 Paul's Place Campers on Hayride
Habitat House Dedication
St. Thomas' youths making holiday cards for families at our annual Outreach Extravaganza
St. Thomas' knitters sewing blanket squares together
INNterim Housing
INNterim Housing provides transitional housing for formerly homeless women and children who are striving to overcome addiction and domestic violence to become self sufficient. St. Thomas’ helps Innterim with an annual donation and by “adopting” 100 women and children at Christmas, providing them food and holiday gifts. We also provide support by lending our facilities to the program for their various events and celebrations. To learn more about Innterim Housing visit www.innterim.org
Reisterstown Crisis Center
This local organization provides emergency resources for families in need. Throughout the year, St. Thomas’ parishioners contribute non-perishable food and toiletries to this local center. To learn more about the Community Crisis Center visit: www.communitycrisiscenter.org
Knitting Outreach
This grass-roots effort was started by two parishioners. Knitters make prayer shawls for people in the hospital, welcome blankets for new Habitat homeowners, baby blankets and “preemie” caps for donation to the University of Maryland Hospital, and finally, mittens, and hats and scarves for needy preschoolers. This rapidly expanding ministry includes parishioners of all ages. To learn about this ministry contact Jill Coleman:
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or Donna Eden:
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Outreach
"Carrying out Christ's work of reconciliation in the world."
St. Thomas’ is a parish with a strong tradition of community service, both in the immediate Owings Mills community as well as Baltimore metropolitan area. Over the last 10 years, our definition of Outreach has evolved and deepened. Previously, the committee functioned mainly as a funding body, whereas today we seek to involve our parish actively with the communities we support. Each Outreach program must fulfill the dual goal of helping communities in need and simultaneously fostering fellowship within our church. For example, the “Holiday Extravaganza,” held the first week in December, involves over 200 parishioners of all ages who attend this family evening of sorting and wrapping many donated gifts, filling bags of groceries, making wreaths and ornaments, and assembling gift bags of toiletries. Outreach is a growing area of strength in the parish, spearheaded by an active and devoted Outreach Committee. The chair of the Outreach Committee is required to be a Vestry Member, assuring that Outreach gets full Vestry support. For additional information about our Outreach activities, contact Page Ward Seville:
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Outreach Ministries and Activities
Paul’s Place
A multi-faceted community-based inner city center that serves as a gathering place for neighbors in one of Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods. For more than 20 years, St. Thomas’ has provided casseroles prepared by volunteers (Country Cooks & Night Owls) each week to feed 200-250 people to support Paul’s Place in its mission to feed the hungry. Integrated into the Church School program is an ongoing baking ministry for Paul’s Place. For the past three years, St. Thomas’ has designed, managed and hosted a week of Paul’s Place summer camp for 40 inner city children. Parishioners have volunteered their time, talent, and physical resources to provide campers with a week of fun and memorable activities. To learn more about Paul's Place, visit their website at www.paulsplaceoutreach.org
Habitat for Humanity
St. Thomas' recently began construction on our 14th Habitat for Humanity house, which it supports with both dollars and volunteer labor. Each Saturday, a team of volunteers from St. Thomas, along with volunteers from a local school and from another local Episcopal church, work together to refurbish a Habitat house in Sandtown-Winchester, a downtown Baltimore neighborhood. A lunch ministry to feed the workers was added last year, allowing more parishioners to participate in the Habitat project. To join our St. Thomas' Habitat ministry, contact Habitat Chairs: Janet Harvey:
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or Betsy Wilmerding:
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To learn more about Sandtown Habitat for Humanity visit www.sandtownhabitat.org
Coats for the Homeless
This effort encourages parishioners to contribute warm men’s coats for distribution to needy men through the Baltimore Seafarer’s Center in Locust Point and the South Baltimore Station Homeless Shelter. To join this ministry, contact Brian McDonnell:
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New Song Academy
This K-8 independently run school in the challenged Sandtown-Winchester section of Baltimore is supported by St. Thomas’ through financial support and donation of books for their library. To learn more about New Song visit www.newsonglc.org
Red Cross Blood Drives
We have hosted bi-annual blood drives in partnership with the American Red Cross for more than ten years. To learn how you can donate visit www.redcross-cmd.org
Additionally, St. Thomas’ provides financial support to: Episcopal Housing Corporation (www.ehc.ang-md.org), Episcopal Community Services of Maryland (www.ecsm.org), the Maryland Food Bank(www.mdfoodbank.org), the Fuel Fund of Maryland (www.fuelfundmaryland.org), and Episcopal Relief and Development (www.er-d.org)
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Church in Action 
