Community Outreach

 

Click on each ministry to read more below:

Blood Drive

CROP Walk

Feed Thy Neighbor (the Hunger Ministries of St. Charles)

Advent Giving Tree

Habitat for Humanity

Party With Purpose

 

Blood Drive

Service to others is one of the cornerstones of our Christian faith; it is a way to connect us to those in need.  Being a blood donor is a wonderful way to serve people who can't even thank you and who couldn't thank you enough--you could save a life! Our parish holds a blood drive three times a year: Lent, Summer, and Advent.  Our next Blood Drive will be Saturday, November 6th beginning at 8 a.m.  The parish works in cooperation with the Community Blood Council of New Jersey to sponsor the blood drive.  You may visit their new website for more information. Individuals are always needed to help with sign-ups, assist on the day of the drive (usually a Saturday morning) and run the canteen. You can make a donation appointment one or two weeks prior to the drive at sign-up tables in the Gathering Space after each Mass.  Look for announcements in the Bulletin.  For additional information, contact Jim Dowd at jvdfox@yahoo.com or Chris Tuday at ctuday@comcast.net or 908-874-3724.

CROP Walk

The annual CROP Walk against hunger is a product of Church World Services, an international Christian ministry dedicated to issues of hunger, peace, and justice around the world.

Each Fall, members of our parish join members of local faith communities to walk in remebrance of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.  We Walk Because They Walk.  Gathering pledges raises funds for this worthwhile cause.

The walk is a wonderful opportunity for families, friends, and neighbors to spend time together.  For more information about the walk, please check out the Church World Services website and look for information in the bulletin in September and October!  The 2010 CROP Walk in our area will be Sunday, October 17th at Faith Lutheran Church in Hillsborough, NJ.  Save the date now!

For additional information, contact Mark Molnar mmolnar@comcast.net, Patti Wieser at pwieser@pppl.gov, or Kate Varga at kmtcv@yahoo.com. 

Feed Thy Neighbor For more information, check out FTN's 2010/2011 Calendar! "Feed Thy Neighbor" (FTN) is the umbrella title for all of our hunger ministries--the Trenton Area Soup KItchen (TASK), Loaves & Fishes, our monthly food collections at the parish, and our newest partnership, Elijah's Promise (and their additional evening soup kitchen, House of Manna).  This sructure has allowed all the hunger ministries to collaborate on projects, lend support to each other and provide for consistent and cohesive messages to the parish community on how we can help support those in need.  Here is just a short summary of the mission of each ministry.  Monthly Food Collection For over ten years, the Catholic community of St. Charles Borromeo has been soliciting monthly food donations in order to supply food and grocery items to the Hillsborough Food Pantry.  In recent years, we have also been able to work with the Montgomery Food Pantry by providing regular cash contributions each month.  Incredibly, the St. Charles community provides 60% of the needs of the Hillsborough Food Pantry and in so doing, assists the Food Pantry in feeding our neighbors--the child from a local income family, the sruggling parent trying to provide for his/her family, the elderly woman living on tea and toast toward the end of the month in rrder to meet the rent, the working poor struggling to keep the family together, the unemployed, the disabled, the abused, and the homeless--many of whom live in our community. The monthly collection of "Feed Thy Neighbor" is an excellent opportunity for individuals and families to serve our community.  Service can be as simple as moving a bag from the gathering space about 11:30 a.m. Mass, to delivering food once a month to the Hillsborough Food Pantry.  Time requirements can be as little as a couple of minutes to usually no more than an hour.  Short of time and still want to participate?  Monetary donations and gift cards for perishable items are welcomed on the same day as the grocery collections. For more information or to become involved, contact any of the leadership members: Lee Briody (lbrio@aol.com), Antoinette Brooke (Coordinator) (antoinmb@comcast.net), Susan Conover (sjsurf@comcast.net), Cara Ipeker (cenicar@yahoo.com), Bob Van Arnum (BVANARNUM@Withum.com)

Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK)

Elijah's Promise

The Mission of Elijah's Promise Soup Kitchen, located in New Brunswick, NJ is to empower lives, invite justice, and alleviate hunger by providing:
    Nutritious meals to alleviate hunger
    Opportunities for community services to invite justice
    Education, training, and social services to empower lives.

On the second Monday of every month, parishioners from St. Charles work with the staff of Elijah's Promise to serve lunch to the guests of the soup kitchen in an atmosphere of hospitality and dignity.  Lunch shifts run from 10:30 until 12:30. 

For additional information, please contact Jim Bahr at j.t.bahr@att.net or call 609-466-1546 OR Valerie Vieth at vvieth@comcast.net or 609-466-6879.

Loaves & Fishes Modeled after a Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house of hospitality, the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen in Trenton is open the last two Saturdays of each month.  Although all parishioners are welcomed and encouraged to help serve a meal on any Saturday, the St. Charles community is committed to “hosting” two meals—one in October and one in January.  By “hosting” the meal, we plan, prepare, and serve a meal for hundreds of our neighbors in Trenton.   The success of this ministry truly requires the help and support of the entire parish! This ministry also sponsors a Winter Coat Collection around Thanksgiving and the Night of 1,000 Lunches to prepare lunch bags for our meal at the soup kitchen in January. Save the Dates for our remaining 2010 service opportunities: Thursday, October 28, 2010 - Night of Lunches Saturday, October 30, 2010 - Loaves and Fishes For additional information, please contact Karen Pelech at pelechs@comcast.net or 908-874-9540.

Advent Giving Tree The Advent Giving Tree Ministry allows us to share with our sisters and brothers, both locally and globally.  The Tree, which goes up the first weekend of Advent, has hundreds of requested gift items from organizations that work in our town, in our state, in our country, and throughout our world.  Anyone can help by donating the requested gift items.   Volunteers are also needed to help organize, drive, pack gifts, etc.   Click here to see the agencies we are supporting in this year's Advent Giving Tree. For additional information, please contact Laura Heil at ljhmomof4@aol.com or 908-359-2875.

Habitat for Humanity

Next Date: Saturday, August 14th

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, international, ecumenical, Christian housing organization working in partnership with individuals, churches, corporations, foundations, and other organizations to build decent, affordable housing.  These houses are then sold to families in need at no profit and with no interest.  Habitat for Humanity seeks to build lives, as well.  Their mission is to eliminate poverty housing around the world and empower families caught in the cycle of need and hopelessness.  Habitat houses are built entirely through hundreds of hours of "sweat equity" by voluntees and future homeowners, through which these partner families gain self-reliance, self-esteem, and new skills. 

St. Charles parish supports this endeavor by sending a work crew to the Greater Trenton area work site on the second Saturday of each month.  We are always looking for volunteers.  No construction experience is required.  Please consider helping our neighbors achieve the dream of owning their own house.

For additional information, please contact Maureen (missmo@bschreib.com) or Bill Schreiber (bschreib1@bschreib.com).

 

Party With Purpose

The Fat Tuesday Party With Purpose is a fun Mardi Gras party the night before Ash Wednesday.  The night involves a pancake dinner, educational games and activities, and a traditional 'passing of the hat' to raise money for a nonprofit agency.  This year, we were able to raise over $9,000 for Catholic Relief Services in their relief efforts in Haiti.  For additional information, please contact Erin Dolan at spsmon@aol.com or Colleen Sozio at soz@msn.com.

Pictures from 2010's Party!