Outreach and Missions efforts have grown at St. Matthew's through the commitment of the parish as a whole and as individual parishioners saw needs and organized means, people, and resources to meet those needs. The following is a brief overview of the ways that St. Matthew's seeks to serve the larger community surrounding it and to express the love of Jesus in a needy world

Parish Life Guild

One of the primary functions of the Parish Life Guild of St. Matthew's is to facilitate outreach for the church. Ultimately, it provides the means for the parish to look beyond itself to the larger body of Christ, to the world outside of the church and to find opportunities to serve. To support this ministry, the PLG has several fundraisers during the year to provide the resources for outreach.

These include:

• A Fall Rummage sale
• A Fall Tailgating party
• A Christmas Bazaar
• A Service Auction
• A Spring Rummage Sale

The PLG also sponsors some whole parish events like the end of the church school year picnic.

The Battle Against Hunger

Origins

As an active member in Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church, Chuck Inman, founder of Battle Against Hunger, found the plight of our area residents to provide basic food for themselves and their families was often a daunting task. Chuck's passion for helping others is rooted in the experiences he lived while serving fellow Americans in the Vietnam conflict. Prior to moving to New Jersey, Chuck played an integral role in inspiring others by his service to the Boy Scouts of America and the Central Virginia Food Bank. Please join Chuck in any of our events; you can make a difference in the battle against hunger!

Founded in 2003, the group initiated a 200-mile yearly fundraising bike tour that has raised over $325,000.00 in the past 6 years. In 2006 Battle Against Hunger Volunteers, Pam and John Krisclewitz launched the first annual Children's Bike Ride. Held on Pennington Day, the Children's Ride is a fun-filled event that gives an opportunity to area youth to discover how their participation can make a better world for everyone!

In June 2008, we proudly launched the first Kinny's Walk at Mercer County Park. Since 2003, the Battle Against Hunger -- through its dedicated riders, walkers and supporters -- has contributed over $400,000 to the cause of hunger relief. 100% of all pledged monies raised is distributed directly to agencies serving daily on the frontline, soup kitchens (including TASK), rescue missions (including Trenton's own) and food pantries. Currently our reach includes other local beneficiaries and extends as far as Montclair to the north, Atlantic City to the south and Kensington, Philadelphia to the west. Please join us as we continue our quest to raise awareness and funds to help fight the battle against hunger!

Mission

The supporters of the Battle Against Hunger believe passionately that no one in a place as plentiful as New Jersey should ever have to suffer the ravages of hunger. Not a single person should be denied a share in our abundance. We are committed to uniting businesses, organizations, groups and individuals throughout our area for the express purpose of assisting those who provide food and shelter to those in need. We believe a well-nourished citizen is an empowered citizen, with the potential to strengthen his or her community and ultimately to contribute to the enrichment of us all. In this spirit we dedicate ourselves

What began as a dream to help feed the hungry with the pledges from a bike tour has blossomed into a non-denominational charity that is blessed to have many concerned and motivated volunteers who are committed to battling hunger.

A public awareness campaign, Battle Against Hunger, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Battle Against Hunger is a hunger relief ministry of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church of Pennington, NJ.

More information about the Battle Against Hunger can be found at its website: www.battleagainsthunger.org.

Summer Mission Workgroup Trips

Since 2006, St. Matthew's has sent multigenerational work groups on week-long mission experiences with ages of the participants ranging from 15 to 70. Most recently the parish has sent teams to El Hogar – an orphanage associated with the Episcopal Church in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Urban Promise – a youth oriented ministry based in Camden, New Jersey.

El Hogar

The mission of El Hogar Projects is to provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for abandoned, orphaned and desperately poor children, enabling them to fulfill their ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras.

El Hogar's main mission encompasses three schools:

• The Home of Hope and Love (El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza) which provides a safe home and education to about 75 boys from first through sixth grade. In 2007 El Hogar began taking in younger girls with plans for expanding one grade each year.
• The Episcopal Agricultural School and Farm which offers three years of education after sixth grade in animal husbandry and agriculture.
• St. Mary's Technical Institute which provides three years of education to the students after sixth grade in vocational training to become electricians, carpenters or welders—jobs they need to survive.

The workgroup team's main task is to serve the El Hogar Projects in any way that it can. This will be accomplished principally through two ways:

• The first way is by developing relationships with the children on the main campus by sharing meals with them, playing with them, going to church with them and other activities. The goal is to share and experience the love of God with them – and to see how God is already working in the children's lives.
• The second main way the teams help is through a construction project. Project have included helping with the dorms, cafeteria and classrooms at the technical school, and the new cinder block dorms at the main campus, replacing the aging wooden ones. On our last visit a member of the team also performed hearing tests for the children which they had never had before.

More information about El Hogar Projects can be found at its website: www.elhogar.org.

Urban Promise

The mission of Urban Promise is to equip children and teens in Camden, New Jersey with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth and leadership rooted in the principles of Christian faith. The Urban Promise community seeks to fulfill this mission through after school programs, summer camps, alternative schools, job training initiatives and a host of other programs.

