The Outreach Committee has been identifying ways we can continue to serve the needs of our Outreach Partners as things continue to evolve and change with COVID. One upcoming opportunity is for St. Mary's to provide dinner for 100 men at the Healing Place for CARITAS on Friday, February 5.

We need help from parishioners to prepare and deliver this meal. The menu is chili with all the toppings, salad, bread and brownies. Please follow the sign up genius link to sign up to either provide a menu item or to help deliver the meal.

If you are providing a menu item, please deliver to St. Mary's kitchen by 12 p.m. on Friday, February 5 in a disposable container. Aluminum foil pans with lids work best for transporting. Dishes will not be able to be returned to parishioners. If you have any questions, please email Charmaine Trice.

The Underground Kitchen Community First is seeking volunteers for this coming week and they need YOU! UGK Community First exists to provide healthy, wholesome meals to those in need, particularly in food insecure areas and to those currently adversely affected by the Coronavirus.

If you are interested in volunteering, they have some slots available for delivery drivers and/or preparing and packaging food. Please click the link and choose which time slot you would be able to fill. On the bottom of the volunteer sheet, you will see tabs for this week and the following weeks. Fill in your name and phone number in the slot you would like to fill then send back an email confirming the slot you chose.

Symone Young is the new Volunteer Coordinator at UGK Community First. You can contact her via email at symone@ugkcommunityfirst.org for all your volunteer questions and concerns.

To support our outreach partners, we've created a beautiful 2021 St. Mary's Church Wall Calendar. Without our typical annual fundraisers, the Outreach Committee is re-imagining how to support St. Mary's Outreach Partners in this coming year. The price of the calendar is completely donation based. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, 100% of the proceeds go toward St. Mary's Outreach Ministries. Order today because we have a limit of 200 copies! 

Follow this link to the Order Form on St. Mary's website. You will be able to choose to donate by check or by credit card. Once you order, you can come pick up your calendar at St. Mary’s Church Office or please let us know if you need it mailed or delivered to you. If you have any questions, please contact the Church Office via email or call (804) 784-5678. 

The generosity of St. Mary's parishioners continues to be EXTRAORDINARY! Thank you to all who donated towards the Giving Tree in 2020! It looked a little bit different but was our best response to date! St. Mary's gave almost $8,000 in gift cards to Goochland Christmas Mother, Peter Paul Development Center, and CrossOver Healthcare Ministry. These gifts made an unbelievable difference to so many families this past Christmas! Thank you!

St. Mary's Outreach Committee is excited to announce that the grant application process for 2020 continued throughout these uncertain times. The Committee decided it was important to offer encouragement and support for all the amazing work these Outreach Partners are continuing to do to serve our community. At the end of the year, $26,250 was awarded to to the following organizations: CARITAS, CrossOver Healthcare Ministry, Gateway Homes Inc., GoochlandCARES, Goochland Family YMCA, Peter Paul Development Center, and St. Andrew's School. At St. Mary's, one aspect of the Outreach Committee's work is being good stewards of the gifts that God has given each of us to be offered for the well-being of our community in support of the church's mission around our community.

This year Peter Paul Development Center is partnering with the City of Richmond and Richmond Public Schools to provide emergency childcare services. The Peter Paul Promise Center Youth Program at MLK School is an in-person program for students in grades 2-8 whose parents or caregivers are teachers, essential workers or live in the East End. This program provides support for students and families via structured academic and technical support with RPS on-line learning classes, safe transitions between classes, homework and breaks, plus an adapted version of Peter Paul’s after-school enrichment program with activities including STEM, health and wellness, and the arts. Finally it provides breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks. 

Peter Paul’s signature After School Academy is underway and still enrolling. In order to confront the learning challenges presented by COVID and to reach as many children as possible, this PPDC virtual program is available to any Richmond Public School student interested in participating—not just East End families this school year.

CrossOver Healthcare Ministry did not close doors a single day this past year, instead their staff, volunteers, supporters and community members pivoted to meet the needs and challenges in this unique year. In March they began offering appointments via telehealth. In the early weeks of the pandemic over 1,300 patients were who were at particular risk for physical or mental health reasons were called by staff members in order to provide education and answer questions. Then CrossOver created COVID-19 educational videos in English, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese, and texted links to the videos to all patients. In June CrossOver began hosting drive-up COVID-19 testing which has completed over 1,000 tests.

Recently, they were able to offer their staff and active volunteers the opportunity to receive COVID-19 vaccines. CrossOver will continue to offer COVID-19 community testing and prepare to administer the vaccine as it’s made available to the wider public this year. CrossOver has become a resource for an ever-widening community in need of support and services, and affirmed their mission to serve the uninsured in our community.