Outreach

Crop Walk

In October each year, St. John's joins with other faith communities to raise awareness and funding for combating world hunger in the CROP walk.

CROP stands for "Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty".  Why walking?  Hungry people in developing countries typically walk as much as six miles a day to find food, water, and fuel.  We walk in solidarity with their struggle for existence.  Neighbors from different faiths, cultures, and ages walk together to take a stand against hunger in our world and to raise awareness about it.  Some 2000 communities nationwide participate each year. Walkers ask parishioners and communities to pledge a certain amount of money to them to complete the walk.  These funds are in turn donated to National and International agencies and efforts working to alleviate hunger. If you are interested in being the 2023 CROP walk coordinator, please speak to Ed Gillott. (edg813@gmail.com)

Good Neighbor Community Assistance

Go to https://gnea.org/ for more information about Good Neighbor.  St. John’s contributes annual financial support to Good Neighbor.

Matthew 25 House

Please go to Matthew 25's website for further information and quarterly newsletters:  http://matthew25house.org/

This house is a home for those transitioning from prison to the workplace. St. John's congregation is one of the faith communities in Ames that supports this community in every way it can.

Food at First

The Food at First program continues to serve a free meal every day at the First Christian Church, 611 Clark. As always, everyone is welcome and no questions are asked. They typically served over 100 meals every day. Major renovations of the dining area and kitchen are now complete!

·  Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri Meals served from 5:45 pm – 6:15 pm 

·  Saturday meals served from 11:30 am – 12:15 pm 

The Free Market program distributes food three times a week:

·  Monday and Thursday 4:30 – 5:30 PM 

·  Saturday 10 – 11 AM

Volunteers are needed more than ever this summer now that meals are served inside once again. It takes an army of volunteers and support from the community to provide this critical ministry to the Ames community every day. For more information or to volunteer, go to https://foodatfirst.wordpress.com/ or check out the latest post at https://www.facebook.com/FoodAtFirst.

The Bridge Home

Go to https://www.thebridgehome.org/ for more information about the homeless shelter/transitional housing organization in Ames. St. John’s is one of the founding members of the shelter and continues to offer financial support to the shelter and has a parishioner serving on the board.