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Social Concerns And Outreach

 

 

The Church teaches us to serve those in need through Charity, Love, Service and Action, which are the components of this Ministry.  By following the examples in the Gospel, we as parishioners, are living as disciples of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Without the generous giving of our parishioners, the work of this Ministry would not take place.  There are many dedicated members of this Faith Community who work with Social Concerns and have undertaken various Projects to help the less fortunate – farm workers clothing & food collection and Thanksgiving dinners.   Men’s Discipleship Ministry & Knights of Columbus helped distribute school supplies at the Brevard School Foundation giveaway.

  • Outreach weekend is the 1st weekend of the month. On this weekend, we seek non-perishable foods.  The food is distributed to St. Mary’s Helping Hands, Ascension Social Concerns and parishioners in need. 
  • Money – Any donations that are collected on Outreach Weekend are used to help pay for utility bills, food, rent, and meet other requests made by those who come here in need. Each client must fill out a form and go through an interview before their need is granted.  The interview is conducted by volunteers from the parish working in this Ministry, with guidance from Fr. John and Fr. John Patrick.  We have donated money to charitable organizations that are working successfully in the county:  Brevard School Foundation (school supply drive); Brevard Rescue Mission (women’s shelter); Central Brevard Sharing Center (food for a family backpack on weekends); Children’s Hunger Project; Community of Hope; Cocoa Village Veterans; Devereux (children); Harmony Farms; St. Mary’s and Ascension  food pantries; Space Coast Volunteers in Medicine; Family Promise of Brevard; The Haven for Children, Inc.; Space Coast Honor Flight, Promise, Inc. Genesis House; Nation Veterans Homeless Support Inc.; Daily Bread and Aging Matters In Brevard.
  • Daily Bread – Our volunteers serve lunch and clean up every 1st Friday of the month from
    10:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
  • Blood Drive – Our parishioners serve the community by giving the Gift of Life three times per year.
  • Giving Tree (Advent) – We work with Devereux, Central Brevard Sharing Center, Senior Santa, the Student-Parent Program (Brevard School System) and Holy Cross Missions. We collect and distribute gifts to children in need during the Christmas season.
  • Habitat for Humanity – We have helped build three homes; two in Cocoa and one in Melbourne.

Parishioners from various Ministries volunteer to pack thousands of zip lock bags of food for distribution to school children on weekends for the Children’s Hunger Project at their site, the Children’s Walk-A-Thon at St. John’s and parish wide food packing event held at the Parish Hall.  These bags are made up of nutritional food and given to children who otherwise would not have anything to eat over the weekend.  The Children’s Hunger Project feeds over 1600 students per weekend and there is always a request from School Principals or staff to add more students for the program.

 

 

 

Coordinator:   Al McKenna   321-637-9650