Outreach Opportunities

Christ has no hands in the world but ours — so we as the Body of Christ are called to carry word of his love, not only with our lips but in our lives.  These many opportunities to make a difference are our chance to live into the Great Commandment — that we should love God with all of our heart and love our neighbors as ourselves.  The Book of Common Prayer describes the duty of every Christian as working, praying, and giving for the spread of the Kingdom of God — a Kingdom of loving peace.  We hope that you will look at these opportunities and consider how you might share with us as we strive to live into that duty to work for the Kingdom together.

Border & Immigration Ministry

Locally:
-Sign up for the Border and Immigration newsletter by emailing: borderimmigrationmin@stphilipstucson.org 
-A group of Saint Philip’s Parishioners is coalescing to routinely support the needs of these organizations through food preparation, companionship and other ways of welcome.  If you are interested, please be in touch with Mtr. Taylor Devine.
-The Inn Project: Provides shelter, food and radical hospitality to asylum-seekers who are on the way to their Sponsor or their Family.  Rather than sleeping outside or at the bus station as they await a bus or plane to go to their Sponsor, families are invited to stay several nights at the Inn.  Volunteers provide 24-hour support, cooking, cleaning, translating, doing laundry, driving to the bus station, etc.  If you speak some Spanish it is helpful, but there are always other ways to support their work. https://www.facebook.com/theinnprojecttucson/ Check out their Amazon Wish List on their facebook. If you are interested in volunteering but have more questions, or if you are interested in a one time project, please contact Mtr. Taylor Devine.
-Casa Alitas: a long-running shelter like the Inn Project where women and children are offered hospitality.
-Refugee and Immigration Services: http://www.lss-sw.org/refugeeservices
In Nogales, AZ and Nogales, MX and beyond:
-Cruzando Fronteras: In kind-needs: Jackets, Sweaters, Undergarments for women and children.  Small sizes preferred. Financial Support: Checks can be made out to St Andrew’s Episcopal Church with Cruzando Fronteras in the Memo Line, and sent to 969 W Country Club Drive, Nogales, AZ 85621  You can like us on Facebook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/CruzandoFronterasAZ/
-Kino Border Initiative: A list of our needed in-kind donations, such as travel-size toiletries, men's and women's deodorant and coffee, et. al. as well as a place to make a financial gift can be found at the following link: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/give/ Please feel free to sign up for our monthly newsletter at the following link: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/  The place to sign up is at the bottom of the page.  The newsletter provides helpful information on the Kino Border Initiative's activities and on the issue of immigration in general. You can like us on Facebook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/Kino.Border.lnitiative

Financial and In-Kind Support: Each of these projects routinely needs things like single-serving bottled water, socks, money for food, in addition to volunteers.  If you would like to send donations, please send them directly to the organization using Amazon or by dropping items off after speaking to the managers of the projects.  If you have clothes and shoes that are clean and on the smaller side, please feel free to bring them to Mtr. Taylor’s office throughout the month of December 2018, where they will be taken by the Revs. Henry or Jean to Nogales, AZ and Nogales, MX. To learn more or to volunteer please contact Border and Immigration Ministry by clicking the “Border and Immigration” button below.

Casa Maria Sandwich Ministry

Volunteers gather one Saturday a month to make lunches for Casa Maria, which feeds homeless and low-income Tucsonans.  To learn more or to volunteer please contact Casa Maria Sandwich Making by clicking the “Casa Maria” button below.  The upcoming dates are every fourth Saturday morning, 3/23, 4/27, 5/18 and beyond, from 7:15-9am.

Art and Faith

Part of the vocation of Saint Philip’s seems to be at an intersection of art, music, worship and service, and this bears out in different ways.  In the Fall of 2018 the Gallery Committee hosted “Our Sister’s Keeper,” a photography exhibit that sought to show the beauty and strength in women from around the world.  As a corollary we hosted three groups at our Wednesday night supper (Mosaic Dinner), Emerge! Against Domestic Violence, YWCA of Southern Arizona, and a group of three women artists who are also parishioners with different styles, mediums, and profound talent and dedication.  The mixed medias by which we all learn, serve and pray are welcome here.  Protest art, the art borne of struggle, and fine art are natural outgrowths of a life of reflection with God for some people, and we’re grateful to be able to support that calling that honors both the beauty and grit of a life lived in God’s world.

One example of this work is reflected upon here by Suzanne: Fuentes Rojas / Bordando por la Paz, Memoria y Justicia: Red Fountains / We Embroider for Peace, Memory and Justice
One Handkerchief - One Life
Fuentes Rojas (Red Fountains) originated in Mexico City in 2011 to raise visibility for the vic- tims of the US-Mexico Drug War that has resulted in systemic violence in Mexico and the deaths of at least 180,000 people. Many victims were innocent bystanders of random or targeted violence. Some were friends or relatives of people in drug cartels or members of the cartels. All were children of God, worthy to be mourned and remembered.

