WeCAN is the emergency assistance provider for
suburban and rural communities in western
Hennepin County including Greenfield, Loretto,
Independence, Maple Plain, Minnetonka Beach,
Minnetrista, Mound, Rockford, Spring Park, St.
Bonifacius, Tonka Bay and western Orono.
EpiscoBuilders was founded in 2007 in
partnership with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
to address the lack of affordable housing in the
western suburbs.
Eight founding churches,
including St. Martin's, banded together to create
this outreach ministry serving families of all races,
faiths and backgrounds
WeCAN's mission is to work with individuals and
families to enhance their stability and selfsufficiency. WeCAN's staff views the family as a
whole, first assessing their needs then providing or
referring them to the appropriate services.
EpiscoBuilders has
now completed many
successful builds, rehabs and Brush With Kindness
Projects.
More than 850 volunteers, working
alongside deserving families, have made the
following affordable houses possible.
Meals-on-Wheels, emergency assistance for rent
or mortgage, utilities, car repair or transportation
are some of the emergency needs that WeCAN
provides.
They also provide connectivity for
needed health care as well as transportation
assistance for medical appointments, worship
services, etc. In addition, WeCAN offers referrals
for financial assistance services, job placement
assistance as well as connecting families with
other services for clothing, food and household
expenses.
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Family support programs help stretch dollars and
provide for other needs such as the Birthday Shelf,
the Adopt-a-family program at Christmas, their
Stay Warm effort where needy households receive
gifts of quilts, blankets, hats, mittens and coats.
St. Martin's parish is proud to support
WeCAN both financially, through in-kind
donations and through many volunteer
opportunities for parish members.
A new home in Chaska
A rehab in Brooklyn Center
A rehab in Mound
A rehab in New Hope
Two Brush With Kindness projects in Mpls.
A full sponsorship of a rehab in Brooklyn Park
Plans are underway to continue this important
ministry throughout 2013 and beyond. Saturday
workdays are planned for January, February and
March, 2013.
EpiscoBuilders, founded by and under the
passionate leadership of Bruce Molton,
strives to create a high-quality volunteer
experience for all parishioners. Twenty-one
parishioners
of
St.
Martin's
have
volunteered.
"Go out into the world and serve your
fellow man." Bruce reminds us.
The mission of Episcopal Group Homes is to
provide residential services to persons with
developmental disabilities, creating for them a
supportive and challenging environment and the
opportunity to develop skills essential to function
as members of a community. EGH became a
nonprofit in 1977; 35 years later it is still a place
where families feel comfortable transitioning their
sons and daughters into a home setting.
We all know Beth - she is feeling "A thousand
grand today."
Beth was accepted into the
program of EGH in 1970. "We knew our outgoing,
energetic daughter needed to be with other
people.
She also needed the opportunity to
develop more independence. She was ready to
move to a group home." according to Beth's
parents.
EGH began as a dream of a place where persons
with a developmental disability could become
happy, contributing members of a community.
Ed and Judy Eilertsen and other Founders
(all members of St. Martin's) believed that
people
with
moderate
or
mild
developmental disabilities were underserved
by publically funded programs.
Since
the
beginning,
St.
Martin's
parishioners have served as volunteers and
Board
members
of
this
wonderful
community resource.
St. Martin's by-the-Lake
Episcopal Church
Since
1979,
Interfaith
Outreach
and
Community Partners has been making an
impact providing both emergency and long-term
solutions to struggling families. Each year IOCP
serves about 1700 families and individuals living in
Hamel, Long Lake, Medicine Lake, Medina,
Minnetonka Beach, Orono, Plymouth and Wayzata.
The mission of IOCP is to engage the heart and
will of the community to respond to emergency
needs and create opportunities for all to thrive,
moving them toward stability and positive change.
Services focus on employment, child care,
housing, transportation, food and clothing as well
as connecting families to other resources.
Staffed by volunteers, the IOCP food shelf
distributed more than 700,000 pounds of food to
almost 4,000 individuals in 2012.
Through donations from individual parish members
and The Foundation and through in-kind
donations. St. Martin's helps IOCP remove key
barriers to self-sufficiency for those in need right
here in our own community helping put them on a
path to success
Our own Marge Humphrey was among the
first to create a bond between IOCP and St.
Martin's in its infancy. So many from St.
Martin's parish have followed her lead.
Families Moving Forward is a volunteer-driven,
community
based,
non-profit
organization
providing emergency shelter, supportive housing
and transitional services in partnership with the
faith community.
Since 1999, Families Moving Forward, in
conjunction with Plymouth Church Neighborhood
Foundation, has worked with congregational
partners to complete 433 units of affordable
housing for low-income or formerly homeless
families and individuals.
Volunteers from 43 hosting congregations
throughout the Twin Cities provide overnight
shelter, meals and hospitality to up to 8 families,
or about 30 parents and children, every week of
the year.
The hub is the Families Moving Forward Center in
North Minneapolis. There, families in the program
engage with their family, housing and children's
advocates to pursue employment and permanent
housing, take financial literacy classes and
maintain their children's stable education and
enrichment activities.
The parishioners of St. Martin's support the
efforts of Families Moving Forward by
participating the required training, providing
food and volunteers for families visiting
neighboring parishes.
David Sutton and
Polly McCrea, among others, have been
instrumental in making FMF and important
mission of St. Martin's
Faith in Action Committee
The Mission of the Faith in Action Committee,
through its humanitarian efforts, is to initiate,
carry out and oversee the outreach ministries of
St. Martin's By-the-Lake Episcopal Church. It is
both
the responsibility and the goal of the
Committee to connect St. Martin's with those in
need both within the parish and within our
community. Through this outreach ministry we
aim to help those who suffer to restore their
health, hope and dignity by moving them toward
stability and independence.
"If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of
the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving
you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your
poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend
him whatever he needs."
Deuteronomy 15: 7-10