Updated 4/20/08
Programs Supported by St. Jude's Volunteers and Outreach
Live Oak Adult Day Services, originally Cupertino Senior Day Services (CSDS), uses St. Jude's classroom buildings five days a week to provide daycare for seniors who need continuing supervision. These are typically seniors who do not have physical illnesses that make them invalids, but who cannot be left alone. Live Oak provides a workable solution for many families who can take care of the seniors in the evening and at night, but not during the daytime. The program provides a stimulating community experience for elders who might otherwise be isolated.
The Live Oak program in Cupertino began as CSDS in 1980 when the previous weekday occupant of our classroom buildings, a Head Start facility, moved to De Anza College. A brainstorming session that focused on service to the community led to the formation of CSDS. Over the years, St. Jude's parishioners have provided Board leadership and volunteer support. Parishioner Janet Hill was the program director until mid-1999. Kay Knapp currently serves on the Live Oak Board of Directors and Susan Stanley volunteers weekly. Visitors and volunteers are welcome!
West Valley Community Services
West Valley Community Services (WVCS), formerly Cupertino Community Services, is the principal community services organization in Cupertino and the West Valley area. WVCS is well known in our community for its excellent Direct Assistance Program and Housing Services. At its facility on Vista Drive, WVCS serves those in need through the Food Pantry, Clothing Closet, Emergency Cash Assistance, Case Management and Referrals, Vouchers and by Special Events and Programs. WVCS works to provide low-cost transitional and permanent housing for citizens of the area with programs for transitional housing and below market rate rentals (including Vista Villages, 24 units of low-cost rental housing).
Near to St. Jude's heart is the WVCS-sponsored Rotating Shelter Program. This community program offers transitional shelter for homeless men as they regroup to gain employment and housing. The Rotating Shelter rotates on a monthly basis among eleven churches and a synagogue across Cupertino, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Saratoga. The hosting church provides space from 8:00pm to 6:00am and shares responsibility with other community organizations to provide hot dinners for the 15 men in the program. The Rotating Shelter has been housed for one month each year at St. Jude's since the program began in the early 1990s. At St. Jude's, the men use the Fireplace Room as their base and sleep in the Sanctuary. WVCS provides a nighttime supervisor, as well as counseling. Peter Troop is St. Jude's coordinator for the Rotating Shelter.
Our Daily Bread is the outreach effort of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Sunnyvale, which provides a noonday meal three days/week to anyone who comes. In the typical serving day St. Thomas serves 250 men, women and children representing all races. With economic conditions deteriorating in 2008, on some days as many as 300 people have been served. For many of the elderly human companionship is as important as the food. Diners do not stand in line, but seat themselves in an attractive parish hall where they are served by volunteers and treated with dignity and compassion. It has provided a nonjudgmental place of sustenance for many years. St. Jude's parishioners, including Ann Shepherd and Joyce Herzog, have been long-time volunteers. St. Jude's also contributes to the annual operating budget for Our Daily Bread. Additional volunteer opportunities exist for cooks, assistant cooks, servers, clean-up crew, and early set-up helpers. Contact the Program Coordinator at (408) 736-4108 for further details.
Organization of Special Needs Families
Founded by parishioners Lihuei and Chihua Wei, OSF is a family resource and support center for parents of children and individuals with special needs. This dynamic program provides regularly scheduled activities for individuals with special needs; training, resources and consultation for parents; information and referral services to family members. Local high school students volunteer to provide one-on-one mentoring for the children in the program. OSF partners with many other agencies and community organizations to ensure integration of special needs individuals in the life of the community. You will find OSF making active use of St. Jude's classrooms from 3-6pm on weekdays and an expanded part of the campus most Saturdays from 12:30-6. Volunteers welcome!
Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM) is an outreach effort of the Diocese of El Camino Real to the low-income residential community immediately south of downtown San Jose. SMUM provides social services (food, clothing, home furnishings, language and skills training and socialization) for its clients. SMUM has immigrant Hispanic clients primarily, although it also has Vietnamese clients. 60% of the clients are children, most living in families with parents who work at low-wage jobs.
