www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Does your parish have any community involvement programs?

This is for the entire community here, Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic.

Does your parish have any community involvement programs?
By that I mean, working with charities such as St. Vincent de Paul, or donating to local good causes?
Does your parish reach out to the infirmed, needy, poor, elderly, or any of the sort?
Just curious.
Community involvement is part of being a Christian (perhaps the western side of me).
I don't wish to link the two but getting out there and being visible in the community raises awareness of your parish and perhaps may raise your awareness of living the Gospels.
Kind of a win-win situation for everyone. We grow spiritually, we help others (the options are many), and we may attract newcomers.

I'm sorry, when I said the entire community, I should have written Orthodox and Eastern Catholics. I didn't mean to leave anyone out.

My parish does a monthly soup kitchen, and always has collection bins for food/canned goods, which benefit a revolving list of @5 food pantries each year. We have had benefit lunches to buy grocery gift certificates to be put in thanksgiving food baskets given out by a local aid agency, and we adopt two families from a list that Child and Family serivices provides us with each Christmas to buy them clothes, toys, and whatever is on their wish list...such common things as laundry detergent, sheets, and underwear. One of those aid agencies works closely with the priest, who has a discretionary fund to do things like pay electric bills, buy diapers,medicine, etc. for people that the agency has screened but cannot assist in a timely manner.

In addition, specific groups within the church donate to these community groups as part of their charitable outreach as well. In addition, IOCC, OCMC and other national Orthodox charities are supported.

Our local Pan Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood has raised money to buy books on Orthodoxy to put in the local libraries of every city that has an Orthodox Church in it in our state, to raise awareness of Orthodoxy (but that is something else, altogether).

Gaudior, who absolutely agrees that community outreach is needful.