P.E.A.C.E Garden

St. Paul’s Center for Caring is pleased to host the P.E.A.C.E Garden, located behind the Lutheran Home for Children (the former parsonage) at 440 Hoboken Avenue. The P.E.A.C.E. Garden is a new organic community garden where community members can plant vegetables, flowers, or whatever they would like to grow in 4 x 4 foot plots. The project seeks members of the community to participate, volunteer, donate, and grow. For information, go to Big Sky Project or call 609 635 1551.

Sharing Place news

The Sharing Place, St. Paul’s food ministry, continues to serve about 500 needy families and individuals each month. We have been blessed to f orm relationships with other nonprofits that visit when we are serving food to provide information to our clients, the Community Food Bank’s Food Stamp Outreach program, PACO, Healthfirst, and HOPES CAP among them.

We are grateful to our funders and supporters. Grants from the City of Jersey City and Hudson County help us purchase food. We also have received generous gifts from Appaloosa Management, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Provident Bank, and Bayonne Community Bank, as well as from many individuals. Beverly Savage of Hudson County CASA helped to provide school supplies. Many groups contributed warm hats, scarves, and gloves.

A fish farm, a couple of goats, and some chicks

During Advent, worshipers at St. Paul Lutheran Church contributed to “God’s Global Barnyard,” a project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in  America. We raised just $364, but we learned that this small contribution could buy a fish farm to help feed an entire community, a goat or two to provide milk (and more goats) for a family, and several chicks that will provide natural pest control as they grow and eggs (and more chickens) when they mature. We rejoice to be able to help sustainable development in some of the world’s poorest regions.

Project Reach

Project Reach is a new addition to the offerings of the Sharing Place, St. Paul’s hunger ministry. We’ve been inviting social services organizations that work with low-income people to visit with our clients on one of the last two Saturdays of the month. Health-related organizations, groups serving seniors, and a financial literacy program are among the recent or upcoming offerings. If your organization is interested in reaching out to our needy neighbors, please contact the Sharing Place’s executive director, Maureen Cassidy, at 201. 963.5518.

St. Paul hosts Jersey City Food Coop

St. Paul Lutheran Church provides space for a wide variety of nonprofit organizations through our Center for Caring. Our most recent addition is the Jersey City Food Coop. Lisa Clarke, a member of St. Paul, serves on the board of the coop and organizes its “pre-shop,” which delivers natural and organic meats, produce and other goods to St. Paul every other Tuesday.  You can sign up for membership or make a donation at the JC Food Coop website.

God has a passion for justice. The people of St. Paul Lutheran Church follow the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19: 18, Matthew 22:39) by caring for the people in our neighborhood and by advocating for justice for all people on earth.

• The Sharing Place is the largest food pantry in Hudson County.
• We make facilities available to the Lutheran Home for Children and Alcoholics / Narcotics Anonymous groups.
• We are expanding our community service through the St. Paul Center for Caring.
• We pray at every worship service for peace and justice.

Photos from St. Paul Center for Caring dedication

We welcomed dignitaries and community members to the dedication of the St. Paul Center for Caring on June 18.  Special thanks to Beverly Savage, executive director of Hudson County CASA, for spearheading the event.

South Asian ministry

We are reaching out to the large South Asian community in our neighborhood! In partnership with the New Jersey Synod, the ELCA Division of Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission, the Hudson County Cluster of ELCA churches, and private donors, we will be establishing a “satellite congregation” among the South Asian community that will meet and worship at St. Paul. David Achariam, the mission developer, is to be ordained on May 16. He will begin by building a neighborhood fellowship for businesspeople in our neighborhood. Watch this site for more information on this exciting ministry!