Local Outreach Miniistry

Local

OUTREACH

Outreach at St. Andrew’s continued to produce much fruit in 2022. We found heartfelt ways to reach out and bless others in need. We had an interesting and informative Service Worship panel at the end of January with a speaker from the TUSD African American Student Services Department who offered the chance to read with children. We also had a great presentation from Courtney’s Courage where we learned about the opportunity to bless families with a child in cancer care at the University Medical Center.

For February, we put together Valentine bags for the medical workers at Northwest Medical Center as well as for teachers from nearby schools. We also made special bags for our St. Andrew’s members living in assisted living facilities. If you know of someone who would benefit from being visited during the holidays with special treat bags, please let RuthAnn know so that we can add him/her to our list. We want to make sure that our friends know that we are still thinking about them even though they cannot come to church!

Our partnerships with Flowing Wells Unified District also began during the Easter season. We had received a blessing of thousands of plastic eggs from Pantano Christian which we then gave to every elementary school in the district along with candy for each!

We helped plan the final Jim Toole 1K and provided snacks, water toys, and bubbles for the children. We collected much needed food for Amphi Middle School’s pantry and stocked their pantry with an overflowing blessing! We cannot believe that it has already been more than a year since Pastor Jim went to be with Jesus, but remembering him and his love for our city was a blessing for us all and helped us heal even more.

RuthAnn continued to participate in Ward 5’s Homeless Coalition meetings with Ward 5 and Richard Fimbres bringing different organizations to the table to better serve the homeless needs of the community. St. Andrew’s is the only church represented and continues to bring ideas on how the faith community can partner with the city on the ongoing issue of homelessness.

In May, we were blessed to have a Service Worship that focused on being kind to one another. This Service Worship was called, “The Kindness Challenge.” We had so many creative responses to show each other acts of kindness. One in particular was the way that Myra Christenson stood at the doorway with small treats and Scriptures and lovingly handed one to each person at the 10:45 am service!

Serve Our Schools provided so many new opportunities to serve schools and blessed us with the ongoing partnerships with Laguna and Hendricks Elementary Schools in the Flowing Wells District. We support our schools based on their need as well as a welcome from the principal. If the principal doesn’t return the invitation, then we don’t have the go ahead to proceed. We always see the Lord at work in this process! Laguna is still looking for people to read with their students. If you are interested, please let RuthAnn know at rsmithrud@sapctucson.org.

We participated in the third city-wide service day, Serve Our City, in cooperation with a planning team from Pantano Christian Church. This event had 1593 volunteers (252 being from St. Andrew’s), 75 different serving locations, and 118 different serving opportunities. It was amazing to see

how the Lord led people to travel where they wanted to serve this time. It has taken three years for this to happen, and it is truly beautiful to see fellow Christians from other churches launch out into the community not based on where their church was serving, but based on where the Holy Spirit led them. For the first time, we partnered with El Tour de Tucson, the Conquistadores, and the Jim Click Foundation to provide 500 new bicycles, helmets, and locks for those in need. What a huge collaborative project this was! Our lunch after Serve Our City hosted 15 families from the Flowing Wells District and Harelson Elementary. To watch the surprise and wonder on the faces of these families when receiving their bikes was a gift never to be forgotten.

We made Christmas “You’ve Been Socked” bags for our friends who might need a little extra love or attention at this time of the year. We worked with ADM to make this happen during the Christmas brunch! Those who attended the Christmas Women’s Brunch donated wonderful men’s and women’s Christmas socks to go into the bags. The thoughtfulness of the Christmas socks was sure to lift anyone up with joy! We added the book, “A Love Worth Giving to You” by Max Lucado, a small ornament, beautiful crosses and/or Christmas hearts, and small treats to go in the bags as well! We had enough left over to bless Laguna Elementary as well!

We ended the year blessing a family whose home recently burned down. We had donations of a washer and dryer, a stove and microwave, and a pull out bed/couch. The principal of Laguna actually spent his time off picking up these items and delivering them to the family in need. St. Andrew’s members continue to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit which then blesses others in mighty ways!

We are looking forward to 2023 and to what the Lord has in store for the new year! Save the date for Service Worship, January 29! We have three ministries presenting and a Mission fair happening after the services.

We are thankful to the Lord for always providing and for St. Andrew’s members who are led by the Holy Spirit to give time, prayer, and donations so generously. It is with deep gratitude that we continue to be a light for service in our city.