The St. Jude's relationship with SMUM dates back to its founding by the Rev. Mitzi Ackerman, a St. Jude's parishioner who was the first woman ordained in the Diocese of El Camino Real. Many from St. Jude's helped Mitzi found SMUM and over the years these and others have volunteered and served on the Board. Today, we contribute parish Outreach funds, and throughout the year parishioners contribute food clothing and other items, which Jim Mangin faithfully transports to SMUM each week. St. Jude's also participates in Santa Maria Christmas, which collects and distributes seasonal gift packages.
Now over 20 years old, SMUM receives funding from a variety of sources-- the Diocesan budget, area churches, individual pledges and grants. But the vibrancy of this organization depends on the efforts of volunteers. More than 60 volunteers help with Santa Maria's verious programs, but more are always needed. Help is needed daytime, afternoons, and evenings for ABC Playtime, computer skills programs for youth and adults, ESL tutoring, and more. For a list of volunteer needs, click here.
The Bill Wilson Center's mission is to support and strengthen the community by serving youth and families through counseling, housing, education, and advocacy. Bill Wilson serves over 10,000 clients in Santa Clara County annually through some 12 different programs that are inspired and highly effective. Bill Wilson maintains runaway and homeless youth shelters and provides family and youth counseling. They have a special focus on serving teens in Foster Care who often loose what family support they have had as they "age out" of Foster Care after turning 18. Another program is the Centre for Living with Dying, which provides emotional support to adults and children facing life-threatening illness or the trauma of having a loved one die. St. Jude's parishioners, including high school aged youth, have volunteered at Bill Wilson Center. The parish has provided Outreach funds to support the valuable work that Bill Wilson Center does for all of the communities of Silicon Valley.
Family Supportive Housing's San Jose Family Shelter provides shelter for families who find themselves unable to find affordable housing. It can accommodate 32 families and is unique among shelters in that the entire family unit, including fathers, is accommodated. The shelter provides counseling and medical assistance to enable the residents to achieve economic independence. Meals and childcare are provided. It includes a Head Start program. School age children attend regular classrooms nearby. St. Jude's dinner teams (including youth group members) have served here once a month for 19 years.
In addition to volunteers from the St. Jude's community, the parish has made annual contributions of Outreach funds toward the operating budget of the shelter. In 2007, Family Supportive Housing provided emergency housing for 182 families, supplied 641 homeless people (422 of whom were children) with food, clothing, case management, educational classes, workshops & activities, and with the help of volunteers prepared over 186,000 nutritious meals.
Julian Street Inn is the only South Bay shelter that provides emergency shelter to clients diagnosed with mental illness. 70 beds are available for men and women who have been diagnosed with a mental illness and are actively engaged in the mental health care system. Clients may stay for up to 60 days. Individuals receive one-on-one counseling and support, as well as participation in support groups. The groups are designed to help clients increase their coping skills, maintain sobriety, and develop resources to help them maintain independence.
For more than a decade, St. Jude's has provided financial support to the Julian Street Inn and teams of volunteers who cook meals for the shelter.
Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy
The Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy (CIC) is a long-standing non-denominational and non-governmental program reporting directly to the faith community that brings ordained and lay ministers into the adult and juvenile penal institutions in Santa Clara County. The CIC serves 11 facilities ranging from family shelters to juvenile hall to the main jail and conducts over 30 worship services and a variety of related activities. CIC has ministered to people associated with St. Jude's and is one of a limited number of resources that prisoners see that are directed toward rehabilitation.
St. Jude's has supported the CIC with funding and, in the past, with musical/liturgical involvement at Elmwood, and through the prison ministry of The Rev. Connie White. CIC is seeking creative ways to spread the gospel through drama, art, etc. as well as a variety of liturgical experiences and support activities. At the February, 2003 Adult Forum, Executive Director David Robinson encouraged us to open our hearts to this ministry. There are many ways to be involved -- through prayer, legislative advocacy, one-on-one visitation, Bible study, worship services, drama, art, or storytelling, support for literacy programs, as well as aftercare support.
Friends Outside in Santa Clara County
Friends Outside in Santa Clara County deploys programs to assist families living in the county who have a spouse, child, or relative in custody; to prisoners incarcerated in the Santa Clara County jails; and individuals who have recently been released from jail or prison. Friends Outside seeks is unique in combining a focus to family and rehabilitation to help individuals overcome the immediate and long term effects of incarceration. Their programs are intended to act as a bridge between those they serve, the community at large, and the criminal justice system.
