The Samaritans Outreach Ministry at St. Matthew’s was founded on the truth that we all need each other. Although the needs are many and varied, the Samaritans’ goal is to follow the example of Christ and respond lovingly, through a genuine spirit of collaboration and empowerment. The Samaritans respond to those needs within our parish family, as well as those of the larger community. 
St. Matthew’s parish youth will begin our annual Operation Backpack service project to help very needy families of Haiti receive school supplies for their children. We will begin collecting new school supplies after all the masses and at all the Religious Education classes now through mid-October. We are specifically asking for the following items: SCHOOL SUPPLIES- backpacks, note books, spiral or black marble, pens, pencils, and scientific calculators. These items will be sent along with our food drive donations to Haiti this fall. As you are shopping back to school with your own children, please consider purchasing a few extra items for those in need. Thank you in advance for your generosity! Watch your e-mails and the bulletin boards for reminders. Please e-mail Kathe Naddaff at knaddaff@optonline.net with any questions.
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SAMARITANS OUTREACH
The Samaritans Ministry formulates an agenda of activities aimed at filling these needs. The plans include Habitat for Humanity, Thanksgiving turkeys, Advent “Giving Tree” and the Morris County Food Shelter. The Samaritan Core Committee members act as the Project Leaders for each activity and solicit volunteers to facilitate each program. 5th Wednesday Meal – Cooking and serving food to the homeless at Trinity Lutheran Soup Kitchen in Dover about four or five times per year. Food Pantry – Food drive the first weekend of every month at all masses and religious education classes. Food is distributed in Morris County. The Giving Tree – An annual Christmas tree set up in the Gathering Space with gift tags for those in need. Gifts go to various social services. Haiti Relief – An annual food and supplies drive held with four other churches. Everything is shipped to the Missionaries of the Poor in Cap Haitien, Haiti. Interfaith Furnishings – In cooperation with ten churches and Catholic Charities four times a year a furniture delivery service located in Randolph for those in need in Morris County. JT’s Kitchen – Cooking and delivering food to the homeless in Dover on the second Tuesday Meals On Wheels – A meal delivery service to the elderly and infirmed in Randolph every Friday. Mississippi Clothing Drive – An annual clothing and supplies drive with Resurrection Parish. Everything is delivered to St. Anne’s Parish in Carthage, MS. New Orleans Reconstruction – A collaboration with Resurrection Parish and Episcopalian Ministries – a one week service trip to rebuild homes in areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thanksgiving Turkeys – An annual cooking and delivery of turkeys and pies for the homeless at Trinity Lutheran Soup Kitchen in Dover on Thanksgiving Day.
 St. Matthew's Hope Builders arrive in Kentucky! A group of more than 40 teens and adults from St. Matthew’s recently completed a mission trip to rural Kentucky where they spent 5 days with the local “Good Neighbors” ministry completing various home repairs for local residents. The mission was funded through the fund raising efforts of the teens who also paid their own expense for the trip. Click here for more photos of their wonderful journey. Hope House in Dover is in need of a few people to stuff “Back to School” backpacks during the first and second weeks of August 2011. All supplies and packs will be provided. Please call Kelly Staiger at Hope House 973-361-5555. As Interfaith Furnishings, a charity that provides furniture to the needy at no cost, seeks a benefactor to provide us new warehouse space. We want to thank the benefactors who have helped us in our last six years. Most recently, Blue Diamond Disposal Inc. has generously provided us a free dumpster for a weekend so that we could clear our warehouse of damaged furniture in preparation for our next move, saving us great expense. Over the years Marty’s Rent a Wreck has given us a special rate on our monthly truck, again at a great savings. There is no way we could have existed without the donation of warehouse space from our our former “landlords – Jeff Barnish, James Grecco. And now we are at that critical state where our continued operation is dependent on another generous donation of space. We need about 2500 square feet of space on the ground floor. If you have or know of such space, please contact Mary Jo Welch, 973-361-1666, as we have two months to find a new “home”. Thank you to all of those organizations and individuals who have helped us. They are worthy of your business and all of our gratitude.
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