Unique to the vision of Urban Promise is a commitment to involving local teenagers (Street Leaders) in the tutoring, mentoring, and coaching of younger children in the community. By involving teens in the leadership process, Urban Promise is creating a new generation of young, visionary leaders who embody a com­mitment to change their own community.

Urban Promise's efforts in Camden are focused through three main ministries:

• Since 1985, Urban Promise has run six week summer camps for Camden's children. Camps are dedicated to providing safe and structured environments where young people can grow academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. Fun, educationally-based, age-appropriate activities are provided on a daily basis usually including art, Bible study, recreation, life skill work­shops, community awareness activities, breakfast and lunch.
• Since 1988, Urban Promise Ministries After School Programs have been providing opportunities for children to improve their academic performance, develop important life skills, create positive relationships with caring adults, explore the creative arts, and nurture young faith in a safe, inviting and stimulating environment.
• The Camden Forward School opened in the fall of 1997 with just one class each of pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. The school has added a new grade each year and now houses a quality private school education for approximately 130 students from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Founded in 1997, Urban Promise Academy (UPA) offers Camden teens a unique private Christian schooling opportunity. Students often enter the school 2 to 3 grade levels below national age level standards. Through low student/teacher ratios, a family style learning environment, personal accountability, an emphasis on community service, mentoring and weekly Bible classes, the Academy has seen tremendous success in prepar­ing teens for post-secondary educational opportunities. Presently the school boasts of a 95% graduation rate with 90% of the graduates entering colleges and university.

A St. Matthew's work team's primary purpose in the summer is to serve with Urban Promise's ministry in Camden in any way that it can.

• Specifically, the team members work with the summer camp programs in the morning. These camps provide a refuge for the poorest children in Camden. These work in conjunction with Urban Promise's after school and school programs during the school year. During the camps, the team members get a chance to work with the leaders of Urban Promise and learn their methods of ministering to the disadvantaged of Camden. We will also get the chance to work with graduates of the Urban Promise ministry who give back by acting as teen leaders.
• In the afternoons, the team members help out on the campus of Urban Promise by doing light construction and maintenance work. This cuts down Urban Promise's costs and allows the staff to devote most of their human and monetary resources directly to helping their clients.

More information about Urban Promise can be found at its website: www.urbanpromiseusa.org.

Volunteering at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK)

Several years ago, a few members of St. Matthew's began volunteering their services at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. This grew from an informal effort to a once per month organized endeavor to reach the needy of Trenton.

The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (T. A. S. K., Inc.) is a charitable, non-profit organization whose mission is to respond to the needs of people in the Trenton area by 1) providing meals to all those who are hungry, 2) providing services to encourage self-sufficiency and improve quality of life, 3) informing the wider community of the needs of the hungry, and 4) advocating for resources to meet these needs.

The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen was founded in the early 1980's by a small group of individuals from local churches and service organizations. Their goal was to feed the truly needy people of Trenton five days a week. On a cold day in January of 1982, sixty hungry people gathered for the free meal in the basement of a Trenton church. By the end of that year, more 40,000 meals had been served. No one knew there were so many hungry people in Trenton.

Since then, the activities of TASK have expanded to include outreach programs such as adult education, computer training, health care counseling, screening and referrals, social services, children's activities, and arts and crafts.

Work with the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton

Many members of St. Matthew's contribute their time and efforts to help the Crisis Ministry. These efforts include the high school youth group organizing the food area and helping the clients find their food, contributions gathered by the Sunday School Classes, and others.

The Crisis Ministry has three main thrusts to its work:

Hunger Prevention

The Crisis Ministry assists more than 1,300 Trenton area households and more than 200 Princeton area households with food each month. In addition, each month about 120 people who are homebound receive a home delivery of food from volunteer church groups. These teams of caring volunteers deliver the food to disabled or elderly people who receive a smile and a friendly visit with their delivery.

Those who receive food from our client-choice store and pantry include:

• People of all races with many Spanish-speaking people
• Elderly and disabled people with incomes from $500 to 800 per month
• Working families with children with one or two parents with incomes ranging from $800 to $2500 a month
• Individuals or families receiving welfare with incomes of $140 to $500 per month

The welfare-to-work program Harvesting Hope offers on-the-job training in our food store for participants preparing for employment in the retail sector. In collaboration with the Rutgers Extension Service the Ministry offers a weekly nutrition class for our food customers. The six-week course educates up to 15 people at a time in making healthful food choices and preparing nutritious meals with recipes to try at home.

Homelessness Prevention

Keeping families stable and secure. The goal of the Homelessness Prevention program is to stabilize an individual's or family's finances by through timely, caring assistance for emergencies. The financial assistance the ministry provides—through back rent, mortgage, security deposits, and utilities—helps to keep a financial difficulty from becoming critical. Workers provide the direct financial assistance as well as advice and counsel to help people navigate the social service system and to connect them to the resources they need.

Workforce Development- Harvesting Hope

Through the program Harvesting Hope, the Crisis Ministry provides an on-the-job setting in which a rotation of up to 40 clients per year develop skills in customer service, product presentation, and teamwork for retail employment readiness. Harvesting Hope trainees work in inventory and customer service in the mornings. Afternoons are reserved for mentored job search and interview preparation. We are able to assist Harvesting Hope participants in their search for work through our network of relationships with area employers.