle of water, diapers or toothpaste, given with smiles and gentle words by volunteers on scene.  It is so little. For now, it means everything.
    As many as 600 asylum-seekers and refugees have smooshed onto the jumble of cots and rumpled blankets at the Expo in recent weeks. According to the Bangor Daily News, there are now around 270 there.  Many have been hoping to move on to Canada and are now snagged in limbo by a new bi-lateral agreement that has stopped crossing the border on foot.  Others hoped to find work in hotels and restaurants or as outdoor laborers in Maine, but are forbidden by federal law from employment for six months.  All will be evicted on Aug. 16, when the city is closing the Expo.  They can then join hundreds more who are overflowing smaller shelters in town, or grab a spot on the street.
     A controversial scenario envisions turning empty dormitories on the former Unity College campus right here in Waldo County into transitional housing for asylum seekers.  Now known as Unity Environmental University, the college has undergone its own transition to primarily online instruction, leaving dorms vacant and the administration looking for new sources of income.  To date no specifics have been worked out among state, local and university officials to make this happen.  
      The Greater Portland Council of Governments estimates it would cost around $7.8 million to lease the buildings, pay utilities and provide food and other assistance for the next year. Maine-Housing, a state agency, would make the final decision, likely drawing from the $100 million in budget measures to address Maine’s homeless and housing crisis that were passed by the Legislature a week ago.  Gov. Janet Mills signed a two-year $10.3 billion state budget into law on Tuesday, but that money won’t be available for 90 days, until October.
       Meanwhile people wait.  They are hungry, destitute and determinedly hopeful.  We will reach them through groups such as Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, and the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project.  Please give generously on Sunday July 30, noting on checks “Fifth Sunday.”  Thank you.
Please mark checks “5th Sunday” in memo line.
    
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By Chris Urick
MeetingOutreach
July 10, 2023

Parish Discussion and Potluck

We will meet as a parish on Thursday, July 13 at 6PM for a potluck supper followed by discussion on how we can share our building space for the good of the community. We will eat and then break into small groups to answer focus questions which will later be collated.

Also, there will be another discussion focused on the same issue following the 9:30AM service on Sunday, July 16, approximately 11 a.m..

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By Chris Urick
Outreach
June 15, 2023

Outreach Recap – 5th Sunday

Thank you for your donations to our April 5th Sunday collection.
A check for $832.00 has been sent to H.O.M.E. of Orland.
Our next 5th Sunday will be in July – stay tuned.

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By Chris Urick
GBAMOutreach
April 26, 2023

Remember When???

Remember when, years ago, we had food dona-
tion baskets at the back of St. Margaret’s
sanctuary, and during the offertory we brought
the baskets forward with the sacraments to be
blessed? This ministry is starting up again!

        Please bring one or more of the following with you to church on Sunday: 

  • Ready to eat protein/ready-made meals like canned chicken, chili, or chicken soup
  • Toilet paper
  • Bar soap
  • Shampoo and conditioner
  • Body wash 
  • Non-sugary cold cereal

. . . and place your donation in one of the baskets
you’ll see clearly labeled at the back of the church. These will be delivered to the GBAM (Greater Belfast Area Ministerium) Food Cupboard that serves Waldo County residents every other Friday. 

      When you shop for your home, shop for someone else’s too!

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By Chris Urick
Outreach
April 26, 2023

Outreach News

Several of us met last Saturday to discuss and plan for St. Margaret’s Outreach mission. As you see in previous post, we designated the very worthy organization, H.O.M.E. of Orland, as recipient of the next 5th Sunday offering (April 30th). 

      In addition we are sending $500 to But Still I Am One, a local organization that provides services to young adults (ages 16-21) who are unhoused or home insecure in Waldo County. FMI: www.butstilliamone.org. Apart from being in the midst of a fundraising campaign where any donation up to $5,000 is being matched, the organization is also seeking host families to provide temporary housing for these young people. Maybe you have a spare bedroom and would like to help out by opening your home on a temporary basis.

      On April 23 we will resume our food in-gathering for the GBAM Food Cupboard. Please consider bringing a food item to church with you – a basket will be at the back of church. In particular need are protein items – canned chicken, canned chili, chicken soup. Also non-sugary cereal AND toiletry items such as toilet paper, bar soap, shampoo and conditioner.

      In the past we have also collected good used (or new) clothing for the men at the Midcoast Re-Entry Center. Many times men arrive at the center with only the clothing they are wearing. Sports type clothing (sweatshirts, T-shirts, sports pants) and casual clothing is suggested. In addition, new underwear and socks is always in demand as well as toiletries – liquid body soap/shampoo, deodorant, etc. A bin will be in the Parish Hall to collect these items.

      Our next meeting will be Saturday, June 10 at 9:30AM – please join us!

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By Chris Urick
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