The guiding principle of St. Edward’s Faith in Action activities is found in Matthew 25:37-40. ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
If you would like to glance at a one sheet of our current Faith in Action opportunities throughout the year, click here.
On Tuesday, February 18th, St. Edward’s, in partnership with ALERT and First Reformed Church, cooked and served a delicious meal for our downtown homeless population. We are looking forward to our partnering with ALERT and First Reformed Church to bring the gift of a nutritious hot meal and some great hospitality to our homeless community members in downtown Lancaster. It is a gift to be able to walk and serve, in love, our wider community and we thank all who have participated in this upcoming event. We couldn’t do it without your support! Our next meal service opportunity will be on Tuesday, April 15th! Stay tuned!
Soles 4 Souls 2025 St. Edward’s will collect shoes from Ash Wednesday, March 5 through Palm Sunday, delivering them to St. John’s on Sunday, April 13th. Thank you to all who faithfully bring in their shoes each Lenten season and the deepest thanks to Bev Achey, Scott Smith, Beth Lynch and all who support and organize these amazing Lenten shoe drives. In 2024 we collected 667 pairs of shoes!!!!
APRIL 2025 FAITH IN ACTION VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
Thank you to all who participate in this yearly event. Helping our extended human family, across the globe, unites us in ways that speak to our hope, faith, and love of God in Christ. For 2025, our volunteer/team date will take place on Saturday, March 29th from 12-2 PM. We have ADDED a second session from 5 – 7 PM that we are seeking volunteers for! Sign up to volunteer for this very important global feeding mission!
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN
The Lancaster County Feed My Starving Children MobilePack event is a community outreach that combines those in our local community serving those to our wider global community who are most in need in Somalia and Uganda. St. Edward’s has participated in this global outreach project for several years with a dedicated team of volunteers.
For more information about Feed My Starving Children please click on the links below:
Thank you for supporting this important outreach project.
The 2025 Race Against Racism registration is OPEN. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, April 26th.
For 2025, we will set up a “St. Edward’s” team on the registration website and if you would like to donate and participate to this most excellent cause, we invite you to do so under our team name. We will be participating in the day’s event in a “on your own” manner as we have found some folks like to run, and some like to walk. So, sign up, give to this great cause, run, walk, cheer other folks on, or get together with a couple friends and participate in the day in a way that is meaningful to you.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ST. EDWARD’S TEAM.
WHY WE RACE AGAINST RACISM
A 5K race cannot end racism but naming the need to create change and working together can make a difference. All proceeds from the Race Against Racism will support the Center for Racial and Gender Equity (CRGE) and our community programs of education, training, advocacy and change. We will keep running until injustice is rooted out; institutions are transformed, and the world sees women, girls and people of color the way we do: Equal, Powerful, Unstoppable.
MAY 2025 FAITH IN ACTION OPPORTUNITY
It Feels Good to be a HERO! We are looking forward to our next blood drive on Thursday, May 22nd from 1 pm – 7 pm. Stay tuned to learn about volunteer opportunities and how to sign up to donate this precious, life-giving resource.
ALERT: ALL LANCASTER EPISCOPAL RESPONSE TEAM
Jesus said, “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick. . .” (Matthew 25:36)
2024 COLD WEATHER COLLECTION
OUR ANNUAL SOCK DRIVE IN SUPPORT
OF OUR HOMELESS BROTHERS & SISTERS
COLLECTION IS FROM DECEMBER 1ST – DECEMBER 15TH
Let’s join St. John’s Lancaster in an effort to provide 1 pair of thermal socks, especially men’s, at the community breakfast they are providing on December 22nd at First Reformed Church in Lancaster. Sock or financial donations to purchase socks can be received through December 15th. The socks can be delivered to St. John’s or a request for pick up can be made to St. John’s. Thank you for your continued support in reaching out to those in need!!
Where to bring your donations?
There is a donation box in the narthex of St. Edward’s. We will bring all donations to St. John’s, Lancaster.
Our Annual Jesse Tree Project will deliver gifts on December 9th. All gifts should be at St. Edward’s by December 8th.
To learn more about our Jesse Tree project, please read the article in the November Scepter and/or follow this link COBY’s Permanency Unit of Lancaster.
Questions can be answered by Leslie Arnold at [email protected]
The Jesse Tree is a unique Advent custom and the tradition traces back as far as the Middle Ages. The earliest Jesse Trees were made of tapestries, carvings, and stained glass. These visual displays allowed uneducated people who could not read or write to learn about the Scriptures from the time of Creation until the birth of Jesus.
