Diocese of Long Island
Episcopal Charities of Long Island
     
     
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New Plan To Energize Mission in the Diocese

"After you say you believe, everything else is mission."
– Bishop Provenzano

Under Bishop Provenzano's direction, the Episcopal Charities annual appeal for 2011 is shaping up to become an opportunity for our parishes – and the diocese as a whole – to make a renewed commitment to mission all across this Dominion in the Sea.

As you know, Episcopal Charities of Long Island is our resource development ministry, and provides grants every year for our many pastoral and social ministry programs. Episcopal Charities supports our clergy and parishes in their ministries, and has helped hundreds of thousands across
Long Island from Brooklyn to Montauk by funding services that provide food and shelter, family support and counseling, pastoral care for the sick and the aged, advocacy services and much more.

Over the past year, parish and diocesan leaders, and the clergy and lay professionals who lead our diocesan programs, have shared with Bishop
Provenzano the growing needs of our communities. With every passing day it becomes more clear that to make a meaningful response to the challenges of those needs, we must renew our diocesan ability to raise funds – and far beyond what we have done in the past.

The first step in the annual appeal planning process this year will be a study to determine the level of support among our faith community for an
ambitious new fund raising campaign. The diocese has retained Sean Phillips, an experienced resource-development professional, to conduct this study and to make recommendations to us based on his expert assessment of the data.

In coming weeks and months Mr. Phillips will be calling on diocesan leaders – clergy and lay – to seek their thoughts and advice about Episcopal
Charities, its operations and our plans for the revitalization of diocesan resource development.

As Bishop Provenzano has said, in these difficult economic times God is calling us to imagine all that we can be to the neighborhoods and the towns in which we serve. Creative, innovative approaches will allow us to serve not only those longing for a relationship with Jesus Christ and with the church, but also those in need whom we find by the wayside. "As you did for one of the least of these who are my brothers and sisters you did for me."

Watch these pages for new information about the plan as it develops, as together we consider, prayerfully and thoughtfully, what we are each
able to contribute in time, talent and treasure to this great purpose.

The Rev. E. Clare Nesmith, Executive Director

Episcopal Charities of Long Island, 36 Cathedral Avenue, P.O. Box 510, Garden City, NY 11530, email address ECLI@dioceseli.org. To use a credit card, please click here, or call (516) 248-4800, ext. 19 and speak with Mrs. Nancy Kennelly, Administrative Assistant. When you make a donation in memory of or in honor of someone, their name will be recorded in the Book of Remembrance and an acknowledgement sent.

God’s Work: See It, Trust It, Support It.

Help with the How-To of Creating and Sustaining Ministry

By The Rev. Deacon Lorraine Cusick

Larry Provenzano quoted as saying, "After you say you believe, everything else is mission," you may have said to yourself – "Okay, what do I do next?"

Fulfilling our mission is the great challenge facing every baptized Christian and every congregation. Ministry is the outward, concrete sign of our mission. If you look in the Catechism at the back of the Book of Common Prayer, you will find three questions and answers on page 855 that can help.

"The mission of the Church," the first answer says, "is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." The two answers following
tell us how, and through whom, the Church carries out its mission. Developing a mission plan and then creating ministries that fulfill it are the signs of our presence in the community.

And where do we start? Helping to answer that question is one of the reasons that Episcopal Charities has a Ministry Support and Sustainability unit.

To develop ministry we look at two things: the needs of the community, and the gifts of the parish community. A good match between the two is a solid step toward a successful ministry. We don't do ministry in a vacuum; we discover the needs of our neighbors – through conversations with each other and through conversations with other faith communities. Then we assess the gifts of our parish community. The skills needed to have these conversations, and to make this assessment of gifts – though they are not skills possessed by all – can be learned!

Episcopal Charities is working to provide tools for ministry to help you succeed in your parish and community. We began with a workshop on grant writing (which will be repeated in Fall 2010); soon we will also offer a workshop in effective questioning and listening skills, so necessary to discover community needs. Finally, we offer a program of Archdeaconry and Church-Based Grants that provides "seed money" to help start ministries, or expand existing ones. We even help you with the application by offering a new workshop (required for grant applicants) designed to assist you in that task.

