OPPORTUNITIES

Collection for the People of Ukraine

In the spring of 2022 we received collections of food, health and hygiene items to be sent to a nearby Ukrainian Church for distribution to refugees and organizations serving the Ukraine crisis. We will be reopening this collection as the need arises going forward.

CASA Collection

Annually we collect gift cards (major merchandisers) for the support of youth aging out of Foster Care in Geauga County. This is announced in the spring and continues for several weeks, in order to provide the basic necessities for individuals to live independently.

Advent Gift Cards

Each season of Advent (November-December) we are glad to receive donations of gift cards to be distributed to the Chagrin Falls Park Community Center, for those in need as we approach the season of Christmas and the year’s end.

The Annual Crop Hunger Walk

Please join Saint Martin’s in our annual participation each spring at Frohring Meadows. Sign up will be online. Donations can also be made on-line. The link to donate is:  https://www.crophungerwalk.org/chagrinfallsoh/Donate.

MEDWISH VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

We are fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to serve as volunteers for MedWish!!! As the popularity of the effort continues to increase, the available dates for Saint Martin’s to serve become fewer and fewer. We have been asked to provide 10 volunteers for dates secured (age 13 years and over) for gross and fine sorting of medical supplies that are no longer usable in our area hospitals, medical facilities but still have the potential to save a life or provide better health to a person living in a third world country.

If you have never been to MedWish, you will need to be there at 9 am for orientation. You need to wear clothing that you don’t mind getting a little dirty as well as closed toed shoes. You also need to fill out a liability form for volunteers ( available at sign up table in Burroughs Room or online at MedWish.org) and bring with you that Saturday. A group of us usually goes to Burger King afterwards for a quick lunch. Carpooling can be arranged at Saint Martins if there is interest.

MedWish SignUp is in the Burroughs Room for our upcoming Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Meeting at church 8:20-8:30 a.m., carpooling in and having lunch together. Be back by 2:15 p.m. Please contact Nancy Horn at 543-1355 with questions. Looking forward to having you join us!

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Overview of Outreach at Saint Martin’s

In April 2016 our SOAP (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) team received its first training to prepare us for going to area hotels and providing education about how to stop human trafficking for hotel/motel management and staff. We learned we would be providing a recent list with pictures of missing youth (ages 11-17 years), a folder with posters to post in the work areas, information cards in English and Spanish for training the staff on warning signs of trafficking as well as small bars of soap with the hotline included (to be placed in the hotel-motel bathrooms). We also learned to keep a written assessment of our encounter and an assessment of the surrounding hotel grounds.

Our first group covered the six Solon and Aurora hotels-motels in early May 2016 and then covered the six Twinsburg hotels-motels in later May. We were well received by ten out of twelve hotels. Two had no one at the desk and despite our attempts to try and meet with them, we were unsuccessful.

Anyone interested in training for this effort, please contact Nancy at 543-1355.

MedWish (medwish.org), founded in 1993, is a not-for-profit organization that saves lives and the environment by repurposing discarded medical supplies and equipment to provide humanitarian aid in developing countries. MedWish has shipped to 104 countries since 1993 and in 2013 sent 199 shipments. In July 2014, it shipped its 1500th order. Who is aided: People in developing countries; MedWish matches available supplies to areas of critical need. Location: Based in Cleveland. How we participate: Teams help sort on Saturdays. Time commitment:  Approximately one Saturday per quarter with a team from the church. Age restrictions:  13 years and up. Contact: Nancy Horn, hornsatcourt@roadrunner.com.

Bainbridge Food For Friends is our community food pantry  cosponsored by the Bainbridge Civic Club and The Spirit of Bainbridge. Many local groups support the pantry by collecting food and funds. The pantry assists families who do not qualify for government or other assistance but are in need. The pantry is staffed by energetic volunteers as required. Food for Friends has arranged for drop off locations of non-perishable foods, toiletries and cleaning items at Chagrin Meats and Seafood, and the Bainbridge library, as well as the pantry location at Town Hall. Cash contributions may be directed to the Bainbridge Area Food For Friends account at PNC Bank in Bainbridge or sent to Frank Schnabel, Treasurer. Cash donations are used to purchase meat and other perishable items. For further information on how to contribute to the pantry or request help for a needy individual, call the pantry. Who is aided: Local families in need. Location: 17826 Chillicothe Road, Chagrin Falls Township, OH 44023. How we participate: food collection. Please bring your contributions to church and place them in the wicker baskets in the entryway.  Items should be nonperishable and within date of use. Contact: Beth Young Petrequin

Trinity Cathedral Meal Program (trinitycleveland.org). A Place at the Table (APATT), founded in 1983 to serve our neighbors, provides a hot lunch on Sundays when most social service organizations are closed. The program relies on volunteer servers from Trinity and other congregations and organizations. For many of downtown Cleveland’s homeless and hungry, Trinity’s Sunday hot meal is the only nutrition they will receive that day. For more than 30 years without fail, APATT has provided a “no questions asked” nutritious meal in a warm, welcoming space. Over the years, APATT has sometimes been the only downtown Sunday meal site  with the next closest option a 5-mile walk away. Last year, APATT provided almost 9,000 meals over 52 Sundays to 100-200 hungry Clevelanders. To meet better the needs of our neighbors and increase the impact of our service, Trinity turned to a community partner—Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM). Trinity’s partnership with LMM began in early 2014, using its Central Kitchen program. Central Kitchen is a social enterprise program that provides food service job training and re-entry employment for about 50 recently released convicts. Central Kitchen uses produce from Trinity’s urban farm and prepares the weekly meals that Trinity volunteers help serve. Who is aided: hungry Clevelanders. Location:  Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland. How we participate: a team to helps serve as scheduled.  Time commitment:  several hours on a Sunday morning as scheduled, to serve a mid day meal. Age restrictions: none. Contact: Tom Gerken, 440.668.6731 or txg2@cwru.edu.