CARE Outreach
Rise Against Hunger:
10,000+ meals 5 churches 1 Mission Can we pack 10,152 meals in just two hours? On Saturday, August 15, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM, five local churches are joining forces at St. James Episcopal to do exactly that. By spending a few hours together, packing thousands of meals, we here in Lenoir can make a definitive impact on the lives of the most vulnerable around the world. Churches taking part alongside St. James include St. Paul's AME Zion Church, Central Advent Christian Church, 1st Presbyterian Church, and College Avenue Baptist Church. Meals packaged at Rise Against Hunger packing events are shipped to provide daily sustenance at group meals in the most remote places in the world at schools, medical clinics, vocational training programs, and elder care facilities. Places being served include Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon , Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia. |
"Rise Against Hunger" focuses on these goals:
NUTRITION: Meeting Immediate Needs With Nourishing Meals When people experience hunger, it’s more difficult to learn, work and plan for the future. Through nutritious meals and support for local food systems, we help families and communities meet their most immediate needs while laying the foundation for long-term food security. EDUCATION: Providing Meals to Keep Kids in the Classroom Hunger is one of the biggest barriers to education. When children know a nutritious meal is waiting for them at school, studies show attendance improves, focus increases and learning takes root. Rise Against Hunger supports education programs that create stability, opportunity and hope for the next generation. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: Equipping Families and Local Farmers to Thrive Economic stability is essential to ending hunger. Through economic empowerment programs, we invest in farmers, entrepreneurs and local food systems so families can build reliable income and long-term resilience. These initiatives help communities move toward self-sufficiency by strengthening the local economy and reducing vulnerability to future shocks. |
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CARE is the outreach committee at St. James. It is made up of people who have a passion for outreach in the community and in the world. The mission of the CARE Committee is to connect the people of St. James with people in the community who are in need. Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate in all our ministries and to discover passions and interests of their own.
Additionally, the CARE committee makes decisions about managing funds dedicated from our annual church budget that are to be given to agencies outside of our church, recognizing that God's loving care takes place in so many different ways. In 2023 those funds went to support Habitat for Humanity, Helping Hands Health Clinic, Yokefellow, the Lenoir Soup Kitchen, Community in Schools, Shelter Home, Caldwell House, William Lenoir Middle School (guidance office discretionary funds), and the Pay it Forward Food Pantry. CARE has two major monthly outreach activities. See below for more information about these. Backpack
One of CARE's major ongoing outreach efforts is the Backpack program. Through Backpack, our church collects and distributes nutritious food to children in need at our sponsored Caldwell County school once a month. Multiple churches sponsor a school to cover each weekend. Many of the children in our county receive their only meal at school each day, so our parish is working to ensure that those children have access to meals at home over the weekend.
Room at the Table
St. James began participating in Room at the Table in 2009 to cook and to provide a meal to anyone in need. Because our local soup kitchen was closed on the weekends, many men, women and children had no resource for a meal two days a week. Churches stepped up to provide meals from their own spaces on Saturdays. At 4:00 pm on the second Saturday of each month we open our doors to hand out these meals in to-go containers. Four other area churches serve on the remaining Saturdays, including those months with five Saturdays. Over the years Room at the Table has become a popular ministry at St. James, with dozens of volunteers taking part in various capacities.
On Sundays, many organizations and individual groups sign up with the Lenoir Soup Kitchen to provide a meal at 4 pm out of the Soup Kitchen facility. If you are interested, reach out to the Soup Kitchen to learn how you can help. |
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CARE also sponsors and participates in events that impact our local and global communities, often in partnership with other churches:
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St. James and St. Paul's AME partnered in 2017 for a global hunger awareness project
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CARE painting at LEOS, Lenoir's former homeless shelter
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Parishioners working on a Habitat for Humanity build
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St. James Episcopal Church
806 College Avenue, SW Lenoir, NC 28645 828-754-3712 Sunday Services 8:00am - Holy Eucharist - no music 9:10am- Adult Forum (September-May) 10:30am - Holy Eucharist with music Four times a year (on "5th Sundays") we often offer Morning Prayer instead of Eucharist at both morning services. |
