Outreach Ministries at St. Paul’s provide many opportunities for parishioners to reach out to our larger community: by giving generously, by participating in loving service, and by working for justice with our neighbors.
Watch for updates on outreach projects in the bulletin, parish updates, and website. St. Paul’s also contributes financially and materially to a number of local and global outreach ministries. Look for various ways to get involved below.
The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista
Associate Rector
javier@stpaulscary.org
919-467-1477, ext. 12
Outreach Ministries
Outreach Support Team
The Outreach Support Team coordinates and promotes parish activities that offer care to those in need outside of the St. Paul’s community. The OST’s responsibilities include the distribution & stewardship of financial contributions in line with the vestry-allocated annual budget & designation of recipient organizations for funds raised through efforts such as the Festival of the Arts and Lobster Fest. The Outreach Support Team also supports existing outreach ministries & assists in the creation of new outreach ministries.
Contact: Kim McCombs; Fr. Javier Almendárez-Bautista (javier@stpaulscary.org)
Appalachia Service Project (ASP)
ASP is a home repair ministry to needy families of Central Appalachia. Youth and adult participants grow spiritually, gain self confidence, and build and bridge communities. Real, honest work and relationship building are part of the experience. Click here for the ASP page.
Volunteers must prepare lunches and water coolers for the day, they spend several hours a day at their work site with their team, and then they have chores to do to maintain the center or help with dinner when they return from their work site. The hours spent at the site provide needed time for repairs, as well as necessary time to build relationships with their family and with each other.
Evenings are spent in fellowship and learning about the Appalachian culture. ASP can truly be a life-changing experience. Adult chaperons have not only been blown away by the experience of helping the families of Appalachia, but by the incredible dedication of the young people who participate.
Contact: Kevin Swann (919-607-5913, swann.kev@gmail.com)
ASP: www.asphome.org
Dorcas Ministries
Donate & Volunteer: There are several opportunities for individuals to become involved with Dorcas Ministries by volunteering in the Thrift Shop, Warehouse, Food Pantry, Training Center, or Crisis Ministry. Thrift Shop proceeds and donations support the efforts of Crisis Ministries which provides crisis relief to area residents who seek stability and self-sufficiency through food and financial assistance, scholarships, training programs, referrals and an affordable thrift shop.
To understand the Ministry, watch this video from the 2019 Thanksgiving Breakfast.
Dorcas Shop: The Dorcas Shop offers a wide variety of merchandise at affordable prices for the whole family including clothing, shoes, coats, small appliances, books, toys, furniture and more.
Crisis Ministry: The Dorcas Crisis Ministry exists to serve local residents who find themselves in a temporary financial crisis, using proceeds from the Dorcas Thrift Shop
Dorcas Food Pantry: The Dorcas Food Pantry is run by volunteers who spend their time sorting and organizing, as well as assisting clients as they shop for their groceries. Volunteers are needed and can sign up here.
Medical Clinic: In partnership with Advance Community Health, a medical clinic opened January 3, 2017, and now provides services to the community. Payment for services is on a sliding scale to accommodate all income levels. The clinic is located next to the Dorcas facility at 173 High House Road in Cary.
Dorcas Training Center: The Dorcas Training Center offers free one-on-one career coaching for residents of Cary and Morrisville, professional and personal development classes, client listening sessions, certification programs through Wake Tech Community College and more.
Contact: Emily Neuhauser (emgoodneu@gmail.com)
Episcopal Campus Ministry
Once a month during the school year, St. Paul’s provides a home cooked meal for the Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM) at NC State, a little bit of home for students who are missing that “Sunday dinner.”
Students from NC State, Meredith, Shaw, and Wake Tech gather at the home of ECM, the Cheshire House, near the heart of NC State’s campus. ECM offers a Eucharist on Sundays with a hot, home-cooked meal following the service. There is also a gathering for discussion on Wednesday evenings as well as a place to hang out during exams. The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and St. Paul’s have supported campus ministry at ECM throughout its history, providing financial support as well as volunteering on the Board of Directors of ECM. Our current board representative (through 2024) is Andy Kintz.
Learn more about the work of this ministry at ecm-raleigh.org. If you would like to join the wonderful team of St. Paul’s cooks who prepare a hot Sunday supper for the students once each month during the school year, please contact Stephanie Hirschy (shirschy@yahoo.com). The meals do not have to be complex, and the impact is tremendous!
