The Lee Food Pantry

Jesus says in Matthew 25 that when you have fed my brethren, you have fed me. At the beginning of each Saturday that St. Paul’s team is in charge of the Lee Food Pantry, we pray in thanksgiving for the food we are distributing and for those who gave it, as well as for our clients who will receive the food. We also pray that we may serve with joyful hearts. To those experiencing food insecurity, we freely offer fresh produce from Gideon’s Garden during the growing season and bread from Big Y year-round, as well as donated food from St. Paul’s and food purchased through donations. A dedicated group of volunteers from St. Paul’s greets clients and distributes the food on the 2nd Saturday of each month not only because of the need in the community, but also because of the blessings we receive. Once a month, the food gathered at St. Paul’s is blessed at the offertory, and the Pantry is included in our Intercessory Prayers on that Sunday.

The Lee Food Pantry is a joint outreach program of St. Paul’s (Stockbridge), Grace Church (Gt. Barrington), St. Mary’s (Lee), and Lee Congregational Churches. Our St. Paul’s group includes fifteen from St. Paul’s and six who are not otherwise connected to St. Paul’s. One is a junior at Lee High School who volunteers every week. Two are nurses at the hospital in Pittsfield. One started volunteering after a conversation with one of our regular volunteers who was driving him home after a bike breakdown. We all have become a caring community. On our Saturday, we typically serve around fifty clients, who represent around 100 people. This is more than we usually saw in recent years. The number of clients who only speak Spanish has increased to about ten. Adding a new Spanish-fluent volunteer in January 2023 has made a tremendous difference.

You can join in this ministry by bringing non-perishable food to St. Paul’s, donating money to buy food, or joining the face-to-face 2nd Saturday ministry team. Contact Jim Wade (270-519-7078) to volunteer.

Gideon’s Garden

Gideon’s Garden is a vegetable garden located at Taft Farms and operated by Grace Church, Great Barrington. A summer internship program provides education, connection with the earth, and a small stipend for young teens. Volunteers of all ages help plant, nurture, and harvest crops for distribution to regional food pantries, including Lee Food Pantry. Volunteers from St. Paul’s regularly help at the Garden.

Appalachian Trail Angels Ministry

While a few individuals from St. Paul’s had volunteered as Trail Angels in past summers, in 2022 we organized two teams (8 people + 1 dog) who worked on a July weekday and an August Saturday. Begun in 2018 as a shared ministry of two Sheffield churches, “Trail Magic” is a fun mission of hospitality, spending a day outdoors chatting with Appalachian Trail hikers and friends while sharing refreshments. We listened to some incredible stories about searching for identity and purpose, working out grief, and experiencing a physical challenge. We shared laughter and tears, along with water and burgers, cell phone chargers, chairs, and shade from the heat. According to several through-hikers, this is THE BEST Trail Angel site they’ve found. In addition to in-person volunteers, St. Paul’s was able to provide Big Y gift cards to help purchase food for the teams that would follow us.

Thanks to Christ Trinity Church and 1st Congregational Church for envisioning this ministry and reaching out to other churches to join them. To volunteer, please contact coordinator Sharon Billitar

Swords to Plowshares

On Saturday, November 2022, a demonstration and hands-on participation at forge and anvil, creating garden tools from guns voluntarily turned in, was held at The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington as a witness to the desire to end gun violence. Speakers who lost family and friends to gun violence, free gun locks from the Gt. Barrington PD, and a chance to purchase trowels and crosses made from gun metal were an integral part of this moving day. Grace Church was the lead organizer for the event. St. Paul’s was an event sponsor, providing monetary support, as well as volunteers to serve doughnuts and cider, and participants in the event.

Student Care Packages

A new outreach/pastoral care project in 2022 grew out of the recognition that St. Paul’s has nine young adults away at college. Knowing the stress that students can be under, we decided to send care packages to these students, plus a couple more, with items donated by parishioners such as bookmarks, snack food, pens, post-it note pads, etc. During church, parishioners filled baskets with items as we pondered the gospel story of the feeding of the five thousand. The boxes were mailed later that week with the following note from our Interim Priest: “On this week before Thanksgiving, the folks at St. Paul’s in Stockbridge give thanks for you and hope that your fall semester at college is going well. We’re sending this box of snacks and other items for you to enjoy. We know that this can be a stressful time in the life of a college student. This gift is a way of saying we care for your well- being. My contact info is below, so you can get in touch if you ever feel a need. St. Paul’s holds you in prayer.” Many of the students sent heart-felt thank you notes. 2023 Coordinators are Kim Savery and Rob Maloney.

