Reaching Out
…at Christ Church
Christ Church is home to a growing number of activities that serve both the downtown Little Rock community and the larger community.
The ASN Local Food Club is here at Christ Church!
You may order locally grown produce online each week and pick it up at Christ Church between 10am and 12noon every Saturday. Join the Local Food Club by going to littlerock.locallygrown.net, and then send an email to emailasn@gmail.com telling them that you’ve signed up. The Local Food Club is a program of the Arkansas Sustainability Network. Check it out! If you have any questions, contact: Scott Walters
Alcoholics Anonymous Christ Church serves as the meeting place for Little Rock’s downtown Alcoholics Anonymous meetings each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 12:05 p.m. Meetings are held in the undercroft beneath the Witsell Chapel. Entry is either through the red street-level door beneath the chapel at 205 E. Capitol Avenue or by parking in the church lot and walking through the office hallway and gallery to the courtyard and then downstairs.
…in the community
St. Francis House Christ Church is a long time contributor to the work of St. Francis House, a Little Rock-based charitable organization that provides food, clothing, medical assistance, and other services to people both in Little Rock and in Northwest Arkansas. Here are a few of the ways in which we help: *Money from the church’s operating budget is given to St. Francis House each month. *The loose offering (unidentified cash) at the church services on the third Sunday of each
month is given to St. Francis House. *We maintain an intake box for clothing and other goods that are distributed to St. Francis House clients.
Stewpot The second Thursday of each month, members and friends of Christ Church prepare and serve lunch to those who come to Stewpot (8th and Scott) for a nutritious meal. The early shift from 9:30-11:30 prepares the lunch and the serving shift from 11:30-1:30 serves the meal and cleans up for the next day. We also need someone who will pick up the donation of pastries from Community Bakery. If you would like to volunteer for the Christ Church Stewpot Team, please contact Joyce Hardy or call 501-351-7216.
Harmony Health Clinic, located at 201 East Roosevelt, provides medical and dental care to people who live in Pulaski County without health insurance. Medical clinics are held on Thursdays from 5-9 and on Saturdays from 8-12. Dental clinics are on Friday mornings from 9-12. Our goal is to have clinics at least five days a week. To do that, we need more volunteers—all kinds of volunteers: receptionists, doctors, greeters, pharmacists, interpreters, people to help with completion of forms, nurses, dentists—we need YOUR gifts as a volunteer to serve more people and to provide more clinics during the week. To volunteer, to schedule an orientation, or for more information contact Joyce Hardy or call 501-351-7216, or visit our website.
Literacy Action of Central Arkansas trains Literacy and ESL tutors for those who need to learn to read in Pulaski County. After training, volunteers are matched with students and are supported with materials. To register for the next training or for more information, call 501-372-7323.
Care-Link needs volunteers that will visit those who live in nursing homes and need visitors. Training is provided. For more information, please contact Joyce Hardy or call 501-351-7216.
Volunteers are needed at the Arkansas House of Prayer on Fridays from 9:30-4, on Saturdays from 9-5, and on Sundays from 1-5. There are morning and evening shifts available. Volunteers are there to greet visitors and answer any questions they might have. At the same time, volunteers can have their quiet time. To volunteer or for more information, contact Joyce Hardy or call 501-351-7216 or visit our website.
The Christ Church Clergy Discretionary Fund The loose offering on the first Sunday of each month is placed in the Christ Church Clergy discretionary fund. This fund provides assistance for individuals with financial needs that are not met elsewhere. Examples of such aid are bus tokens for people to get to work or a medical appointment, clothing for someone beginning a new job, and help in times of natural disaster.
…around the world
Donations for Earthquake Relief in Haiti In the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake, Episcopal Relief & Development is providing critical emergency funds in Haiti. They are currently accepting donations to the Haiti Fund to support this assistance and will continue updating the website as information becomes available. To make a donation, go to http://www.er-d.org/
Mission work in Honduras The Episcopal Church in Arkansas is exploring mission work in Honduras. For more information, please contact Randall Curtis, Young Adult and Youth Ministries Developer.
Millennium Development Goals and the Episcopal Church In two successive General Conventions, the Episcopal Church committed itself to eliminating extreme global poverty by working through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Goals were developed by the leaders of the world’s nations, in cooperation with the United Nations. We can start by devoting 0.7% of our personal, congregational, and diocesan incomes to meeting the MDGs.
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 7. Ensure environmental stability 8.Develop a global partnership for development.
Fulfilling the eight MDGs would mean lifting more than 500 million people out of extreme poverty. More than 300 million would no longer suffer from hunger. Child health would improve, saving the lives of more than 30 million children under the age of five.
For more information visit: www.er-d.org/mdg
The BP Oil Spill: A Christian Call for Lament and Reconciliation [From the Duke Center for Reconciliation Summer Institute] As followers of Christ, creator and redeemer of all creation, we mourn the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and the BP oil spill now polluting the Gulf of Mexico. We mourn the human and animal lives lost, the economies and ecosystems destroyed, and the gifts of God, created from and for his love, squandered and poisoned. Most of all we mourn our complicity and active participation in an economy based on toxic energy that has made such death inevitable… Read more and consider the petition here