Incarceration places the entire family at risk. The remaining spouse and children suffer shame, a sense of loss, and frequently family income is drastically reduced. Necessities such as clothing, food and supplies are often beyond the reach of limited budgets. The first time the family has experienced incarceration, there is confusion and embarrassment. Incarceration, unlike other catastrophes that happen, is not seen by society as a situation that deserves compassion. St. Jude's has provided annual support to Friends Outside because its programs provide one of the few places where families in this situation came come to for help and not feel judged.
SVSPIRIT Campus Ministry at San Jose State University
SVSPIRIT (Silicon Valley Spirit), is the part of the Episcopal Canterbury Community of ministries to young people. Led by SVSPIRIT Chaplain, the Rev. Roger Wharton, it provides outreach to college students and young adults in Silicon Valley who are on a spiritual path or are interested in exploring the spiritual world. They invite people of all faiths, or no faith, traditions and backgrounds to participate in a welcoming, affirming and open community that offers spiritual education and guidance. They gather for worship, rituals and recreation as they strive to connect with our God given purpose in life, with other people, and with the planet. They also have some presence at West Valley Community College, and join with other area churches to keep a progressive Christian presence on campuses. At various times St. Jude's clergy have partnered with SVSPIRIT, and over the years Saint Jude's has provided annual financial support.
Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley
Rebuilding Together brings volunteers together to rehabilitate the homes of low income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, so that they may live in warmth, safety and independence. The majority of the low-income homeowners served are elderly or disabled individuals, or residents who are physically and financially unable to maintain safe and warm living conditions for themselves and their families. In the fall of 2007, St. Jude's Outreach took on a Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley project that was a tremendous success. St. Jude's Outreach funds were donated to purchase supplies, then under Jeff and Mary Hultquist’s leadership, 13 parishioners worked to help an 83 year-old woman who is living alone. The volunteers took care of neglected repairs around her home. They painted eves and window trim, rebuilt a rickety gate, removed a cracked and broken concrete patio, repaired stucco, replaced door handles, cleaned windows and made repairs inside the home. The many hands made for a great team effort.
In April 2008, St. Jude's volunteers, including parishoners from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Los Gatos, made repairs and improvements to a battered women safe house in downtown San Jose. The next St. Jude's / Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley project will be in October 2008.
Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley
This local chapter of Habitat for Humanity builds a small number of houses each year in the Silicon Valley. The funds contributed to Silicon Valley Habitat are used to purchase land and materials. Construction is accomplished by volunteers working under the direction of professional construction people, most of whom are themselves are volunteers, The houses are provided to low-income families for the cost of materials and with a 30 year loan at 0% interest. Qualifying families must complete at least 500 hours of work alongside volunteers. Silicon Valley Habitat has built 37 homes.
numerous volunteers from St. Jude's, from youth to adults, have worked on Habitat job sites over the years. Linda Morris has regularly organized St. Jude's workdays. Several parishioners work regularly with habitat, including Richard Trevisan and Jeff Hultquist.
National Alliance on Mental Illness Santa Clara County
NAMI Santa Clara County is an affiliate of the national organization that focuses on education and advocacy for consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain. In addition they host recovery support groups for individuals and families coping with the ramifications of mental illness.
The Books Aloud "Reading by Listening" program provides a wide variety of recorded reading literature to eligible individuals of all ages. Their mission is to keep the "Magic of Reading" alive for the blind, visually impaired, learning disabled or physically disabled individuals who are unable to read conventional print, hold a book or turn pages. More than 100 Books Aloud volunteers record books-on-tape that are distributed free-of-charge to 2,200 clients, from the blind, to autistic children, to older individuals with macular degeneration, to sufferers of muscular dystrophy, diabetes and arthritis. They make mini-libraries available to schools and other organizations that serve these populations in Santa Clara County, including the Live Oak Senior Day Care center on St. Jude's campus. For more than 25 years Joyce Herzog, a St. Jude's parishioner, has volunteered weekly at Books Aloud, recording books of all kinds for the individuals they serve.
