Outreach Commission Mission, Focus and Methods
Mission: The Outreach Commission oversees the funding of St. Mary’s outreach programs and in some cases directs the actual outreach project activities. The outreach programs of interest to the commission are generally local nonprofit organizations operating in the Ft. Myers-Naples corridor within Lee and Collier counties. These outreach partners are apolitical and provide direct services to clients in need. It is not the commission’s mission to fund advocacy on any social issue. There are a few partner organizations that are located out-of-state and international.
Specific interests: The commission is especially interested in local outreach to help disadvantaged neighbors, literacy and education, food assistance, recovery rehabilitation, child development and family integrity. The Nonlocal outreach efforts, for example, can focus on seminary education, winter clothing contributions to colder states and safe drinking water.
Methods: The commission annually solicits grant applications from potential partners, then reviews the submitted applications and recommends grant awards to the Rector and Vestry for approval. The primary source of funds is the annual contribution for outreach from St. Mary’s Pennywise Thrift Store. Additional appeals may be conducted for specific emergencies. Additionally, the commission conducts semi-annual food drives to assist outreach partners with food assistance programs and promotes outreach volunteerism through Outreach Partner Sunday presentations and other information sharing. Lastly, the commission runs a gift program for children during the Christmas season.
Outreach Grant Partners
Serving Dearborn and Ohio Counties in Indiana since 1981, the clearing house provides food security programs and clothing free of charge to those in need. Their partners include The United Way, Dearborn Community Foundation, Ohio County Community Foundation and the Rising Sun Regional Foundation. Their mission is to “…maintain its stature in the community, as a reliable agency, that people know they can always turn to, and be welcomed with open arms and be provided with food and necessities.”
Their clothing program provides new and gently used items free of charge to those in need. St. Mary’s has, for the last 7 years, provided winter and cold weather clothing that has been donated to Pennywise Thrift and which is not needed in our climate. In 2024 we shipped 55 cases of clothing to them.
After the Rain of Southwest Florida
The mission of After the Rain is to provide safe housing for adult women recovering from substance abuse and domestic violence. Their goal since 1995 is to ensure residents receive access to supportive services as well as counseling and workshops as they develop a healthy character to succeed as self-sufficient citizens and capable of rebuilding family relationships. Their vision is to help women heal, grow and change from the inside, and glow from the outside, by becoming substance-free and self-reliant.
St. Mary’s has provided cash grants since 2014, in 2025 the grant was $4,000
Café of Life
The Café’s mission is more than meeting basic needs. Their goal is to enrich lives to empower the community’s poor to lift themselves out of poverty. They are supported by 21 different organization and foundation partners. Their services include on-site hot meals and supplemental groceries, clothing and other items. They also deliver goods to those who cannot come to their Leitner Park location and provide some transportation services to the park as well as to medical appointments, pharmacies, etc.
St. Mary’s has provided volunteers and cash grants since 2009, in 2025 two grants totaled $6,000 ($4,000 initial and $2,000 supplemental) Annually each spring a parish-wide food drive is conducted to benefit Café of Life.
Harvest Time Ministries of Bonita
The mission of Harvest Time is to serve farm-worker families who work in the fields planting and harvesting tomatoes, strawberries, jalapenos, peppers, cucumbers and other crops. They feed souls and bodies and show the grace and mercy of Jesus to these workers and their families.
Harvest Time Ministries is supported by volunteers from six local churches, including St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s has also provided cash grants since 2009, in 2025 the grant was $5,000.
Lifegiving Waters International
Provide hydro-engineering, planning, construction and training services to rural communities in the developing world to provide clean, potable water systems. They see the LORD powerfully provide for these wonderful hardworking rural people with the clean water they need. They experience the faith journey together with humble rural communities, trusting the LORD to guide and provide for their water need.
Lifegiving waters partners with eight supporting organizations. St. Mary’s has provided cash grants since 2019, in 2025 the final grant was $2,000.
Love In the Name of Christ
Love, Inc.’s mission is to mobilize local churches to offer a holistic approach to caring for people in all areas of life: spiritual, emotional, and physical to transform lives in the name of Christ. Twenty-four local churches, including St. Mary’s, (across 6 denominations) partner to form Love, Inc. of Southwest Florida. Trained staff and volunteers listen to the needs of neighbors, offer them hope and encouragement, and reach out to network partners to find the help that our neighbors need.
St. Mary’s has provided cash grants since 2010, in 2025 the grant totaled $8,000 ($5,000 for administrative expenses and $3,000 reserved for ad hoc needs referrals).
Meals of Hope
Meals of Hope is committed to bringing people together to fight the hunger epidemic. Founded in 2007, Meals of Hope has packed over 100 million meals that have been donated to communities in need across the nation and around the world. By hosting 15 mobile pantries in 11 sites (including St. Marys), and marshalling 30,000 volunteers, Meals of Hope has a noticeable local impact in southwest Florida.
St. Mary’s has provided cash grants and volunteers since 2020, in 2025 two grants totaled $6,000 ($4,000 initial and $2,000 supplemental).
The New Beginnings of Southwest Florida
The New Beginnings is committed to providing a God-honoring resource to single mothers that assists them and their children both physically and spiritually in a way that demonstrates Christ’s sacrificial love.
