St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Because our children are the future, the Global Outreach Committee involves the children and youth as much as possible whether as part of the larger community or on their own. Sunday School Teachers are encouraged to relate bible stories to local and global issues. Two events that will be held during the year involving the children are Pennies for Peace, an effort to collect pennies to support the building of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and flower planting in celebration of Earth Day. The Youth will volunteer again at Feed My Starving Children, an organization that creates food kits that are sent around the world to help eliminate hunger.

Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s)

The MDG’s are the cornerstone of the Global Outreach Committee. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration, a declaration that was adopted by 189 nations and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The declaration includes a commitment to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. Together, the nations agreed upon the following goals:

      1.  Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

      2.  Achieve Universal Primary Education

      3.  Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

      4.  Reduce Child Mortality

      5.  Improve Maternal Health

      6.  Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

      7.  Ensure Environmental Sustainability

      8.  Create a Global Partnership

Our plan is to continue to educate the congregation on the MDG’s and the world’s progress toward ending extreme poverty and hunger. One of the tenets of the MDG’s is that world poverty can be halved if every country, congregation and person donates 0.7% of their yearly income to MDG efforts. At St. Mary’s we take this seriously. In 2007, we donated 0.7% of our parish income for the creation of wells through Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). In 2008, St. Mary’s voted and decided to give our 0.7% ($2100.00) to a family for a “Whole Harvest” which included a cow, goat, ox and plow, all the tools needed to feed the family. The money was donated again through ERD. In 2009, the Global Outreach Committee will once again facilitate the process to determine how our 0.7% of yearly pledge income will be spent.

KIVA Dinners

Several times a year, St. Mary’s parishioners are invited to attend KIVA Dinners. KIVA is a micro-lending organization that facilitates small loans from individuals to entrepreneurs in the developing world who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. So, St. Marians gather in small groups, enjoy a potluck dinner, contribute money to a collective pot (basically what one might spend if they went out for dinner) and then peruse the KIVA website choosing a variety of entrepreneurs who are looking to start or expand their business and making investments in those businesses. The evenings are fun, social and educational. (Steward: Paulette Briese)

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit organization committed to feeding God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit. The approach is simple: volunteers age 10 and up hand-pack meals formulated specially for starving children and FMSC ships the meals to more than 60 countries around the world. In 2007, FMSC sent 43 million meals around the world thanks to the work of 185,000 volunteers. St. Mary’s has committed to volunteering for FMSC the first Monday of every month from 9:30-11:30am at the Eagan facility. Other opportunities are also available throughout the year. (Stewards: Kitty McFarland and Anne Green)