Food Security Action Group
St. Paul’s Food Security Action Group works in partnership with local municipalities and other Cary area churches to address food insecurity right here in our immediate community. Many at St. Paul’s became more aware of the local nature of food insecurity during the pandemic, when St. Paul’s helped distribute groceries in designated neighborhoods in Cary.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity builds homes for low-income applicants in partnership with the future homeowner. Volunteer opportunities include work site volunteer, office work, opportunities for youth, and Habitat ReStore assistant.
Contact: Kevin McIntire (kvn.mcintire@gmail.com)
Habitat for Humanity of Wake County: www.habitatwake.org
Heifer International
Every Sunday morning during worship services, St. Paul’s parishioners are invited to donate to Heifer International by placing money in a small ark in remembrance of important times, events, and people in their lives. Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. With donated funds, Heifer International sends farm animals to individuals and communities around the world, along with the necessary training and resources. Each family receiving an animal agrees to “pass on the gift” and donate the female offspring to another family, so that the cycle of hope, sustainability and enhanced self-esteem continues. Heifer International has helped over seven million families in over 125 countries since it began nearly seventy years ago.
St. Paul’s annual goal is to donate at least $5000, which purchases a “Gift Ark” comprised of many pairs of animals. Heifer International sends the animals wherever they are most needed in the world to fight hunger and poverty. During the month of December, St. Paul’s participates in an “Alternate Gift Giving” opportunity. Parishioners can give Christmas gifts to family members and friends in the form of Heifer donations, and inform their loved ones of their gift by sending them a Heifer greeting card. Through Heifer International, “we can change the world, one family, one community, at a time.”
Help St. Paul’s reach our goal by giving online through the Virtual Living Gift Market.
Contact: Alison Arnold (alisonearnold@gmail.com)
Heifer International: www.heifer.org
Hermano Day (Farmworker Ministry)
St. Paul’s participates in the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, a joint ministry of our Diocese and the Diocese of East Carolina, through an annual ‘Hermano Day’ collection for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
Each year during Lent, St. Paul’s assists the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry (EFwM) in Dunn, NC, by donating men’s clothes and bedding. These items are distributed to the farmworkers in 47 labor camps which are served by the ministry. EFwM primarily serves agricultural workers and immigrants who are strangers to North Carolina because they come from another country, language, and culture. They live and work under the harshest of conditions in great isolation, far from their loved ones.
Through EFwM, the workers receive clothing, food and emergency medical attention. They are given transportation to celebrate the Holy Eucharist at EFwM’s mission church, La Sagrada Familia. Our partnership with EFwM helps them continue their mission, providing programs to assist, advocate, educate and empower the community they serve.
Contact: Katie Bricio (katiebricio13@gmail.com)
Kairos Prison Ministry
Through this international prison ministry, trained volunteers from St. Paul’s build relationships with women and men incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) and Central Prison, Raleigh. St. Paul’s supports Kairos three-day retreats with prayer, encouraging notes and handmade greeting cards. Those from children are especially appreciated!
The purpose of Kairos is to build strong Christian communities inside prison walls. It is a Christian, lay-led, ecumenical continuing ministry to the incarcerated and their loved ones. Kairos has been called the best example of the early church in existence today.
Kairos Inside men’s and women’s ministries address the spiritual needs of prisoners. Kairos volunteers go into prisons in teams of 30 to 60 to pray, share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, and share meals and fellowship with the incarcerated on a one-to-one basis. The first visit, an inmate’s introduction to Kairos, is a three-day event; the team teaches about God’s unconditional love and forgiveness and shows how to begin living a life in Christ. Subsequent visits are primarily weekly attendance at Prayer and Share sessions where the Kairos community examines an ongoing Christian life, one- or two-day retreats for all Kairos alumni, and monthly reunions led by the inside Kairos community.
Kairos Torch, a second facet of the Kairos Ministry, holds weekends for incarcerated youth, similar to those for adults, but tailored specifically to the needs and interests of young people ages 12-17.
Kairos Outside, the third facet, provides spiritual healing to female family members of the incarcerated, women who often feel that they, too, are “doing time”.
Nationally 30,000 Kairos volunteers annually donate 3 milliion hours in 472 institutions and communities in 36 states. Kairos is also active in 9 foreign countries. Please visit the Kairos website to learn more about the national and international aspects of this ministry.