For 14 years New Horizons School served homeless children who otherwise could not attend school in the Capitola/Aptos/Santa Cruz area of the Diocese of El Camino Real. The school closed after the 2007/08 school year, as public schools are now providing for this need due to state legistation that allows enrollment of homeless children in public schools. The assets of the school have been donated to local non-profits and agencies that address disadvantaged families, inlcuding the Paul Lee Loft Shelter, Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club and Students in Transition Children’s Hospice. St. Jude's provided annual support to New Horizon after its former headmaster Jack Husband gave parishioners a vivid picture of this unique school, its vision, and participants during a St. Jude's Adult Forum in July, 2002.
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Hope with Sudan is a ministry of San Jose's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral that traces its roots to 2001, when the first “Lost Boys of Sudan,” many of whom are Episcopalians, began to be resettled in San Jose. They had fled together from Sudan in 1987, endured exile first in Ethiopia, escaped back through Sudan in 1991, and then lived and studied together in the harsh environment of the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya before being brought to San Jose.
St. Jude's has provided support to this program since its inception. At the outset the priority was with the Sudanese refugees in our immediate community. In recent years, the focus has shifted to providing support for the education of young Sudanese refugees in Kenya, and for the needs of Episcopal dioceses in Southern Sudan. St. Jude's has responded to appeals for medicines for remote clinics in Southern Sudan that had none. Sewing machines were bought for use by the Mother’s Union in Juba, Sudan, to promote home industry and empower women in the troubled region. Donations have also been used to pay primary school tuitions for Sudanese refugees in Kenya, with the objective of developing talents that can help in the immense task of rebuilding southern Sudan.
St. Jude's support for Hope with Sudan helps to directly address four of the eight Millennium Development Goals that are designed to end extreme poverty by 2015:
Friends of African Village Libraries
Friends of African Village Libraries is a network of individuals and donors committed to long-term support for small community libraries in rural Africa. Built from the inspiration and energy of two professors at Santa Clara University, since 2001, FAVL has established and continues to support nine libraries, five in Burkina Faso, two in Ghana, one in Tanzania, and one in Uganda.
FAVL is all about long-term commitments of support to ensure that libraries are not only established, but that they thrive. Village libraries are established if a donor is willing to make a long-term commitment to support a library. Communities typically provide a building, or a building site, for the library. FAVL will then help the village to refurbish an existing building, or build a new building if funds permit, help to hire a librarian and purchase books. Village libraries typically hold a collection of one or two thousand books. The books are in English, French, Arabic, and local languages. The typical library has a reading room and office for the librarian. In 2008, St. Jude's began to support this exemplary, yet small program, that is making a profound difference in the lives of rural communities in Africa.
St. Jude's support for FAVL helps to directly address two of the eight Millennium Development Goals that are designed to end extreme poverty by 2015:
Community Housing Works - Poder Popular/Farm Worker CARE Coalition
In November, 2007, and the aftermath of the fires in San Diego County, Saint Jude's provided Outreach funds to aid farm workers and their families who lived in and around the fire-swept canyons in San Diego County. St. Jude's donation was made to the Poder Popular/Farm Worker CARE Coalition in response to a Red Cross request that the Coalition serve as a conduit for aid to these families living on the margins of society. The funds were used to provide vouchers for food and clothing. Because of the urgency of need, no administrative, or overhead costs were applied to the St. Jude's donation by the program dispensing the aid. At the time St. Jude's made its donation the fund was struggling to address the needs of more than 50 families who had been living in 30 trailers destroyed by fire in the Pala Mission trailer park.
Appropedia.org is one of the ways St. Jude's is supporting the Millennium Development Goals. Appropedia uses Wiki technology on its Web site to empower a new Web-based community to collaborate, share information, technology and ideas with the objective of reducing poverty and bettering the lives of people worldwide. Wiki technology allows anyone connecting with Appropedia.org to add, remove, or edit content. Its promise is as a place for stakeholders to come together, find, create and improve scalable and adaptable solutions to problems in the world's poorest communities. Parishioner Curt Beckmann is an active and early volunteer in helping the site grow and realize its potential.
St. Jude's support for Appropedia favorably impacts all of the eight Millennium Development Goals, it helps to directly address two of the goals:
Saint John's Episcopal Church, Pascagoula, Mississippi
In late 2007, St. Jude's responded to an appeal from St. John's Episcopal Church in Pascagoula, Mississippi with a donation to their Sheetrock Ministry that is helping families rebuild from the Katrina disaster. Some 9,000 structures were lost in Pascagoula, and the recovery effort is expected to take eight or more years. With every month there are families impacted by the storm who begin to tackle rebuilding. St. Jude's contribution will cover the cost of approximately 150 sheets of wallboard, a little more than what is required for two homes.