What Is a Jesse Tree? The word advent means “arrival.” Because Advent is a time to anticipate and prepare for the arrival of Christ at Christmas. The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy, of Jesus Christ. It tells the story of God’s salvation plan, beginning with creation and continuing through the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. The name “Jesse Tree” comes from Isaiah 11:1. “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” (NASB) The verse refers to King David’s father, Jesse, who is in the lineage of Jesus Christ. The “shoot” that grew from the “stem of Jesse,” that is, the royal line of David, is Jesus Christ. Within your own family, you can make and add ornaments to a tree that represent the story of Jesus.
The St. Edward’s Jesse Tree The St. Edward’s Jesse Tree provides a peaceful spot under its branch for gifts that will be given to children in foster care to make Christmas a little brighter. Through COBYS Family Services we obtain a list of children in foster care, their ages, and their Christmas wishes. We don’t take the place of Santa. Rather, we act as Santa’s helpers by adding another gift or two for a child to open on Christmas morning.
The 2024 Turkey Drive was a great success! Many thanks to all! We delivered over 13 turkeys.
How does this benefit the Hempfield Area Food Pantry?
1. If you are not cooking the Turkey this year (maybe you are going out of town or been invited to someone’s house) cash in for the Turkey and donate it.
2. If you shop like I do, at both stores, then donate one of the turkeys.
3. Some individuals may just wish to purchase a Turkey and donate it to HAFP.
Books for Prisoners
Thank you for your support of this important ministry. Please stay tuned for our next collection where we will detail our requested list of book titles.
Our Annual Back-to-School Backpack Drive was a great success! Thank you, one and all! We received a total of 34 backpacks and are gifting $850 of Giant and Walmart gift cards ($25 each) to Hempfield’s Student Services department. Hempfield’s social workers will distribute these to the students they work with according to need.
The HEMPFIELD AREA FOOD PANTRY NEWS
Thank you for the 132 pounds of food items contributed to the pantry in February. In February, we served 519 children, 82 adults, 357 seniors, for a total 1,758 people served!
Food items currently requested are:
Pasta
Pancake mix
Pancake syrup
Canned mushroom soup
Canned diced tomatoes
Canned spinach
Canned potatoes
Canned spaghetti sauce
White rice
Canned pineapple
Small (15 oz.) peanut butter
Cereal
Many thanks for your support to the Hempfield Area Food Pantry!
In case you do not follow the numbers we report each month, it is important to note how extremely vital the HAFP, and our support to the HAFP, is to our community. Not only have the number of volunteers and volunteer hours increased, but the number of children, adults, and seniors, who depend on the services of the HAFP, has increased substantially over this past month. THEY NEED US!!!! So, please continue to donate as often as possible, in dry goods and in dollars. Nobody should go hungry in our world, and we can help eliminate food poverty in our community.
There is a volunteer request from HAFP from partner churches as follows:
If you are interested in volunteering on a Monday or Wednesday, please let the parish office know and we will email your information to Diane Gerlach. There is also a need for a volunteer with a pick-up truck to collect food items at grocery stores.
Thank you for your continued support to the Hempfield Area Food Pantry! It is contributors like you who confirm the mission of the pantry…..to serve those in our community who are struggling to feed their families. Monetary contributions help to purchase food items at the Central Penn Food Bank in Harrisburg at below super market costs (many items at 76 cents a pound) Imagine how important your donations are to the HAFP! It was only a year ago when that number featured above was 35 cents a pound! Financial contributions also allow our managers to purchase food items on sale at local grocery stores and markets….such as eggs, fresh produce, meats, dairy products as well as other pantry supplies.
Clients may visit the pantry either Monday OR Wednesday each week.
The success of this outreach to the Hempfield area is a total community volunteer effort with many local civic/service/social organizations, neighborhood groups, local businesses, Hempfield school students and staff, retired Hempfield teachers, private individuals, boy/girl scouts, nineteen area churches, postal employees, HARC employees, retirement communities, and many individual volunteers.
Diane L. Gerlach,
Vice President/Pantry Coordinator
This collaborative event was a wonderful day of peace, prayer, and public witness! We thank all, in our faith community and our wider community, who helped make this day a success!