There are a variety of Kairos ministries in North Carolina:
- Ministry in 12 men’s and 3 women’s prisons.
- Kairos Outside (East and West) for female family and loved ones of the incarcerated.
- Kairos Torch formerly at C.A. Dillon youth facility.
- Learn more about North Carolina Kairos.
Contact: Dave Moon (williamdmoon@gmail.com)
Meals on Wheels
Volunteer teams or individuals deliver meals to elderly and home-bound local residents on a regular basis throughout the year. One hour of service each month is typical.
Meals On Wheels volunteers from St. Paul’s Church help deliver meals from Resurrection Lutheran Church on Kildaire Farm Road to the homes of elderly and shut-ins in the Cary area. The food is prepared in the kitchen of the Food Runners Collaborative Inc. Organization of Raleigh, of which Meals On Wheels of Wake County is a partner. About sixteen volunteers from St. Paul’s are actively involved in this ministry.
Contact: Bob Petersen (919-552-9088, bpetersen@nc.rr.com)
Wake Meals on Wheels: www.wakemow.org
ONE Wake
ONE Wake is a non-partisan, multi-ethnic, multi-issue group of religious congregations, associations, and other non-profits in the Wake County area with aggregate membership totaling in excess of 50,000 households.
St. Paul’s has been part of ONE Wake from its origins as the Wake County Sponsoring Committee in 2018. Our people have become known for consistently showing up at actions and assemblies, offering our voices and energy to move actions forward. ONE Wake helps form leaders from within St. Paul’s by offering guidance on organizing people through relationship building.
Learn more about this opportunity for community engagement on our ONE Wake at St. Paul’s webpage.
Contact: onewake@stpaulscary.org
Refuge for Refugees
This ministry – affectionately called R4R – assists families who have been granted refugee status as they resettle in our community.
Every year, thousands of refugees find a home in the United States. In 2021, North Carolina was ranked 6th among states accepting the most refugees for resettlement. Currently working with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants-North Carolina (USCRI-NC), St. Paul’s has provided support to more than nine refugee families since the ministry began in 2016 .
Helping these families find their way in a new country is no simple matter. R4R depends on the support of parishioners who directly volunteer with the families, donate material goods or money, and network with other agencies and nonprofits working on resettlement.
Rise Against Hunger
Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now) is driven by the vision of a world without hunger. Their mission is to end hunger by 2030 by providing food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable and creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources. At just 34 cents per meal, Rise Against Hunger meals are distributed through global partners that administer school feeding programs, orphanages, health clinics, vocational training and a growing focus on the education and empowerment of women as a key in the pursuit of zero hunger.
Rise Against Hunger meals are nutritiously sound. Every dehydrated rice/soy meal is fortified with 23 essential vitamins and nutrients. Research has shown that one in three people in developing countries are adversely affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
At each meal packaging event, St. Paul’s commits to packaging 10,000 meals. Volunteers from 4 years of age and up commit their time and money to both packaging the meals and paying for the food ingredients used in these meals. This is a wonderful ministry where people of all ages learn there is something impactful they can do to make this world a better place for all.
Sign up for the next St. Paul’s Rise Against Hunger event here: http://events.stophungernow.org/StPaulsCary
Contact: Brooke Mautz or Ramsey McIntire (riseagainsthunger@stpaulscary.org)
St. Nicholas: Share in the Joy of Christmas Giving
Each December, St. Nicholas visits St. Paul’s on the Sunday closest to his feast day (December 6) to help us reach out to families in need by providing gifts to children served by a variety of ministries and organizations in our area.
Learn more about this ministry and how you can help on our St. Nicholas Ministry webpage.
Contact: Colette Hibberd (hibberdfamily@yahoo.com).
Wheels4Hope is a non-profit, faith-based vehicle donation program that turns donated cars into local
blessings for families throughout the Triangle and Triad areas of North Carolina. St. Paul’s is a Partner
Agency of Wheels4Hope which enables us to refer families in need of transportation to Wheels4Hope
for access to a safe, reliable vehicle.
St. Paul’s supports Wheels4Hope in many ways. Members donate vehicles and volunteer to repair and
rehab the donated cars. Recently, a refugee family supported by St. Paul’s Refuge for Refugees ministry
were the fortunate recipients on a Wheels4Hope car. With that vehicle, the family was able to get to
jobs and doctor’s appointments. It helped them become self-supporting members of our community.
