The Outreach Committee of St. James Episcopal Church takes its work seriously. Rather than simply writing a check to an organization, the 16 members choose to go all in, first by educating themselves about real needs within their Wichita community and then drafting a plan of action that will produce the most benefit.
No doubt about it, our frontline workers make everything we do at Saint Francis possible. Yet, they would probably be the first to admit that they can’t do it alone. Without the collaboration, cooperation, and passion of our foster, kinship, and adoptive parents, Saint Francis would find providing for the healing and hope of children and family much more difficult.
We’re well into the Christmas season, which makes this a good time to reflect upon the season of giving and the end of the year. We all give in different ways – whether it’s our time, knowledge, experience, volunteer work, or money. We know through research that acts of giving and kindness create “good feelings” through the release of endorphins in our brain.
Riding in her warm car on her way to gymnastics class, Caroline Avery could only imagine what it must be like to live on the streets during last year’s brutally cold February in Wichita. So, rather than spend her birthday money shopping, the 8-year-old said she wanted to use it to help people. Her first thought was to donate to the homeless, which would itself have been a thoughtful gesture for a child her age. But when her mother asked if she wanted to help adults or children, she immediately replied, “Kids!” Children, it seems, possess a natural empathy for other kids that demands expression.
Saint Francis Ministries’ donors don’t come in one size, shape or color. They aren’t all former foster children and many have never had any connection with the child welfare system. They aren’t one religion, or one profession, and they certainly don’t all agree on politics.
It’s difficult to enumerate all of the gifts that have impacted Saint Francis during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful and honored by community support that makes it possible for us to continue to provide the best, most supportive care for children and families. For instance, McCormick Distillery, like many distilleries, switched their production, and then donated 15 gallons of hand sanitizer. Great Plains Manufacturing in Salina also donated hand sanitizer.
They began teaching their children at an early age, with a 50-cent weekly allowance paid in nickels. One nickel always went to the church, the rest to spend as they pleased. As each child grew older, the allowance – and the tithe – increased. Their hope was that their children would carry the spirit of stewardship into adulthood.
The idea was Sylvia’s. Driving home to Austin after a day trip to Comfort, Texas, she turned to her husband and said, “When one of us passes on, the other should see that it goes to Saint Francis.” That was in 1995, and Sylvia passed in 2007. A few months later retired Air Force Colonel Joe Brown donated the 18-inch tall bronze statue “Dancing Saint Francis” to Saint Francis Community Services, the ministry Sylvia and he have supported since 1969.
Sometime in 1961, Geoffrey and Grace Noakes of Fresno, California, traveled to Manhattan, KS, to visit their daughter and son-in-law, Rosemary and Albert Burroughs. It was the Noakes’ first visit to Kansas; their daughter had only recently moved to Manhattan where she and Al had accepted positions on the faculty and staff of Kansas State University.