Join The Diocese of Central Pennsylvania’s Diocesan Ministry to End Gun Violence at St. Edward’s on Saturday, September 17th from 9 AM – Noon for a day of community outreach with:
- Swords to Plowshares Northeast (s2pnortheast.org) Retired Bishop Jim Curry brings his forge for an active demonstration converting guns into garden tools.
- Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence (heedinggodscall.org) Memorial to the Lost – an installation of remembrance for Lancaster County victims of gun homicide.
- East Hempfield Township Police Department visit with Sgt. Matt Miller, firearms instructor, to learn about gun safety.
- Samaritan Counseling Center (scclanc.org) will be available to provide mental health resources.
- Children’s Arts & Crafts – Join us at our “Peace Can Grow” area to paint your own flowerpot and planting, participate in a painted rock craft, or lend your artistry to our “Peace Wall.”
- Ecumenical & Interfaith Gathering of Area Congregations – Coming together, as communities of faith, with pastors and chaplains available for 1-on-1 conversation and support.
- Communal Prayer Service – We complete the morning with a gathering in the St. Edward’s sanctuary.
Refreshments and light snacks will be available throughout the morning.
The St. Edward’s Refugee Welcome Team – in partnership with
On Thursday, December 2, 2021 our family of six arrived in Lancaster to begin their new life in the United States. The Rahim family is from Afghanistan. We have been so grateful to be able to shepherd this family! We would like to introduce them to everyone by name: Najibullah (husband), Malalay (wife), Tayabullah (son – 12 years old), Sohaibullah (son – 7 years old), Anfal (daughter – 2 years old), and Khateebullah Rahim (male – 10 years old)
The Rahim family moved into a home on December 15, 2021 and our Welcome Team worked closely with CWS and the family to make certain that they had what they needed to make their house a home and to acclimate them to living in the United States and our community. This was true Faith in Action! We were so appreciative of our Welcome Team, who were committed to this family discovering the means to transform their lives.
Areas that our Welcome Team became involved in included: Setting up new home; transportation; set-up health appointments; cultural adjustments to the community; schooling; jobs and finance tutoring; social activities. New transitions can be filled with isolation and loneliness, so it was so vital to be in close connection with our family to encourage trips to the park, making crafts, eating meals together, listening to favorite music together, celebrating a special holiday, and lending a gentle spirit and listening ear.
We offer up this prayer for refugees:
God our Creator: We ask for your loving presence and for your peace to be with refugees in our local communities and around the world. Be with all who are in fear. Be with those whose lives and livelihoods are under threat, and whose religious freedoms are being compromised. Be with us as we strive to enact your will in our welcome and support of refugees. Be with those in positions of leadership, that their decisions may bend toward peace and not division, and that they might realize the power they hold to do justice. Give us all strength and courage. Equip and empower us to be witnesses to your love – as advocates and as servants, as ministers of welcome and bearers of hope, especially for those seeking refuge. In your Holy name we pray. Amen.
[Prayer from Church of the Mediator, Allentown, PA, Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem]
All of us at St. Edward’s, as well as “friends of St. Edward’s” can support our family in meaningful ways.
Let us continue to prayerfully consider supporting our loved ones, the Rahim family, in donating to our established Legal Defense Fund. We would like to thank all who have contributed to the Rahim Family Legal Defense Fund. Your generosity of spirit and prompt response to Father Rick’s “call” to Faith in Action allowed us to raise $18,195! Donations can be written to St. Edward’s Episcopal Church with the memo line notation of: Rahim Legal Fund.
We invite you to continue to make a monetary donation of any amount! Donations should be made payable to St. Edward’s Episcopal Church with a memo line notation “Rahim Family.”
Should you have any questions, please contact the parish office. We strive to support those in need by sharing our stories and staying connected to the ministry, mission, and vision of St. Edward’s.
KNIT WITS/NEEDLE ARTS MINISTRY
As many of you know, St. Edward’s has had a wonderful knitting ministry for decades – the Knit Wits. Due to COVID19, the Knit Wits were unable to gather, as a group, in-person. BUT, that is not to say that there have not been fruitful labors from these dedicated women in knitting so many items with love: from prayer shawls to prayer pocket squares, hats, and many items in between!
And, the “Knit Wits” is truly more than knitting – it is welcoming to ALL who engage in needle arts: from crochet to cross-stitch; quilting to knitting; needlepoint to hemming or repairing a clothing item. . . Welcome to all, and please join us! In speaking with Gail Irons, she conveyed the meaning if this ministry group perfectly by sharing that it is a time to be together in fellowship and to learn from one another.
