Outreach - Our Ministry in Action

Health Kits

As part of our Lenten call to service, we collected items for Health Kits for Lutheran World Relief. Each kit contains 1 towel, 2 bars of soap, a comb, toothbrush, and nail clipper. The kits were shipped to LWR with Thrivent Action Team money. Over 75 Health Kits were sent.

God’s Work. Our Hands.

Our outreach to our community and the world is continuous on many fronts and rises to address specific needs when we are called to do so. Through these programs, we strive to do... God’s Work, with Our Hands.

Recycled Eye Glasses for Lions Club

We recently collected over 50 pairs of glasses to give to the Lions Club Eyeglasses Recycling Program. Through this program, lenses of all strengths are fitted and labeled to provide glasses to people who can not afford them.

Parsippany Emergency Food Pantry & Family Promise of Morris County

Hunger and homelessness are issues that have concerned St. Andrew since our beginning. We have a continuous year-round collection for the Parsippany Area Emergency Food Bank. We specifically honor our fathers during June as we strive really “bring in the goods” to help stock the pantry during the summer months when schools and scout groups are not in session. This year, because of the pandemic, the need has been even greater as, many families in need have lost access to some benefits provided through the school free or discounted breakfast and lunch programs. The burden then falls entirely on the family, which may be struggling with unemployment at this time, further deepening a cycle of despair and hunger.

St. Andrew has also been a supporting congregation with Family Promise of Morris County (originally Interfaith Homeless Network and then Interfaith Council for Homeless Families) to provide programs for homeless families since 1986. This congregational support model has become a national model for supporting homeless families and moving them to transitional housing and then permanent housing. Unfortunately, the pandemic has limited how congregations are able to house and support these families, but the program has pivoted and been able to assist families with other placements. However, this comes at a cost, and right now financial support is most needed for the program to continue serving their clients. We also recently collected 54 cases of water and Gatorade for their Our Promise drop in/life skills/tutoring center to help stave off dehydration from extreme cold.

Christmas Angels

St Andrew and Children’s Circle adopt several families from the social service office in Boonton each Christmas to help ensure that their Christmases are full of joy and that there are presents under the tree for these families in need.

Coat Drive

We occasionally clean out our closets and make sure that our neighbors in Morris County are warm. We recently donated 195 winter coats of various sizes to a Coat Distribution organized by Market Street Mission.

Easter Egg Hunt

What fun we have! We collect the “stuff” to fill about 600 plastic eggs, stuff them on the Sunday before Palm Sunday, hide them (rain or shine) and let the kids have a blast, usually on the Saturday before Palm Sunday! The community and Children’s Circle Day Care Center children are invited for the fun and it’s just a great 15 minutes of chaos with plenty of eggs to go round.

Lutheran World Relief

Our Adah Circle and the congregation often create disaster relief kits for Lutheran World Relief, assembling and shipping school kits, layettes (infant kits), or personal hygiene kits to be distributed around the world where war, natural disaster and political unrest leave people without basic necessities.

Not be left out, we honor our mothers in May with a collection to provide blankets to people in need through Lutheran World Relief’s blanket program. Each year, we raise approximately $200 toward the expense of shipping blankets to people in need throughout the world. These blankets are often used by refugees, victims of disaster, and others in need.

In 2011, crafty members of St. Andrew assembled and stitched together 23 quilts for LWY and another 90 knitted baby blankets went to two area neo-natal units.

In 2019 we sent 65 Personal Care Kits to LWR, and sent $800 in gift cards to 2 ELCA Synods to provide disaster relief to victims of a spate of hurricanes in the US Southeast.

In 2020, we made and shipped 225 face masks for LWR to distribute to communities in need unable to get access to PPE, as part of their 150,000 Mask Challenge.

ELCA Disaster Relief

The members of Saint Andrew participate in global disaster relief work through contributions to the ELCA Disaster Relief program. With boots on the ground around the world, the ELCA Disaster Relief programs are often among the first on scene to help when disaster strikes, and because of long-standing relationships with governments and aid programs, the ELCA Disaster Relief programs are often engaged in recovery long after the initial damage is done. St. Andrew often pulls together collections of special items needed for specific disaster relief efforts, like hurricanes or wildfires.

ELCA World Hunger

The members of Saint Andrew contribute to the ELCA World Hunger either through direct giving, or through their offerings, notating a portion to be designated for this ministry. The ELCA World Hunger program supports health clinics, provides microloans, water wells, animal husbandry to create self-sufficiency, community meal programs, and advocacy around the world (and in the U.S.) in places of need. The ELCA World Hunger program address hunger from all angles, tackling both immediate and systemic problems that get at the root causes of hunger and poverty.

Advocacy

We engage in letter writing campaigns, especially as they relate to legislation for hunger and homelessness, both on the local and national levels. We participate in an annual Bread for the World offering of letters to help keep our legislature’s feet to the fire on items frequently on the chopping block like SNAP benefits and funding for emergency shelters.

Narcotics Anonymous - Saturday evenings

St. Andrew is proud to offer a safe place for members of Narcotics Anonymous to meet. This group meets on Saturday evenings. Please check out their meeting information on their website