At the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, we endeavor to live out our faith as expressed in the Baptismal Covenant: “to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.” Our Community Engagement Ministries provide opportunities to manifest God’s love for all the world through friendship and service to others. We hope this newsletter will provide you with more information about the many ways you can become involved and make a real difference in this community and the wider world this holiday season.

Peace,

Carmie

Many of you have followed the news about the recent government shutdown and the lapse in SNAP benefits that placed significant strain on food banks and feeding ministries across Georgia. While the shutdown has now ended, its impact continues to be felt by countless families still struggling to meet basic needs. Scripture reminds us with certainty that all of God’s children are to be fed.

In September, Epiphany’s Vestry voted to donate $10,000 from a parish bequest to support local organizations addressing food insecurity in our community:

• $4,000 to the Atlanta Community Food Bank
• $4,000 to DEAM (Decatur-Area Emergency Assistance Ministry)
• $2,000 to PORCH Decatur, for their work providing weekend food bags for students who might otherwise go hungry.

We pray these gifts will continue to strengthen the work of these organizations as they respond to ongoing needs in our community. If you feel called to join in this effort, we invite you to consider a personal donation to the Atlanta Community Food Bank or DEAM. These organizations are able to stretch our contributions to provide the greatest amount of food and support for those in need.

As a faith community, we give thanks for the end of the shutdown and continue to pray for lasting solutions—rooted in compassion and justice—for all who experience hunger and hardship.

Each year, Epiphany teams up with our friends at Emmaus House to support their annual Thanksgiving at Home initiative. With the recent interruption in SNAP benefits, our aid this year is more crucial than ever. We’re asking for donations of bags packed with these ingredients so that our neighbors in Peoplestown can make their favorite side dishes—while Emmaus House takes care of the turkeys and other essentials. Log into Realm to contact MaryAnn Anderson or Linda & Paul Parisi if you have any questions.

The holiday season has always been a special time at Emmaus House. For decades, parishes, friends, and organizations have donated Christmas gifts for more than 500 children in Peoplestown each year. This year Emmaus House is asking individuals, churches, and organizations to provide gifts as they have in the past and refer to the holiday guide holiday guide for information about events, volunteer opportunities, and gift suggestions.

Please bring your unwrapped gifts to Epiphany by December 15 and let the Rev. Carmie McDonald know if you can help deliver gifts to Emmaus House on December 17.

Epiphany’s Annual Walk in Love Shoe Drive benefitting our neighbors at Church of the Common Ground is underway and will run through the Feast of Saint Nicholas on December 7. This year, the drive is led by Epiphany youth Leona Wierwille.

Leona has a deep passion for peace and justice. Inspired by the lives of famous peacemakers who have worked for justice in our world, she sees her faith as a call to action, to love others through tangible care. Thank you for your leadership, Leona!

To support the Walk in Love Shoe Drive, you can drop off donations at the church on Sundays between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., or during weekday office hours. Look for the red and white striped bins in the gallery marked “Walk in Love.”

We welcome donations of new men’s and women’s shoes of any size, with a special need for men’s sizes 10–13. Please remove shoes from their boxes and tie their laces together before donating. Please contact Taylor Irwin if you have questions.

by Tracey Laird

For years — even back to the era when the Meal Ministry served crowds at the long-shuttered Peachtree Pine Shelter — Epiphany began including extra items such as candy, cookies, and socks with the December meal. Liz Romo-Rasha and her mom Dot Romo would send out the call for parishioners to gather those squirreled-away soaps and shampoos that tend to accumulate over travels. Epiphanites would gather to sort and distribute the items among small plastic grocery bags, and load them in boxes to be taken to Midtown Atlanta. Sometimes the Christmas season meal would include the festive addition of choir members leading diners and servers alike in a sing-along of familiar carols. At least once, St. Nick even dropped in.

Beginning in 2021, these efforts took on a little more focus. By then, Epiphany had partnered with the Gateway Shelter, which serves as transitional housing for 100 men. Members of the Meal Ministry team began creating gift bags that still included sweet treats and socks, but also toiletries, pens and notepads, laundry pods, and more. Gateway staffers in any given year may communicate particular needs they observe among their clients. 

In recent seasons, Epiphany children and youth have become more and more involved They create personalized Christmas cards and help pack the bags. Young people also help distribute both the bags and the December meal on the second Friday of the month. The presence of children and youth brings vitality and energy, both to the volunteers and to the shelter residents. Their presence and service to strangers is an expression of trust and love.

As vestry member Kay Lee reported last August, these are tangible ways our core values take shape. The personalized messages, along with inclusion of a wide cross-section of Epiphanites, express our desire to connect with and uplift people in our community, both within and outside our church. As Kay wrote, cards written by the children and the accompanying items enact Epiphany’s desire to express that ‘We see you — You are not invisible” to members of the Atlanta community experiencing extreme vulnerability. Within our church membership, these actions build bonds between the volunteers and, at Christmas time, across generations. 

The Gateway Shelter has recently closed, and a new location is opening. (Details to follow.) As far as the Meal Ministry and Christmas bags go, Epiphany will be at the new location on December 14, with a meal and 100 bags in tow.

by Ann Fowler

As the holiday season approaches, please consider giving or asking for gifts that help communities affected by injustice, poverty, disaster, and climate change. You can support people worldwide through Episcopal Relief and Development’s Gifts for Life. Connect families with sustainable sources of food and income by donating a goat, pig, or flock of chickens. Invest in women-owned businesses by funding vocational training or resources for a family garden. Give children every opportunity to thrive by purchasing food for early learners or educational materials for preschoolers whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Gather with friends and family to purchase one of ERD’s disaster relief or food security packages. To browse all gifts, please go to https://support.episcopalrelief.org/gifts/catalog.

by Ann Fowler

In December, Community of Hope members will forego their monthly meeting to assemble “deluxe” blessing bags for approximately 50 of our brothers and sisters living on the streets at the Church of the Common Ground. They’ll fill drawstring backpacks with non-perishable snacks, bandages, notecards, pens, stamps, wool socks and caps, gloves, hygiene kits, chapstick, and hand sanitizer. 

by Laura Keys

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” We are told that Jesus spoke those words to his disciples in Matthew 25. The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) is so fortunate in having been able both through our own fund-raising and through the Harvey Fund to help a number of strangers to our land through various refugee organizations. The Women’s Refugee Network helps women acquire both skills and certification for work in the food industry. The Clarkston Sewing Circle and the Amani Woman’s Center both focus on enabling women to acquire skills as seamstresses to support themselves and their families. Refuge Coffee teaches practical business skills. Global Village addresses the needs of teenage girls, who may have had little or no education in their home countries, reach parity to attend public schools here. With our own funds, we have participated in helping our Afghan family, the Kihls, make new lives in the United States. Making grants and gifts to these and others delights our hearts and enables us all to live out that Gospel injunction.