The Knit Wits meet in-person on Tuesdays, at 1 PM in the lounge area, please join each other for fellowship while you pursue your craft.
We are so very appreciative of this loving ministry that provides such wonderful fellowship, while providing our parish, and the wider community, with these symbols of faith, hope, and love. This ministry is touching to so many who have loved ones – friends, family, friends of friends – in need of a wrap of comfort in their time of need, illness, or recovery. We have so many touching stories that speak to the solace one receives when presented with a prayer shawl knitted by the Knit Wits, tagged with a loving prayer and blessed by our rector. And, it is wonderful to be able to present to the parents, when they bring their child to be baptized at St. Edward’s, a baby blanket knit by our ministry group.
If you are in need of a prayer shawl, or other knitted item(s), please contact the parish office. We are happy to share with you our blessed items for you to choose to gift to those you love and care for. Thank you to the Knit Wits ministry, for all you have done and continue to do. Your ministry is beautiful and vital to our mission.
St. Edward’s receives THANK YOU NOTES from organizations in the local and global community that we have gathered donations for. Click on the links below to read how our community outreach has positively impacted the lives of others.
Episcopal Relief & Development
QUILTS OF VALOR FOUNDATION
How St. Edward’s works with this foundation to honor those serving in the military who are members of St. Edward’s:
All are invited to make a recommendation for a Quilts of Valor for any military in our congregation who has been touched by war, by visiting the Quilts of Valor website at www.qovf.org For any questions about this process you can contact any of the following: Dina Cerase, Sharon Hubbard, or Donna Holwager, listed in the St. Edward’s directory. These quilts are not a charity and they are awarded to the military member in a proper setting.
ST. EDWARD’S OPENS ITS DOORS TO THE WIDER COMMUNITY
St. Edward’s also opens its doors throughout the year to various groups to hold meetings and events, extending our commitment to helping the wider community. From Anonymous Addiction group meetings, to groups such as The Pilot Club, Scouts organizations, Lancaster Chamber Singers, and the ALERT group within our own diocese, St. Edward’s enjoys being there for the community.
COMMUNITY AID PA –
Community Aid News: Beginning May 15th, Community Aid will be expanding the payouts to partner organizations for donated items!!! Below is a list of items you can bring to Community Aid, mentioning they are for St. Edward’s Episcopal Church (Our Partner Number is 40036). We will receive credit for quarterly payouts that assist our Faith-in-Action ministry. Community Aid has always accepted these items, but in the past, they did not give credit to partner organizations for electronics, toys, and household goods.
clothing
shoes
accessories
electronics
toys
household goods
CRISPUS ATTUCKS – In the past, when this organization was active in weekly food service to the homeless, St. Edward’s responded to their needs by preparing and serving balanced and healthy meals one Sunday per month.
Our ministry with Crispus Attucks started with our rector (now retired), Father Stephen Casey who had been involved in the Crispus Attucks homeless shelter since his arrival at St. Edward’s. Getting to know the manager of the shelter, he would respond to any financial requests through his discretionary fund. Doug Hopwood, a member of St. Edward’s who was working with the Lancaster County Council of Churches was informed that Crispus Attucks was seeking churches to provide weekend meals on a regular basis. This seemed like a wonderful opportunity for St. Edward’s to reach out in a very meaningful way, so the parish signed up to provide a meal one Sunday a month throughout the year.
Under Fr. Stephen’s and Doug Hopwood’s leadership, all ministry groups within the parish agreed to take their turn to prepare and serve the meals; Vestry, Men’s Group, Youth Group, The Knit Wits and individual parishioners who partnered with each other to sponsor a Sunday dinner. At the start, they fed 60 to 70 people at a time; with the deteriorating economy in 2009 and further job losses, that figure had doubled to between 125 to 140 people served on any given Sunday.
Fr. Casey explained, “Located as we are in the affluent suburbs of Lancaster, it is easy for the parish to be unaware of the needs of those who live at the margins of society. Through the Crispus Attucks meal program, the people of St. Edward’s are able to reach out to those in need and put the gospel into action.” The program was funded through the church by the congregation and subsidized through an Operation Understanding Grant. The ministry was ecumenical, and St. Edward’s had been one of the largest contributors to this meal-serving program.
Unfortunately, Crispus Attucks shut down their meal service program several years ago.