It promises to be an exciting year! Please take the opportunity to join us and be part of the "mission and ministry team."

Email lcusick@dioceseli.org or call (516) 248-4800, ext. 20 today for more information and help!

Click here for Grant Guidelines


Episcopal Charities of Long Island - September 28, 2009 Golfing Fun Day Welcoming Bishop Provenzano to the Diocese of Long Island
Save the date! 2010 Episcopal Charities Golf Outing - September 27, 2010
http://www.ecligolf.org/

“Denomination of the Year” Award Presented to Episcopal Charities of Long Island and the Diocese

By The Rev. E. Clare Nesmith

In recognition of its financial support for a program of job development for the newly unemployed, and its fulsome support of the Long Island Council of Churches, the council presented its “Denomination of the Year” award to Episcopal Charities of Long Island (ECLI) and the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island in a special ceremony at its annual meeting May 7.

The job development program, funded by a church-based grant from Episcopal Charities of Long Island, provides career counseling services to “white-collar” and other workers who have lost their jobs due to the current economic crisis. Through individual counseling sessions provided by Federated Employment & Guidance Services at the site of their host, Grace Episcopal Church in Riverhead, New York, prospective employees are taught to inventory and evaluate their job skills and adapt them to today’s employment environment. Job placement services are also provided as part of the program.

The award was accepted by the Rev. E. Clare Nesmith, Executive Director of ECLI, Archdeacon Mary Garde, rector of Grace Church, and Deacon Lorraine Cusick, parish administrator and coordinator of the program. It was Mother Garde’s insight and initiative that made the grant and resulting program happen.

The job development program, however, is funded only through June 30 of this year, so ECLI is currently seeking at least $10,000 to continue this successful outreach program of counseling and support through the end of 2009, for eastern Long Island residents in need of these services. For further information please contact the Rev. Clare Nesmith at 516 248-4800, ext. 21 or email cnesmith@dioceseli.org


 

We are looking for a Funding Angel!

The jobs development program in Riverhead was funded by Episcopal Charities as a pilot program for six months. This program is a collaboration among F.E.G.S. (the Federated Employment and Guidance Services), L.I.C.C. (the Long Island Council of Churches), and Episcopal Charities.

The group would like to continue this ministry for at least another six months, as there continues to be massive job loss in workplaces across the island. Can you be a Funding Angel and help support this initiative? We need $10,000 to continue the program at its current one-day-a-week level. $100,000 would fund the program full time for the next 12 months. Please designate gifts for this program serving Suffolk to the Riverhead Jobs Development Program.

Archdeaconry and Church Based Grants

The deadline for applications to be received in the Episcopal Charities office is June 15, 2009, to be considered for the fall grants. See our website for information regarding guidelines for these grants and contact our office to discuss the project for which you would like to apply for funding (see paragraph above for contact information).

Please give generously to Episcopal Charities of Long Island, 36 Cathedral Avenue, P.O. Box 510, Garden City, NY 11530. To use a credit card, please go to our website www. episcopalcharitiesli.org or call 516 248-4800, ext. 19 and speak with Mrs. Nancy Kennelly, Administrative Assistant. When you make a donation in memory of or in honor of someone, their name will be recorded in the Book of Remembrance and an acknowledgement sent to them.


More articles on the work of
Episcopal Charities of Long Island

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Have you heard the latest news from Episcopal Charities of Long Island?

Over the course of 2009 you gave a total of over $167,000 in gifts and $35,000 in bequests. To read more >

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Each year since 1997 Episcopal Charities of Long Island has awarded grants to parishes, archdeaconries, and parish-based programs to further their mission in outreach to their communities. To read more >

How can you serve your neighbor?

This spring Episcopal Charities of Long Island has awarded grants to three parish outreach projects. To read more>


A Gathering of Angels

In the spring of 2008, Episcopal Charities of Long Island began its "Angel's initiative" on the day our liturgical calendar celebrates the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth. Like Mary and Elizabeth's visit, our gathering was one of affirmation, of promise, of hope and joy despite seemingly insurmountable odds. To read more>


> Go here for archive of previous articles

Episcopal Charities of Long Island • P.O. Box 510, 36 Cathedral Avenue, Garden City, New York 11530 • 516 248-4800