Committed to Mission
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Kitchen crew
THE
NET
The Net, August 2010
15
St. George’s reaches out to Hispanic community By Tony Magaña
Photo provided by St. Mark’s, Palm Beach Gardens
Members of the mission team from St. Mark’s, Palm Beach Gardens, and St. George’s, Riviera Beach, discover how many onions it takes to make dinner for guests at a Washington, DC, soup kitchen. With the young people are St. George’s priest-in-charge, Fr. Michael McManus (second from left), and St. Mark’s Youth Director Dave Stankiewicz (second from right).
Youth mission team takes “urban plunge” in DC A team of youth and adults from St. Mark’s, Palm Beach Gardens, and St. George’s, Riviera Beach, took a trip June 12-20 to the nation’s capital, but they didn’t go to visit the White House, the Capitol or the museums and other tourist attractions. They went to help in a variety of social service ministries—and to find out how it might feel to be homeless. The group helped prepare and serve meals at soup kitchens; packaged a week’s worth of meals for sick and homebound people; chatted, exercised and played bingo with residents of a nursing home; and acted as “a jungle gym for toddlers at a day care.” The highlight of the trip for most of the team was the “urban plunge,” in which the youth and their chaperones were divided into four groups, each of which was given $8 to buy dinner and share it with a homeless person. “We were supposed to talk to people and get an idea of what it’s like to be homeless,” said Aileen Maxwell of St. Mark’s. “We ended up talking to this one guy, who was totally nice. He told us stories and played the guitar. He was homeless because he just didn’t know how to get a job — he mostly did odd jobs and played his guitar on the street. He was a lot of fun.” Kayla Morton of St. Mark’s said that from their conversations on the streets her group learned a lot about facilities and services available for the homeless—the places they can go, for example, for food, shelter or medical care. Her group also met a memorable person, who made them think about the causes and effects of homelessness. “We also encountered a French-speaking homeless man, [whom] I was able to communicate with enough to give him a jar of peanut butter, which he was immensely grateful for,” Morton said. “We all saw how homelessness is not just a food issue, but has deeper roots and must have significant effort put into it in order to make a difference.” “I had a great time helping people,” said Maxwell, “and I realized that homeless people are just like me, but less fortunate.” “Overall, the group bonded as they became more aware of the plight of the homeless and did as much as they could to help,” Morton said. ■
When St. George’s, Riviera Beach, was established in 1938 by Bahamian Anglicans, the congregation reflected the ethnic make-up of the community—blacks and whites, in addition to many Bahamians of mixed racial heritage. But by the late 1960s, the community had changed radically: A “white flight” took many middle-class families out of the area, leaving a neighborhood that was poorer and predominantly African-American. Since the 1960s St. George’s has been a mission congregation offering social support to its needy neighbors. St. George’s Center, created in 1998, currently provides a widerange of social services, including an after-school and school holidays program for 60 children of elementary school age, as well as a feeding program which provides meals for 150 to 200 homeless and poor at least twice a day. Job assistance and clothing assistance programs are in their early stages. Now St. George’s is beginning a new outreach into a community that has changed once again. Over the past 20 years the Hispanic population in Palm Beach County has gone from only six percent estimates of over thirty percent of the total population. Hispanics are rapidly becoming majority populations in urban and rural neighborhoods throughout the area where there are family or particular community links to their homeland. Hundreds of Central American (mostly Guatemalan and Mexican) families now live within 20 blocks of St. George’s. Typically they have a family income of about $24,000 per year and have a primary school level of education in Spanish. Fr. Michael McManus, who has been serving as priest-in-charge of St. George’s since late last year, along with Hispanic members of St. George’s and of St. Mark’s, Palm Beach Gardens, is working to develop an outreach ministry to these Hispanic neighbors. McManus has consulted with leaders in Hispanic ministry both in the diocese and throughout the Episcopal Church, and has learned to celebrate the Eucharist in Spanish. St. Mark's Episcopal Churchwomen arranged for a free Quinceañera celebration for Tami, a young Guatemalan woman who was baptized at St. George’s and is now active in the congregation. Tami’s brother, 16-year-old Fausto, is an active member of St. George's youth group and was part of a group of youth from St. George’s and St. Mark’s that took part in a week-long mission trip to work with the homeless and needy in Washington, DC. (See story, left.) Our intent is to make the Hispanic community more aware of the Episcopal Church’s cultural sensitivity and its commitment to welcome and serve Latinos. ■ Tony Magaña is a parishioner and Cursillo representative at St. Mark’s, Palm Beach Gardens; he also serves as a missioner at St. George’s, working with all its ministries and maintaining its website, www.st-georgeschurch.com.
Quinceañera
Photo by Tony Magaña
As their mother and St. George’s priest-in charge, Fr. Michael McManus, listen, Tami and her brother Fausto renew their baptismal vows at Tami’s Quinceañera celebration.