We celebrate our role as community meeting space. Our church building is home for a range of community groups – C.I.D.E.R sponsored senior meals and tai-chi classes, support groups, tutoring, community meetings, and the winter farmers market. The Community Chorus rehearses and performs here. The picnic tables, water fountain and benches are in regular use by bikers, walkers, and anyone else who wants to sit under the trees and relax.
There is always something happening!
Dismas House of Vermont
In the early 1970s a woman named Rita McCaffrey began advocating for and volunteering with
prisoners in Burlington. On a business trip she, with her husband VT District Court Judge
Francis McCaffrey, met Fr. Jack Hickey who had founded the first Dismas House in 1974.
Mentored by Fr. Hickey they returned to VT and opened the Burlington Dismas House on Buell
Street in 1986 that provides transitional housing to formerly incarcerated people.
In short, the mission of Dismas of Vermont, Inc. is “to reconcile former prisoners with society and society with former prisoners. . .” https://www.dismasofvt.org/welcome.html
During Rev. Richard Crocker’s service at CCSH (1989-1996) he and his wife began our monthly
meal mission. For many years following, John and Linda Lake organized and made many of the
meals themselves, delivering the food and often eating with the residents.
After Covid Kaight Althoff and her family took on the task of coordinating the meals each month.There is a very small group of volunteers who regularly commit to assisting with the meals, despite Kaight’s best efforts at recruiting.
This is what is involved, and you only need to sign up for ONE of the components:
• A main entree to serve 10-12 people. (At this time there are dietary
restrictions of one who is vegetarian and one who doesn’t eat pork)
• A salad and/or side vegetable
• Bread or rolls
• Dessert
• Delivery to Burlington between 4pm & 5pm and if able to join the residents at the meal
What: It’s easy to google ‘recipes for a crowd, or meals without meat, or potluck type dishes.’ Join
with a friend – one can make a dish with meat, another without. Try out a new recipe. Be creative.
Bake a batch of cookies and keep a few for yourself. Use up your surplus garden produce.
WE DO HAVE $$$ FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR FOOD PURCHASES.
WE DO HAVE DISPOSABLE PANS AND DISHES.
Email Kaight Althoff kaighta@yahoo.com and ask to be put on her list that she emails each
month. Just choose the month and dish that works best for you.
Upcoming dates: March 21st & April 18th
Food for Thought
Visit them on Facebook – http://cuts2.com/wyHos
Offering supplemental summer lunch and summer reading to children at risk for hunger in Grand Isle C
C.I.D.E.R.
C.I.D.E.R. Senior Meals– https://www.cidervt.org/
This church hosts the C.I.D.E.R. Senior meals program. The purpose of C.I.D.E.R. (aka Champlain Islanders Developing Essential Resources ) is to develop and foster resources that enable the people of Grand Isle County to live in their community with dignity.
CIDER offers occasional congregate meals at the church and delivers hot, home-style lunches to Grand Isle County residents every Monday and Thursday
CROP Hunger Walk
CROP Hunger Walk – http://cuts2.com/kYYqM
CROP Hunger Walks are community-based walk fundraising events held in cities and towns across the United States, created to support the global mission of Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. After a CROP Hunger Walk ends, 25% of the funds raised is returned to the host community to support local hunger fighting efforts.
The Welcome Home Project
An interfaith collaborative, provides home essentials for people
transitioning from being unhoused to permanent housing in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties.
Our Programs for Children
Children are a vital part of this community! Church School runs seasonally through the school year for ages 5 +, with a staffed nursery available for younger children. The youth group meets monthly and there is a children’s choir. Vacation Bible School is a highlight of each summer ( families schedule their annual visits to grandparents to coincide with the week of VBS. Our young people serve as acolytes, ushers and liturgists in worship as we learn together.
(Please call the office for class schedules and seasonal updates)