Vestry Liaison Report: Outreach Team

“I was raised in a family where helping others was a priority.”

“I feel I have been so fortunate in my life and want to be able to give back to others.”

“We as Christians are called to go outside of our walls to do God’s work."

These sentiments are but a sample of those expressed at our recent Outreach Team meeting held in July as to why Outreach is important to each member.  My name is Elise Wall and I am the Vestry liaison to our Outreach Team and these statements express some of my reasons as well as to why I believe outreach is important.  St. Andrew’s, as a church community, has been earnest in its attempt to go out into our community and serve others in need.  Presently as a church community we participate in the following identified Outreach ministries: PORT, THRIVE Peninsula, St. Paul’s, LINK, Kairos Prison Ministry, Turkey Bag Lunches, Halloween, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Warm Fuzzies, Basketball, Newsome Park, and Scouts.  As wonderful as this list is, it doesn’t begin to acknowledge the many individual efforts of service to our community by our individual church members.  Those would be just too many to mention. 

For our parish profile and from many discussions with members, outreach is a priority for St. Andrew’s.  As our efforts are good, the need still in our community is great.  My hope as Vestry liaison is that we can increase our efforts and become an even larger presence in our community serving those within our walls, within our neighborhood, and within the greater community.  This will take organization, communication, and leadership.  I am happy to report that Lindsey Nicolai has agreed to be the new Outreach Team leader.  Thank you, Lindsey!

In closing I would encourage anyone interested in serving with any of the above ministries or has any information that they would like to share with the committee about a need in our community, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 880-2769 or elise.b.wall@gmail.com or Lindsey at lcnico@email.wm.edu.

Elise Wall

Vestry Liaison - Outreach