Fuentes Rojas members organized Bordando por la Paz, Memoria y Justicia to create a memorial for every victim of Drug War violence. Members of Fuentes Rojas embroider, in redthread on a man’s white handkerchief, known details of the victim’s death based on police records.The completed pañuelos, or hand-kerchiefs, are mailed to Fuentes Rojas organizers in Mexico City to be used in public actions. They were also feature in a public installation in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drug Policy Reform in New York City in 2016.

The movement has spread across the US and around the world.

I learned about Fuentes Rojas through an interested and enthusiastic friend. We educated ourselves about the US-Mexico Drug War and received instructions on how to start a local taller, workshop, from the grassroots organizers of Fuentes Rojas in Mexico City. We recruited 10 interest- ed friends and willing friends and met around the labyrinth at St. Philips in January, 2011, to form the first Fuentes Rojas taller in the US. Over the past eight years, members of Fuentes Rojas from Tucson have moved to other locations and have organized tallers in Ajo, AZ; Albuquerque, NM, and San Antonio, TX, with one soon to be started in Cambridge, MA.

As a textile artist and an immigration rights advocate, the work of Fuentes Rojas came natural- ly to me, although not without some resistance. The text that we embroider is often a description of violence and suffering, frequently perpetrated against an unidentified and unidentifiable victim. Each stitch of red thread on white fabric connects me in solidarity with one victim, one family and with otherbordadores who share concern and compassion for the suffering of our human family.

Today we are 6 - 8 committed bordadores . Several members of Fuentes Rojas are active in other local border and immigration rights organizations and our tallers provide an opportunity to learn about events and actions in which we can participate, as well as provide support and encouragement to one another.

We currently meet one Sunday afternoon each month at the Joel Valdez Mail Library and em- broider in public for a couple of well-spent hours of conversation, fellowship, and advancing aware- ness of the role of the US in the senseless deaths we memorialize.

Resources:
facebook.com/fuentes.rojas.5?fref=ts
Mexico: Human Rights and the Arms Trade, Olga Pellicer. Mexico Voices. Available athttps://mexicovoices.blogspot.com/2015/08/mexico-human-rights-and-arms-trade.html

Mexico: Perverse Effects of Drug War Alerts Women's Rights Group, Fernando Camacho Servín, Mexico Voices. Available at mexicovoices.blogspot.com/2013/07/mexico-perverse-effects-of-drug-war.html

Food Pantry

The Food Pantry closet is staffed and provisioned by parishioners, providing food to those in need who stop by the office.  Between 80 and 100 families and individuals are served each month by this ministry.  To learn more or to volunteer please contact us by clicking the “Food Pantry” button below.

Community Organizing

Pima County Interfaith (PCI) is a community organizing group based in Tucson, which is affiliated with the national Industrial Areas Foundation, the oldest and largest organizing and leadership development network in the US.  PCI believes that the world as it is can be much closer to the world as it should be, and that relationships make this possible.  Religious institutions and community organizations gather for issues-based non-partisan actions that improve the lives of Tucsonans and of the region.

St. Philip’s is a founding member of PCI, living out God’s requirement “To act justly and love mercy” (Micah 6:8). PCI engages the structural issues that lead to poverty, lack of access to healthcare and quality education, and builds relationships across diverse socioeconomic groups. If you would like to know more about developing your leadership skills, building relationships across Tucson, and learning how to support our community in this way please contact Saint Philip’s delegates Jane Prescott-Smith or Deacon Leah Sandwell-Weiss.

Interfaith Community Services

Saint Philip’s is a member faith community of Interfaith Community Services (ICS), which provides services to disadvantaged people, disabled individuals, and seniors.  To learn more or to volunteer please click the “Interfaith Community Services” button below.

Just Coffee

Volunteers sell “Just Coffee,” fair-trade coffee that provides viable economic incentives for growers to remain on family lands, reducing the need to migrate to the US to find work.  To buy coffee at $10/pound, and is sold between services in the Perry Garden. To learn more or to volunteer please click the “Just Coffee” button below.  
Interested in visiting?  The farm is only 2 hours away, and a visit can be planned as a small group.  Please be in touch with Mtr. Taylor.

Laundry Love

Laundry Love is offered the second Wednesday of every month at Northgate Laundry to provide quarters, laundry soap, and dryer sheets to help wash the clothes and bedding of individuals and/or families living in poverty.  Each time 25-40 families are served.  This opportunity is appropriate for adults and high schoolers.

On Second Wednesdays at 6:30 at Northgate Laundromat.
Next dates: December 12, 2018; 2019: January 9, February 13, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 12, July 10, August 14, September 11, October 9, November 13, December 11 

To learn more or to volunteer please click the “Laundry Love” button below.

Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN)

Saint Philip’s is a member faith community of Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN). Saint Philippians provide annual financial support, volunteers, board members, and sponsor a yearly event that provides a hot nutritious meal and social opportunities for persons living with HIV.  To learn more or to volunteer please click the “TIHAN” button below.

