Campaign Funding Goal: $10,000
The Center at St. Matthew's is a community service center and outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. Through the Center, our diocese serves neighbors in need in the poverty-stricken Arden Arcade area of Sacramento County. The Center hosts Highlands Community Charter School (an adult school offering English language and literacy classes to more than 300 hundred refugees and immigrants every weekday) and River City Food Bank (a large food bank serving more than 3000 people/households per week). The Center also helps to lead Arden Arcade HART (Homeless Assistance Resource Team). The spiritual heart of the diocesan Center is the Mission at St. Matthew's, the Episcopal congregation that has served this community for 80 years.
Welcome the Refugee. Feed the Hungry. Care for the Homeless. Lift Up Hearts. That's how the Center at St. Matthew's embodies the diocesan mission of Making Disciples, Raising Up Saints, and Transforming Communities for Christ." Since its founding as a diocesan ministry in 2016, the Center has built strong partnerships, developed new programs, and launched community collaboratives to meet the growing and changing needs of the surrounding community. The Center is at the forefront of our diocesan response to the Afghan and Ukrainian refugee crises. When individuals and congregations support the Center through the Bishop's Partnership Book of Dreams, we are supporting the dreams of the downtrodden who seek a better life for themselves and their families.
How will funds raised from the appeal help?
The Bishop's Partnership Appeal is a vital connection to individual supporters and partner parishes throughout the diocese. We welcome every donor's gift with gratitude. Donations to the Center at St. Matthew's from the 2023 Bishop's Partnership Appeal will primarily be used to respond to the ongoing Afghan and Ukrainian refugee crises. Located in the largest Afghan refugee community in the United States, we are also reaching growing numbers of Ukrainian refugees. In 2023 and 2024 we will continue to expand classroom space, improve food bank space, and partner with refugee resettlement agencies and other organizations.
We hope you will make a gift to this and other programs/ministries from the 2023 Book of Dreams in honor of someone's birthday, memory, anniversary, or a special holiday, and join us in giving thanks to the Giver of all good news, Jesus Christ.
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