Plan to join us after the 10am service on Sunday to sort and pack the food that is donated this weekend for CROS Ministries!
Gibbie Nauman, Director of Development and Community Relations at CROS will join us after the 10am service to answer any questions about the work of CROS in our community and describe the End Hunger Walk on October 7. We welcome her! St. Paul’s Vestry Liaisons Craig Dickmann and Stephen Linebaugh are working with CROS to coordinate our engagement and strong partnership – and here are some of the basics:
CROS
Serves 85,260 meals per year at the Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach and another 15,360 weekend bag lunches at Cason United Methodist.
Offers 7 Food Pantries throughout Palm Beach and Martin Counties – including one in Delray Beach. 53,917 were served in a year, 35% were children
Provides afterschool snacks for three afterschool programs – including Paul’s Place – that is 24,180 snacks in a year.
Gleans the local fields – gathering fresh fruit and vegetables – that means 411,140 pounds of produce distributed to 100 local food programs in partnership with the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
Runs Summer Camps for 198 children in Title 1 School districts at 2 locations, Boynton Beach and Lake Worth
Sends Nutrition in a Knapsack home with 275 children for the weekend, to homes that do not have enough food for the weekend.
As a strong community partner with CROS, St. Paul’s provides:
Annual Funding from our Mission and Outreach Fund. This year the contribution of $10,000 will be presented at the 10am service on Sunday, August 27. The timing of this gift means it is included in a matching grant and doubles the impact of your contributions.
Faithful volunteers from St. Paul’s who do much – who serve at the Caring Kitchen, cooking , serving, prayerfully listening to the many guests, glean the fields, sort food in the warehouse, help with social services and serve on the board of CROS Ministries.
Advocacy in support of CROS Ministries – providing information, standing with CROS at City Commission Meetings and serving on the committees of CROS that will ensure the continued service to the community.
What you can do:
Walk to End Hunger –
on Saturday, October 7, sign up today!
Volunteer – to serve in one of the many areas of need – please see the list of volunteer opportunities on the table in the Parish Hall.
Pray – for the needs of others in our community and the amazing work that CROS does to meet those needs
Update on the Caring Kitchen
The Delray Beach City Commission decided to give CROS until October 31, 2017 to continue serving meals at the Caring Kitchen here in Delray Beach. As of November 1, they will only be preparing meals and storing food at the facility and not be open to the public. Meals will be delivered to churches in the community and served.
CROS and their community partners will be working hard in the coming year to find and equip a permanent new home for this important work. Currently, Kathleen Megan, Judy and Nick Fenney serve on the Committee for Transition at CROS representing St. Paul’s.
In addition, Rev. Paul Kane and Rev. Kathleen Gannon sit at the table with other congregations who are planning ways to fill in the gaps left as the Caring Kitchen is no longer able to provide any social service support to the community outside of food. Florida Atlantic University will be providing Social Work Interns and Palm Beach Atlantic College will be providing Mental Health interns, both supervised by Family Promise – to provide basic social services in this south end of our county.
There is much to be done in our community, and St. Paul’s is a strong partner alongside other faith communities working with CROS to end hunger for those God has placed in our care.