For over 50 years, the people of St. Stephen’s and the wider Ferguson community have supported the Food Pantry at St. Stephen’s. It is currently open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 12 noon. The St. Stephen’s Requiem or Renaissance Team was already brainstorming ways that the Food Pantry and the Clay Café could make a greater impact on the lives of people in the wider community. The Requiem or Renaissance Team is meeting with Food Pantry leadership and St. Stephen’s clergy in the coming week.
Now, many people in our community and throughout the U.S. face the sudden end of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on Nov. 1 until whenever the federal government is funded again. SNAP assists over 650,000 Americans in Missouri alone. Adults who receive SNAP are either already working or too disabled to work.
As many of our neighbors face the end of this financial benefit, we may have changes thrust upon us more quickly than any of us would wish. Following our Baptismal Covenant, we are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to respect the dignity of every human being. We cannot ignore this crisis.
And, we have help! From God, of course! — as we proclaim in the Baptismal Covenant — and from our neighbors! In addition to donating what we ourselves can in money, time, and non-perishable and personal hygiene supplies to the St. Stephen’s Food Pantry, our siblings in Christ at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis Hills are starting a collection drive for us and for the Trinity Food Ministry in the Central West End!
I worked in St. Stephen’s Food Pantry for this first time this week and I figured out how to make a gift through our website to try to start doing my share around here.
- If you would like to volunteer in the St. Stephen’s Food Pantry, call the church office and talk with Carol Fette, our parish administrator: (314)521-0138. (If I could do it, anybody can do it!)
- Place non-perishable food items, supplies, and hygiene products in the shopping cart in the hallway outside of the Food Pantry anytime you are in the St. Stephen’s & the Vine buildings! Popular items include laundry detergent, liquid dish soap, toothpaste, and deodorant. Shelf-stable milk, cereal, potatoes, onions, apples, tuna, and canned ravioli (especially with pop-tops) are examples of particularly versatile items.
- If you would like to make a financial donation to help us stock the Food Pantry, visit the “GIVE” page on our website and click on the “Food Ministry” button.
