St. Barnabas Outreach Update – Fall 2022
St. Barnabas Volunteers Fill Backpacks
In July, St. Barnabas volunteers filled 100 backpacks for students going back to school in partnership with Operation Give Back, a food pantry and support system serving Blue Ash, Montgomery, Sharonville, Sycamore Township, and Symmes communities. Those volunteers then helped to distribute the backpacks to families on two Saturdays in August.
Supplies Donated to West End Students
Funds from our Outreach budget helped us supply over $500 in school supplies to Findlay Street Neighborhood House (part of Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses) to support 25 students heading back to school. We also used Outreach budget funds to pay for over $2,000 in summer camp supplies and food. Several St. Barnabas volunteers helped lead summer camp games and crafts to help these kids in the West End stay engaged and active over the summer.
Volunteer Event at Matthew 25 Ministries
We had 15 enthusiastic volunteers attend a work event at Matthew 25 Ministries, a humanitarian aid and disaster relief agency, on Saturday, September 10th. If you’re interested, our next work event will be on Saturday, November 19th.
St. Barnabas Holds Concert to Benefit
Habitat for Humanity
Our annual Habitat for Humanity benefit concert was held August 14 and raised more than $6,500 for Habitat! A check has been forwarded to them and was received with gratitude by Ed Lee, the retiring CEO. The event was planned by Joshua Chertock as an Eagle scout project.
Habitat Dedicates New House in Lockland
On Friday, September 23rd, Habitat for Humanity dedicated the house that our Eastside Coalition of Churches has been building in Lockland. The new homeowner is Reggina Taylor, who has been putting in her Habitat-required 250 hours of "sweat equity" labor on the house in place of a down payment on what will be her no-interest mortgage loan through Habitat.
Josiah RajaSingh, son of St. Barnabas parishioners Ramasamy and Satya RajaSingh, has been making a photographic record of the house's construction as a student project for his high school and plans to give a copy of his record to the new homeowner at her request.
Habitat’s Next Rock the Block Event Planned for October 29
Habitat is planning its next Rock the Block neighborhood cleanup for Saturday, October 29, in Cincinnati's Lower Price Hill neighborhood. John Nolan of St. Barnabas will be one of the crew chiefs. Reach out to John at newserjohn@aol.com if you’re interested in participating.
Found House (IHN) Returns to Christ Church Glendale
After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, during which families were housed in a local extended-stay hotel, Found House returned to an in-church setting in September. Four families were supported at CCG during the week of September 19th, and St. Barnabas volunteers hosted one evening by providing a warm meal, praying with the families, engaging with the families, and even supplying an overnight support team. Our next hosting event is Sunday, Dec. 4th. If you would like to get involved with this ministry, reach out to Lisa Elmendorf at lisa.elmendorf@gmail.com
NEEDS Stays Busy Filling Families’ Needs
NEEDS (Northeast Emergency Distribution Services) serves northeast Cincinnati neighborhoods by assisting families with rent or utilities, providing food from their food pantry, and providing school supplies at the start of each school year. St. Barnabas supports this ministry helping in the food pantry and by purchasing food and personal care products as needed. If you have any interest in volunteering or learning more about how NEEDS operates, please email Fern Ketchum at fmketchum@gmail.com.
St. Barnabas Volunteers Deliver Food Where It’s Needed
Volunteers pick up between 4,000-5,000 lbs a month of meat, bakery products, produce, dairy and deli items from the Montgomery Kroger and deliver them to the food pantry at Findlay St. Neighborhood House. We are taking food that would be otherwise be wasted and putting it in the hands of people who really need it! If you want to join the group of volunteers making this happen, reach out to Jada Hill at jadahill40@gmail.com
Kairos Plans Weekend Retreat Oct 13-16
Our Kairos Ministry shares the Gospel with inmates at Lebanon Correctional Institute in an effort to bring them into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The next Kairos weekend retreat takes place Oct 13-16. Charles Howard, Ministry Leader, has asked the parish for prayer support and 200 dozen cookies for this event. Thank you to all the members who have donated cookies and the new volunteers joining Charles on the Kairos weekend!
Holiday Giving is Just Around the Corner
St. Barnabas will, as always, provide ample opportunity for parishioners to give to the less fortunate during the holiday season. We’ll be looking for people who want to ‘adopt’ families in the West End for gift giving, as well as pairing people who want to donate cash with others who just want to shop. In addition, we’ll be assembling and delivering Blessing Bags packed with a prescribed list of groceries to serve families at Operation Give Back. Stay tuned!