The New Beginnings of SWFL offers relief from the financial burden of single motherhood along with opportunities to grow as godly women. They offer a safe place for single mother families to pursue higher education and learn life skills that create a Christ-centered environment in each mother’s life. Their client single mothers have the opportunity to go from drawing from our nation’s resources to being a contributor! The strain of the fostering system is also lessened by working with the mother to keep and provide for her own family. Their programs include: assistance with life skills, higher education assistance, access to low-cost day care, Christian based mentorship, low cost housing, and a link to a local church.
St. Mary’s has provided cash grants since 2020, in 2025 the grant was $5,000. Additionally, the children served by The New Beginnings have been a part of our annual Christmas gift program for their resident children.
New Horizons of Southwest Florida
New Horizons of SWFL successfully changes the lives of under-resourced students by providing tutoring, mentoring, and character-building programs at its trusted neighborhood clubs. New Horizons is passionate about equipping Southwest Florida’s most vulnerable children and teens with the tools they need to succeed in school and life.
Student clubs are at 9 sites in Lee and Collier counties. Super Kids Clubs serve students in grades K-5, students in grades 6-12 are in Super Teen Clubs.
St. Mary’s has provided volunteer tutors and cash grants since 2006, in 2025 the grant was $2,000.
Our Mothers Home seeks to empower young mothers in the foster care and human trafficking systems to break the generational cycle for themselves and their children. And to provide teen moms a supporting environment to stay with their children, learn life skills, and finish their education. Our Mothers Home provides a safe and nurturing environment to keep moms and babies united. Prior to Our Mothers Home launch in 2000, teenage mothers in foster care were often separated from their babies at birth.
Since opening its new facility in 2024, Our Mother’s Home has achieved a 2-year vision to fulfill a need that’s long overdue. The question most often asked, “what happens when our teen moms turn 18” and leave foster care? Now, these moms age 18-21 can be served by Our Mothers Home, with facilities appropriate to their ages. Our Mother’s Home goal is to provide a transitional living space for them.
St. Mary’s has provided cash grants since 2008, in 2025 the grant was $5,000.
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida
The Children’s Advocacy Center was founded in 1981 with a mission to “…create a safe and nurturing space for children affected by abuse and neglect where they can…heal and thrive with comprehensive support.” Of interest to St. Mary’s are their current and planned programs to keep birth and foster families intact. Statistics reported on their web-site in 2025 list 755 medical exams provided, 2,375 hours of therapy provided and 7,558 clients served in southwest Florida.
This year, St. Mary’s made its initial grant to the Advocacy Center, amounting to $2,500.
Outreach Commission Organization and Leadership
The work of the commission is divided into the following areas, each with a Chair. These Chairs manage the work of the commission in their areas and recruit other commission members and others outside the commission to do the work.
- Administer the Commission
- Schedule meetings, develop agendas and maintain notes
- Coordinate monthly reports to the Vestry with the Vestry Liaison
- Maintain the annual outreach calendar
- Maintain the commission central files
- Food assistance
- Harvest Time and Café of Life food collections
- Food gift cards
- Grant process (for all our outreach partners)
- Send letters/emails requesting grant applications
- Organize the grant review process and chair the review meetings
- Grant process (for all our outreach partners)—continued
- Prepare and issue grant letters and checks
- Provide information for the commission’s annual calendar
- Other
- Christmas gifts for children
- Ad hoc relief efforts
- Outreach Sunday presentations in PLC after 10 am service
- Other information sharing with the congregation
- Provide information for the commission’s annual calendar
St. Mary’s Thrift Shop
PennyWise
The PennyWise Thrift shop has operated for over 25 years to raise funds for St. Mary’s Church and its community outreach programs through the resale of donated items such as clothing, home furnishings, jewelry and small appliances. At the beginning it operated in space rented in a strip mall, but when the present church building was built (with a large amount of support provided by PennyWise) the original church building was converted for use as sales space for PennyWise.
PennyWise is governed by a board of directors and reports to the Vestry through a liaison. PennyWise is open 12 months a year. Its hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10-3. Each day is overseen by a volunteer manager who assumes overall responsibility for the activities that day. Generally, there are 2-6 other volunteers each day including cashiers, inventory preparers and sales personnel. All of the PennyWise staff strive to make the shopping experience pleasant and fun for all our customers.
Donations are accepted at any time, but preferably during business hours. Volunteers sort donations, accepting most but sending some that we cannot sell to numerous other nonprofit organizations such as St. Mathew’s House, All Souls Episcopal Church Thrift Store, Habitat Resale and Goodwill. All goods are priced to achieve marketability and value for the customers.
For the past 5 years PennyWise has earned between $80-120,000 per year in cash and credit sales. After a small amount each year is retained for reserves against emergencies, the remaining annual profits are presented to St Mary’s Church. The church uses half of the PennyWise donation for operations, and the St. Mary’s Outreach Commission distributes the other half to local nonprofit service organizations and special appeals such as hurricane relief.
PennyWise is always looking for more volunteers. Its volunteers include members and friends of St. Mary’s Church. We have seasonal and year-round volunteers. If you can spare a couple hours (or more) per week we would love to have you join us. Pam Stamper is our volunteer coordinator; telephone her Tuesday or Friday at 239-947-3363.