Prison Ministry

Several men at Saint Philip’s participate in Kairos weekends, facilitating retreats in local Men’s Prisons.  There they share the love of Christ with those in prison.

Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) 

In late September 2018,13 older teenagers traveled to Tucson, Phoenix, and Southern California from their home in Mexico to share their experience in the NPH Homes, and to raise money for their own “little brothers and sisters.”  They practiced english, performed with the Saint Philip’s Choir and the Tucson Girls Chorus, stayed with host families, visited local schools and the University, and experienced a week in Tucson as our guests.  The benefit concert and auction raised more than $8,000 for the NPH Homes which provide school, medical care, family support, university education, leadership opportunities and loving relationships throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.  NPH is interested in partnering again, if you are interested in being a host family or helping to plan a future “Pequeno Tour,” please be in touch.

Children’s Christmas Project

Each year volunteers raise money in the Christmas season to support partners schools, Imago Dei Middle School, Rio Vista Elementary School, and Holaway Elementary School.  These funds serve as a “discretionary fund” for the Principals who can use these funds to help families facing crisis.  If you would like to volunteer, please be in touch with Donna.

Regular Volunteer Support

Many Saint Philip’s parishioners live out their faith, bearing light in the world through their work, their quiet service, in the support of their family and neighborhood.  Occasionally we hear of something amazing that people have been up to, and we want to share the way they commit themselves to service in quiet ways.

-A number of parishioners offer their time, wisdom and talent to Sister Jose’s Center.  Here is a reflection by Cyndi, a regular volunteer there:
I choose to volunteer at Sister Jose Women’s Center for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I value the strength in the community of women. Sister Jose’s is a community built on the vision that sisters helping sisters will enable every woman to take the next step forward out of homelessness. Members of the Sister Jose’s community believe in the unique value of every person and the power of connection among women to improve our lives. I see God working every day in this safe harbor where women share their experience, strength and hope with each other. The guests take care of each other both in and out of the shelter. They give advice about how to stay safe, where to access services, and how to move forward out of homelessness. They laugh together, cry together, and celebrate each other’s successes. Being part of this community dedicated to compassion, dignity and respect brings me great joy.

The Center operates a day program that offers meals, showers, laundry, clothing and personal hygiene products. Guest visits average more than 2,000 each month. The Center also provides free space for community agencies to offer support for homeless women. The Women Night Program provides overnight stays for women. Over 13,000 safe overnights are provided each year to homeless women who would otherwise sleep outdoors. In September 2017 Sister Jose’s initiated a 26 week residential program for homeless women to earn a modest stipend while participating in a curriculum of life skills and job readiness.

As a retired educator, I know that education is the key to forward movement and that given the right skills, each and every woman can find her voice, achieve independence and enjoy a meaningful life. Every Sunday when we say the prayer after Eucharist and promise “to do all such good works as Thou has prepared us to walk in,” I take to heart the importance of making this world a better place - of walking in love as Christ taught us to do - by helping others. I want to help other women come to know the joy of making their own way.

 -Lutheran Refugee Services with Susan
https://tucson.com/thisistucson/tucsonlife/refugee-women-s-local-sewing-group-creating-beautiful-pieces-for/article_a112e454-def9-11e8-8eec-c3a5e1d27ddb.html
Refugee and Immigration Services: http://www.lss-sw.org/refugeeservices

Church groups are invited to discern how they can support refugees in Tucson, perhaps by providing the needed goods to restart a household, by providing a baby shower for an expectant mother, or otherwise supporting the legal, employment and other work of Lutheran Social Services.  LSS is the local partner of Episcopal Migration Ministries, and both are some of the few organizations authorized to resettle refugees.

-Have you found a way that you feel God has called you to serve in our community?  We want to hear about it!

 The importance of daily and weekly engagement with the Christian community, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments cannot be overstated when it comes to acts of service.  All good things come from God and we are strengthened by the work of the Church to do the work of loving the world.  Removing Action from Reflection takes away some of the power and potential of Outreach which must be both prayerful and active.  That being said, many of us come to this work from a “doing” mindset and later find spiritual resources that were there all along that stretch and strengthen us.  Outreach at Saint Philip’s is not siloed but is an integral part of what it is to “Be” Church.  I invite you to talk to any Clergy, Staff or Vestry Member about what Outreach is to them and to ask for any spiritual support you need.  You may hear that it is praying with our feet, walking with both the foot of justice and of charity, you may hear it is the overflow of love and compassion that we experience in relationship with the triune God, you may hear that it has more to do with people who are or are not parishioners of the Church.  To all of these we say yes, the mission of God in this place takes many compassionate, passionate, patient forms, and for that we give God thanks.  To hear about the many ways we work together to serve, be sure to subscribe to our weekly e-news by entering your name and email at the bottom of this page.