Our Mission Projects
Wrapping presents for Christmas Box Project
As Christians, we are committed to God's command to care for our neighbors, and to do what we can to promote justice, peace, health, and dignity in the communities around us. We do this in several ways, and we're always looking for more ways to help!
Repair Affair: Every spring, St. Mary's organizes a team to assist in Repair Affair, a project of the Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency. Repair Affair sends teams of workers to the homes of elderly and disabled members of our community to do maintenance and repair work on their houses.
Christmas Box Project: Each December we team up with Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency and put together food parcels for 40 families in our county, and wrap, box, and deliver Christmas presents for the children in those families. Learn More.
Middlesboro Adult Learning Center: We donate books and volunteer our time at book sales to raise funds for GED fees. In a county with a 56% high school/GED completion rate and 50% functional adult literacy, this is an important ministry.
Cooperative Christian Ministry (CCM): We give a monthly contribution to CCM, which is a non-profit service agency run by a coalition of churches. CCM gives food, clothing, household items, help with utilities, and medicine to persons in need, who live in the 40965 zip code. Parishioners also pick up bread products weekly from a local grocery store and food once a year from God's Pantry, a Lexington, Kentucky based food bank.
Safe Place for Little Saints: Neighborhood children were playing on refuse piles within sight of St. Mary's. Through grants and donations, we were able to raise $15,000 for a community playground on the West side of the church. Children from the Health Department located across the parking lot of the church also use the playground, which gives them something to look forward to after they get their shots (ouch!)
Our congregation is drawn from communities in Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. Our members participate in Relay For Life events in both Bell County (Ky) and Claiborne County (Tenn.). We contribute to a badly needed long term drug and alcohol addiction center in Lee County, Virginia, called New Beginnings.
At the Diocesan level, we support the Diocese of Lexington Reading Camp program at Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan, a camp for delayed readers, who have completed 3rd or 4th grade, by recruiting eligible campers from the local school system, raising money to cover camp costs through special collections and donations, transporting campers to the camp and volunteering at camp. For more information about Reading Camp, go to https://readingcamprocks.org/.
Repair Affair: Every spring, St. Mary's organizes a team to assist in Repair Affair, a project of the Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency. Repair Affair sends teams of workers to the homes of elderly and disabled members of our community to do maintenance and repair work on their houses.
Christmas Box Project: Each December we team up with Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency and put together food parcels for 40 families in our county, and wrap, box, and deliver Christmas presents for the children in those families. Learn More.
Middlesboro Adult Learning Center: We donate books and volunteer our time at book sales to raise funds for GED fees. In a county with a 56% high school/GED completion rate and 50% functional adult literacy, this is an important ministry.
Cooperative Christian Ministry (CCM): We give a monthly contribution to CCM, which is a non-profit service agency run by a coalition of churches. CCM gives food, clothing, household items, help with utilities, and medicine to persons in need, who live in the 40965 zip code. Parishioners also pick up bread products weekly from a local grocery store and food once a year from God's Pantry, a Lexington, Kentucky based food bank.
Safe Place for Little Saints: Neighborhood children were playing on refuse piles within sight of St. Mary's. Through grants and donations, we were able to raise $15,000 for a community playground on the West side of the church. Children from the Health Department located across the parking lot of the church also use the playground, which gives them something to look forward to after they get their shots (ouch!)
Our congregation is drawn from communities in Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. Our members participate in Relay For Life events in both Bell County (Ky) and Claiborne County (Tenn.). We contribute to a badly needed long term drug and alcohol addiction center in Lee County, Virginia, called New Beginnings.
At the Diocesan level, we support the Diocese of Lexington Reading Camp program at Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan, a camp for delayed readers, who have completed 3rd or 4th grade, by recruiting eligible campers from the local school system, raising money to cover camp costs through special collections and donations, transporting campers to the camp and volunteering at camp. For more information about Reading Camp, go to https://readingcamprocks.org/.