Learn more about the Wheels4Hope organization, or check out our Wheels4Hope ministry page.
The following is a list of other outreach opportunities in the Triangle. This list is not comprehensive, and the ministries listed below are not necessarily supported by St. Paul’s donations. Feel free to reach out to clergy and staff if you have other suggestions.
The Carying Place
This is a ministry that provides transitional housing for homeless families with children and gives them an opportunity to stabilize their financial situation and acquire necessary life skills, leading to permanent self-sustaining housing.
Volunteer Opportunities: furniture moving, yard maintenance, painting, interviewing, childcare, “support partners” and “caring sponsors” who work with client families.
Contact: 919-462-1800, www.thecaryingplace.org
Communities In Schools of Wake County
Communities In Schools of Wake County delivers quality tutoring and academic support to motivated but economically at risk students.
Volunteer Opportunities: tutor/mentor; assist with field trips or holiday programs; speaker (about your profession).
Contact: 919-834-5663, ciswake.org
Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina provides food to people at risk of hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina. In 2006-07, the Food Bank distributed over 32.6 million pounds of food through 890 partner agencies including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and after school programs for children.
Volunteer Opportunities: There are many opportunities to volunteer as individuals, families, or groups. A typical volunteer job involves sorting and packing food at the Raleigh warehouse. Volunteer shift hours vary, but there are day and evening shifts to accommodate most schedules.
Contact: 919-875-0707, foodbankcenc.org
The Healing Place of Wake County
The Healing Place is a non-profit rescue, recovery and rehabilitation facility for homeless people in Wake County with alcohol and drug addictions.
Volunteer Opportunities: Assistance with computers, food service, transportation, office jobs.
Contact: 919-838-9800, volunteercaregiving.org
Hopeline: Telephone Crisis Counseling
Hopeline provides confidential, nonjudgmental, caring listening for people facing life difficulties or crisis through a 24/7 Triangle hotline staffed by highly trained volunteers.
Volunteer Opportunities: Caring listener for Hopeline calls (minimum 18 years of age; no social work background necessary).
Contact: 919-832-3326, hopelinenc.org
Hospice of Wake County
Hospice of Wake County provides compassionate end-of-life care, counseling support for families, and community education programs.
Volunteer Opportunities: family support, grief companions, administrative/clerical support.
Contact: 919-828-0890, hospiceofwake.org
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
This ministry alleviates hunger by developing systems to recover, prepare, and distribute wholesome, perishable food for the area’s poor, hungry, undernourished, and homeless.
Volunteer Opportunities: drivers, warehouse sorters and packers, grocery bag packers, office volunteers.
Contact: 919-250-0043, foodshuttle.org
Literacy Council of Wake County
The Literacy Council teaches adults how to read and write better through the use of volunteer, one-on-one tutors. It also has an English as a Second Language program
Volunteer Opportunities: tutoring, and other assistance.
Contact: 919-787-5559
SAFEchild Wake County
The SAFEchild program helps adults and children create nurturing environments free from abuse and neglect.
Volunteer Opportunities: mentoring new mothers, leading parent education groups, facilitating children’s groups, story-sharing with children while their parents attend parent education classes, help in the office with clerical/admin duties.
Contact: 919-743-6140, safechildnc.org
Urban Ministries of Wake County
Urban Ministries strives to alleviate the effects of poverty in Wake County by meeting people’s basic needs for food, shelter and healthcare, and providing services that promote self-sufficiency.
Volunteer Opportunities: food pantry workers, interviewers, interpreter/translators, health care professionals, eligibility screeners, etc.
Crisis Intervention Program and Open Door Clinic Contact: 1390 Capital Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27603, 919-836-1642, urbanmin.org
WakeMed Cary Hospital
The only full-service hospital in Cary, providing 24-hour emergency services, a birthing facility, Cardiac Lab, Day Surgery, Operative Services, and Intensive Care Unit.
Volunteer Opportunities: various (see website for details)
Contact: 919-350-2800, wakemed.org
Western Wake Crisis Ministry
Partnering with those in crisis, Western Wake Crisis Ministry helps them gain stability through basic supports for food, financial/housing assistance, education, and opportunity.
Volunteer Opportunities: see the current needs at https://wwcm.org/volunteer/
Contact: 919-362-0657, contact@wwcm.org