Food Pantry | St Nicholas Episcopal Church

We welcome pledges at any time throughout the year, but we especially encourage those who have not yet submitted a pledge to St. Nicholas for 2011 to do so as soon as possible. You’ll find the pledge form at the church at this link [PDF file: PledgeCard]

In the Episcopal Church, and specifically at St. Nicholas, we pledge to give some of our treasure to St. Nicholas Church. Pledging allows your Bishop’s Committee to accurately budget for programming, staffing, worship, outreach and facilities upkeep each year. But just as importantly, pledging allows each of us to reflect upon the ways in which we choose to share some of what we’ve been given with others. Pledging is a sign of our commitment, not only to St. Nicholas, but to each other as well. When we prayerfully fill out a pledge card, we are saying that we realize the church indeed belongs to us, the people of St. Nicholas, but more importantly that we understand it belongs to everyone. We are sending a message that we wish to be part of helping St. Nicholas continue its tradition of welcoming all.

As much as we’d love to write simply about our mission and ministries, the reality is it takes financial resources to keep our doors open and our lights shining brightly to and for all. Our new building is a blessing, but it requires maintenance. Our instruments – organ, pianos and human voices – assist us in joyful and meaningful worship, but they require tuning and printed music. Our Food Pantry serves countless guests, but the gas and electric bills must be paid so that we have a place in which they may choose their items.

We ask that you prayerfully consider making a pledge to St. Nicholas for 2011. The amount you pledge is not nearly as important as the fact that you choose to pledge as a sign of your commitment to the mission, ministries and realities of St. Nicholas. Click here to get your pledge card and either return it by mail or place it in the offering on Saturday or Sunday.

An additional way to support St Nicholas is to sign up with Dominick’s Grocery Stores to donate a percentage of your purchases to the church if you get one of their Fresh Values cards. This is especially valuable if you purchase healthy non-perishable food items for donations to our Food Pantry on Sundays (or drop off any time the church is open for a meeting).

Yet another way to support St Nicholas is to use the Amazon Search box on each page to purchase books, DVDs, kitchenware, or electronics. This can be especially handy at “St Nicholastide” or Christmas – there are all kinds of things available on Amazon.com that would make great gifts for friends and family. Did you know that there are chocolate candy St Nicholases, and musical snowglobe St Nicholases?

Of course, the most important way to help support St Nicholas and the work that our community does (including the support groups, the little Bulgarian school, and the food pantry volunteers) is simply to be here with us, and to tell a friend.

There is a controversy swirling in the social services sector in San Francisco, and any charity feeding or giving food to the poor should ask themselves: should food pantries “qualify” the clients they serve by asking for ID, proof of need, proof of citizenship? There are funds available from FEMA for food programs, but they come with strings attached. Meanwhile, in a tough economy, social service agencies are struggling with funding, and competing with volunteer-staffed faith-based pantries for limited resources and donations.

The issue stems from a case involving United Way and how they were running a program financed by tax dollars in San Francisco, and how the new required policies conflict with that city’s “sanctuary” law, which requires a no-questions-asked policy for social services.

Thursday�s New York Times story on the conflict over funding food pantries in the San Francisco Bay Area is mercifully light on the clich�s that usually accompany reporting about good works by churches. Instead, reporter Scott James tries to examine the issues of power, money, and turf that come into play when different faith-based models for feeding the hungry collide.

Via Daily Episcopalian

The food pantry at St Gregory of Nyssa is part of the inspiration behind the pantry at St Nicholas, which in turn was an outgrowth of the old Supplemental Food Pantry program that was started by parishioners at the former Holy Innocents in Hoffman Estates, which merged with St Nicholas several years ago. The emphasis at both parishes, now joined as one, has always been concern for the hungry, and the St Gregory program is something we try to replicate, although on a much smaller scale. Our emphasis is also on families, especially those who don’t have much access to cooking facilities, although singles are also most welcome. Unlike other area pantries, we don’t have any residency requirement (for example, we’re not just for people who live in Elk Grove Village, but everyone). We don’t ask for ID, we don’t ask any questions about immigration status, we don’t ask for proof of need or limit visits to the pantry. If you need some basic grocery items, and some basic paper products and personal hygiene items not covered by food stamps, come home to St Nicholas on the first or third Wednesdays of the month at 430pm to 630pm.

All are welcome. Todos bienvenidos.