Episcopal Relief and Development
One of the ways St. Jude's has responded to world disasters is through Episcopal Relief and Development, which for over 60 years has provided a compassionate response from the Episcopal Church to human suffering in the world. ERD has worked in more than 100 countries providing emergency relief in times of disaster, rebuilding devastated communities after the immediate crisis is over, and supporting long-term solutions to challenging problems.
In 2008, St. Jude's has contributed to ERD in support of their response to the devastation of the Myanmar cyclone and China earthquake. In prior years, ERD has enabled St. Jude's to contribute to victims of the war being waged in Iraq, for immediate relief for Tsunami victims in Asia and hurricane victims on the Gulf coast of America, and for timely programs addressing HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Support for Episcopal Missionary Activities and Parishioner Initiatives
Past Projects:
St. Matthias’ Church, Sri Lanka -- St. Jude’s responded to the Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami disaster of December 2004 with a prayer service, allocation of funds to Episcopal Relief and Development and commitment to help 125 year old St. Matthias Church in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, the home parish of St. Jude’s parishioners Rasika Weerasooriya and Don Colombage. The community St. Matthias serves is on the east coast of Sri Lanka that was devastated by the tsunami. St. Jude's rallied support for relief efforts gathering funds that were used by St. Matthias to build and maintain temporary shelter camps and distribute dry food rations. At their peak, the camps sheltered 414 people, 38% of whom were children.
La Roca, Tijuana, Mexico -- St Jude's adult and youth volunteers, along with volunteers from St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Mountain View, worked at La Roca in the summer of 2004. La Roca is a mission that offers care, education, and vocational training to single mothers and their children. Their goal is that every woman that comes to La Roca will learn the necessary skills needed to become self-sufficient so that they will be able to care for themselves and for their families, spiritually and financially. Education is a huge part of their vision, therefore they provide schooling for the children of La Roca, as well as children from surrounding neighborhoods.
The St. Jude's group helped with repairs to the facility, including the installation of a new solar hot system. Before the installation of the new system, mothers and children were taking cold showers in the winter as there was not enough money to pay for the propane to heat water.
The Barillas Relief Project, El Salvador -- began as volunteer response by the International Cruising Community to the disastrous earthquakes in El Salvador in January 2001. The goal was to bring swift and direct aid to the residents of a small village in the eastern part of El Salvador to rebuild their homes. Villagers worked alongside volunteers to learn basic construction skills, equipping them to build earthquake resistant housing for other people in El Salvador in the future. While sailing from Mexico to Panama, St. Jude parishioners Janet and Howard Hill joined this group of cruisers with an eclectic collection of skills. The Hills documented their experience in a video, which they shared along with their stories upon their return to Cupertino. St. Jude's answered the call for funds from the cruisers and the Bishop of the Diocese of El Salvador. In August 2002, the Hills gave an update on the continuing Barillas Relief efforts. St. Jude's served as a facilitator of broader donation efforts. A video was produced for distribution to churches and other organizations.
Support for Student Initiatives -- St. Jude's has a history of encouraging young people to answer the call to world service. Inspired by the rich spiritual return of Kate Snow's 1986 experience in Honduras, the Outreach Ministry has spiritually and financially supported short student mission trips by Georgina Colvin in Mexico and Kevin Satterlee in Zimbabwe. In addition, a group of St. Judeans has supported young Nicaraguan Lidieth Cruz Centeno in her successful effort to complete law school and serve the poor in Ometepe, Lago Nicaragua.
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Activities on Saint Jude's Campus
Live Oak Adult Day Services -- Daily 9am to 3pm
Organization of Special Needs Families -- Daily 3pm to 6pm / Sat. Noon to 6pm
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous -- Monday and Thursday nights at 7pm, click here for contact information
Full Gospel Church -- Daily at 5am, Tues eve, and Sunday noon to 4pm
Troop 479 / Boy Scouts of America -- Monday, 7:15pm click here to contact by email
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Updated 4/20/08 |
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