The Women of St. Paul's

We've come a long way since the Ladies Auxiliary.

The inaugural meeting of The Women of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Oakland took place on Sunday, July 25 at St. Paul's Towers.  Father Christian attended, and Father Mauricio dropped by to say a few words before he and his future Women of St. Paul's headed off to Costco.  We had a fabulous lunch and a discussion led by Deacon Carolyn Bolton.

Deacon Carolyn envisions this as a group of working, empowered women -- powerful, supportive, and proud.  A survey of the 1960's showed that few women in the church had jobs outside their homes.  Now, almost all do.  Still, we find the time to serve our church and our community, and this group will provide organization and support for our members as we do.

Several projects are in the initial planning stages, and the group suggested several more (this is not a complete list):

In September, we'll begin creating bags of food and toiletries to distribute to the homeless in the neighborhood around St. Paul's.  Members should bring snacks and sample-sized bottles of shampoo, etc. to the church for this project.

Currently, the knitting ministry is making hats and scarves for merchant seamen, who are often away from home for the holidays.  We also need toiletries for these packages.  In the past, we've knitted booties, caps, and blankets for maternity patients to take home from Highland Hospital.  We'll resume that at some point in the future.

Marian Sayer has been in touch with St. Jame's food pantry.  The pantry needs staff in order to open to the public for part of the week.

Doris and her husband Joe have started a community garden at their retirement home.  All food will go to community food banks.  They need people to weed and water from time to time.

We will participate in feeding programs at other churches.  We currently serve dinners at St. Mary's program for homeless seniors.

The church will host a health fair, offering shots and referrals to low cost health care facilities.

That's alot to do, especially for busy women, but with God's help and the support of our sisters, we'll manage.  Women always do.

Alice