Outreach Fundraising Events

Spring or Fall Fling 

Spring Fling 2024

The Fling, St. Luke’s indoor/outdoor yard and plant sale, is our largest Outreach fundraiser of the year. It provides the community with a great bargain hunting experience, it gives members of the congregation a chance to donate useful items they no longer need, and all proceeds go to our small grants program benefiting Durham nonprofits (see below).

Details about future Flings, when scheduled, will be on our Coming Events page.
View our donation guidelines.

Pumpkin Patch

The Pumpkin Patch event is held throughout the month of October, providing the local community the opportunity to get a variety of classic and heirloom pumpkins and decorative gourds for all kinds of fall activities. The pumpkins are grown by the Navajo Nation in Farmington, New Mexico, so sales support that community as well as our congregation, and also our outreach efforts benefiting Durham nonprofits (see below).

Share Your Christmas

St. Luke’s Share Your Christmas program gives parishioners the opportunity to help neighbors in need during the holiday season. Beneficiaries include families in need in our community, families staying at Ronald McDonald House, LEAP families, and the Animal Protection Society of Durham. Look for more information in monthly newsletters and weekly bulletins in November and December. To volunteer to help with planning and/or execution of Share Your Christmas, please contact Carol at SYCStLuke at gmail.com any time.

What happens to funds from Special Outreach Fundraising?

Money from outreach fundraisers is allocated directly to local nonprofits. Here is a recent list of organizations we have assisted.

Local Outreach Ministries

Durham Episcopal Resettlement Coalition (DERC)

Apartment setup crew for DERC’s first Afghan family

The Durham Episcopal Resettlement Coalition (DERC) helps refugees and their families in making new homes in the Durham area. Formed in response to the 2021 Afghan refugee crisis and the Christian call to welcome the stranger, DERC consists of volunteers from St. Joseph’s, St. Luke’s, St. Philip’s, St. Stephen’s and St. Titus’ Episcopal Churches, who provide logistical and material aid, advice and companionship, working in cooperation with established resettlement agencies. DERC has secured and furnished housing, and provided several months’ assistance, to a young Afghan man and his elderly aunt, helped welcome and settle a couple fleeing civil unrest in Africa, and stands poised to help families in need from around the world find welcome and friendship in what may be a strange and bewildering new homeland. For information or to volunteer, contact ­­DERCoalition@gmail.com.

Faith Teams

St. Luke’s Faith Teams are a reconciliation and reentry ministry for individuals recently released from prison, to support them during their reintegration process into the community. Each partner is typically with a team for one year, so new teams form each year to support new partners.

Here is a reflection on how our first partner fared after connecting with our team.

This article from Religion News Service provides an overview of the faith team program across the entire Durham community, under the auspices of Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham.

Global Outreach Ministries

Supporting Holy Cross Graduates in High School

Growing out of the St. Luke’s mission trips to Holy Cross Anglican School in Belize, this ministry has involved several “waves” of support giving Holy Cross graduates the means to attend high school on Ambergris Caye. The first wave began several years ago, when Jan Lamb was still our Deacon at St. Luke’s. Jan provided support for Isolene through her four years of high school on Ambergris Caye. Since then, we have supported several other Holy Cross graduates through high school and beyond. Pictured here is Leticia, who graduated from Holy Cross in June, 2019, and with our continuing support, graduated from high school in June of 2023.

Mission Trips

St. Luke’s has conducted various domestic and international mission trips for both adults and youth. Mission team members spend several months prior to their trips raising funds to cover the cost of the materials they will use, or to support the organization they will be working with. On site, the team’s focus is on building relationships as much as on building structures.

St. Luke’s has a longstanding relationship with Holy Cross School in San Pedro, Belize, with annual mission trips throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s. Read and see more on our St. Luke’s in Belize blog.