Christmas Family

Matt Fillio organizes the annual project of making Christmas brighter for a local family. A list of suggested gifts for the child in the family was offered to parishioners during Advent. Some buy gifts from this list and leave them at the church. Others contribute money and Matt becomes the personal shopper for this family. He also purchases gift cards for the parents and deliveres everything in time for Christmas. Over $600 was given in 2022 to make this possible. We received a heartfelt thank you from the family: “This Christmas season has truly been magical for all of us seeing how amazing this community truly is when there are families in need! Again thank you to the angels that helped make this Christmas magical! Lots of love from our family to yours!”

Cathedral of the Beloved

Cathedral of the Beloved in Pittsfield is “a multi-denominational church without walls, where all people can know the joy and freedom of being loved by God.” It provides Sunday worship and a free meal, Thursday Coffee Hour, free laundry service, circle practice, pastoral care and counseling, and referrals to nonprofit agencies for needed assistance. At the suggestion of Senior Warden Jorja Marsden, the vestry designated the loose plate offering from our three Christmas services to go to Cathedral of the Beloved. That offering was $1,050.00. We hope in 2023 to expand our interaction with the Cathedral of the Beloved by participating in a worship service or helping with a meal.

Riverbrook Residence

Riverbrook is a Stockbridge home for exceptional women. For many years, Riverbrook residents and their companions have been part of the St. Paul’s congregation, though they couldn’t come for two years due to Covid restrictions. Their return in the summer of 2022 was greeted with much joy by other members of the congregation. While we worshipped outdoors, several of the women brought cookies or brownies to share with the congregation for fellowship time. They also sometimes brought flowers from their garden to sell after church. One Riverbrook resident volunteers at St. Paul’s Children’s Center. Former Rector Sam Smith served on the Riverbrook Board in early 2022 and Senior Warden Jorja Marsden will join the Riverbrook Board in the spring of 2023. After a $200 gift was made to Riverbrook from the Rector’s Discretionary Fund at Christmas 2022, we received this response: “Meaningful gifts create beautiful lives. Our friends at St. Paul’s, to create a beautiful life, we need you.” Our life as a parish is enriched by their participation and their horizon is broadened by worshipping here.

Prayer Basket

Throughout the week, especially from June-October, dozens of people visit St. Paul’s to observe the architectural beauty, learn about the history, and spend quiet time in prayer.  A recent visitor said, “Thank you for keeping this sacred space open.  It matters!”  On the nave altar, we offer printed prayers and paper/pen to write one’s own prayers.  The basket of those prayers is often overflowing when we lift it up at the offertory during Sunday worship.

St. Paul’s Creates

On August 20-21, 2022 (the weekend of the Stockbridge Arts & Crafts Festival), St. Paul’s held “St. Paul’s Creates,” an open house celebration of God’s creative nature. It included church tours and a Sunday organ concert by our Music Director Dillon Streifeneder. Throughout the weekend we offered an interactive weaving demonstration, children’s activities, and music on the lawn of the Rectory. The center piece of the event was a display in the front rooms of the Rectory that included a wide variety of arts and crafts made by parishioners or former parishioners – photography, painting, writing, fabric art, papier mache, and more. We created a prayer station on the lower altar of the church that continues to be very popular with weekday visitors to the church. Over 40 parishioners participated in “St. Paul’s Creates” by contributing art, leading church tours, or hosting the art show. Well over 100 visitors signed our guest books.

News will be available soon about a special St. Paul’s event on the weekend of the Stockbridge Arts and Crafts Festival, August 19-20, 2023.

Blessing of the Animals

On the Sunday closest to St. Francis Day, we celebrated a Blessing of the Animals, the first for St. Paul’s in several years. Twelve people and seven dogs enjoyed a breezy cool mid-afternoon getting to know each other on the lawn. Advertising in the community was successful, as half the people and most of the animals came from outside the parish. After a short liturgy and stories about St. Francis’ love for all creatures, each animal was individually blessed.  Treats and certificates were offered. We even collected a bit of pet food for Lee Food Pantry. There was general agreement among planners and participants that this is an event to be repeated annually.