Service
This commission oversees the OUTREACH ministries of St. Matthew’s Church, namely, The Episcopal Relief Fund.
The Daughters of the King has the mission to extend the love of God to all people through prayers and service. The goals of our Order are to inspire spiritual growth and development, strengthen our call to service and evangelism, nurture and grow our members, raise up and mentor new leaders, foster community and build connections, and instill spirituality of giving. The Desert Chrism Chapter of St. Matthew’s Church meets on the first Sunday of the month, following the 10:30 AM service, at 12 Noon in the library. The regular meetings have discussions of recently read books, a study of Women of the Bible, or Bible readings, and updating a current monthly prayer list. Funds are made available through donations from parishioners and members.
The Shoe Box Ministry begins its meetings in March, creating and soliciting the contents of the shoeboxes to be distributed to students at the Imago Dei School during the Christmas season, providing gifts for 61 students in 2021.
The Sewing and Quilting Guild’s major service project is making quilts to give to Emerge, the center for Domestic Violence Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, as part of its continuing service project benefiting this organization.
Old Pascua Partnership: Since 2014, St. Matthew’s has been in a partnership relationship with the Old Pascua Yaqui Community. We have joined with the Native American outreach at St. Michael and All Angels to consolidate both churches’ efforts, under the stewardship of Fran Coleman at St. Michael’s, and the clerical leadership of Rev. Debbie Royals. Major projects that the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew participates in are the annual Back to School backpack drive, obtaining and filling backpacks for Old Pascua youth, and an annual Christmas Bazaar held for Old Pascua kids to “shop” for family members and elders from a bountiful array of gifts contributed by area churches. St. Matthew’s parishioners also help staff this event. Other projects have been contributed to as they come up, including roof repairs for Old Pascua residents.
Little Library: As a service to the community, St. Matthews offers a small collection of books for lending to parishioners and to the neighborhood around the church. Sometimes one of its community “users” adds a book or two. The group’s coordinator monitors it to make sure the books are appropriate, and fills the Little Library with books donated for that purpose by parishioners leaving them in the Parish Hall, by the exit.
Primavera: The Primavera Lunch group usually meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7 AM to prepare 35 lunches.
Food Store Gift Cards Distribution for Gale Elementary – Matty’s Men sponsors a food store gift certificate distribution for the families of Gale Elementary students. Each month during the school year, four $25 food store gift certificates are given to Gale Elementary school to give to student’s families.
Food Distribution: Interfaith Community Services – ICS has requested basic staples for donations such as cereals, peanut butter, canned fruit and canned vegetables but will accept any food items. Food items can also be brought to St. Matthew’s office Tuesday through Thursday between 9 am and 5 pm. Parishioners take the food collection on Tuesdays to the ICS Foodbank at Camino Seco and Old Spanish Trail.
Annual Events
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – (April event): The spring NAMI Walk raises funds to support NAMI Southern Arizona, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, with a mission of providing mental health advocacy, education and support to people in our community with mental illness and their loved ones.
POZ Café is a monthly luncheon put on by TIHAN (Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network), and made possible through monetary contributions and volunteers on the day of the luncheon from different Tucson faith organizations, including the Episcopal Church of St. Matthews. The monthly lunch is an opportunity for people living with HIV/AIDS and their care partners to enjoy a meal in comfort and safety, and is made possible through monetary contributions towards the food and care package items.
Contact information is available in your directory or can be received by calling the office at 298-9782 or by emailing us.