Outreach Fundraising Events

Spring or Fall Fling 

JewelrySale

The Fling, St. Luke’s indoor yard sale, is our largest Outreach fundraiser of the year. It provides the community with a fun bargain hunting experience, and it gives members of the congregation a chance to clean out their homes as they donate their “treasures” to this large indoor yard sale. Details about future Flings, when scheduled, will be on our Coming Events page. Here’s an example of 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 St. Luke’s programming, plus our outreach efforts here in Durham.

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 St. Luke’s Families (identified by clergy and St. Luke’s parishioners), veterans at Maple Court, and families from LEAP and the Ronald MacDonald House. We also collect food and other items for homeless pets at 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 Team

St. Luke’s two Faith Teams have met throughout the pandemic with their Partners to help support each during their reintegration process to the community. This Reconciliation and Reentry ministry is typically a one-year partnership between individuals recently released from prison and our congregation’s faith teams. 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 provides an overview of the larger faith team program across the entire Durham community.

LEAP

St. Luke’s has a special relationship with LEAP (Latino Educational Achievement Partnership). The preschool is the product of a longstanding partnership among the Diocese of North Carolina, Iglesia El Buen Pastor, St. Luke’s, and St. Philip’s Episcopal Churches in Durham. LEAP’s Nuestra Escuelita, on St. Luke’s campus, and its EDCI/LEAP Academy partner program are the only non-profit bilingual preschools for Latino and other three and four-year-olds in Durham. LEAP draws children who do not receive HeadStart funding even though they are eligible.

If you can volunteer to tutor a child or help out in the preschool classroom, we have all the materials you need, and we’ll show you how to use them. Spanish fluency not required.

Learn more and donate at DurhamLeap.org

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.