We need parishioners like you to help us make our outreach and assistance programs a success. Please fill out the volunteer interest form so you can be matched with service opportunities that align with your interests, skills and availability. Whether you have a lot of time to give or a little, from home or from the parish, no amount of help is too small so please consider volunteering today. 

Volunteer Interest Form

The Christian Service Ministry is what you might call the giving arm of our parish. With the help of our parishioners, this ministry is able to help those in our local community via food collections, our annual Giving Tree at Christmas and Seasonal Sharing at Easter, clothing drives and so much more; while also helping those in the larger human community with outreach such as The Angel Haven Shoebox Project to help those in Appalachia. 

Please take a look at the upcoming opportunities to give back and participate in the many good works of our Christian Services Ministry and make sure to check back frequently for updates. Thank you in advance for your generosity. 

Please join us Monday, October 11 at the White Lake Oaks Golf Course. Doors open at 11am to shop vendors and gift baskets. Raffle tickets will also be available. Luncheon and speaker from 12pm-3pm. $45 tickets available by calling 248-360-4977, at the Open Door Resale Store and online at opendooroutreachcenter.com. Please join us for this fun and fabulous event. 

If you would like to participate in this great pre-Thanksgiving family project, here is what you can do. Get a shoebox-decide if you would like to create it for a child or adult. Please add warm hat and gloves or mittens, some warm clothing items, full size personal care items and a small toy or puzzle book or treats in the box. Wrap the outside of the box and top separately with Christmas wrap-do not tie with ribbon, (this allow the delivery committee to adjust boxes so children in the same family recieve equitable items).
Write on the box the size of clothing and the age that is appropriate for any toys inside and the gender of the person you created the box for. Labels for the boxes are available in Christian Service and tags to print will be available in future bulletins as well. 
We have been sending hundreds of shoeboxes to Vansant, Virginia for many years to help some of the poorest families in Appalachia. We need your help to continue this amazing mission. Just think, if all you received for Christmas was the shoebox! The Appalachian people are so grateful for their shoebox gifts. Call Christian Service if you have any questions at 248-698-3100 ext. 215.

You have helped the lame to walk! We recently aided an individual who had a diagnosed case of sever left footdrop and left side weakness which left him totally dependent on a walker and leaving him in constant fear of falling. There is a therapeutic device with adaptive wire technoligy which senses when the paitient's foot is on or off the ground and also adjects to changes in his walking speed and various surfaces. It stimulates the appropriate nerves and muscles of the leg to override the misfiring electrical signals from the brain. Henry Ford therapy recommended this device for the individual to help him gain mobility. He can now walk with only a can and has much more self-assurance and quality of life. 
We quarterbacked the purchase of this device with generous help from fellow SVDP conferences.This was a new one for us, but indeed is a sign of the changing times. God bless you for helping those in need. 

Submitted by: Dick Boehman, St. Patrick Parish-St. Vincent de Paul

Many people do not realize just what Christian Service does for the parish, neighborhood, community, and worldwide relief programs we support. We get calls for rides, to borrow crutches, to provide gas, help stop utility shutoffs. We suuprot the underserved, homeless, elderly, babies, and families in need for any variety of reasons. 

None of these programs would be possible without the fenerous support of our amazing parishioners. We are so grateful for the ability to help others in their time of need. 

Coffee and Donuts Mission Program
This soon to return program support local and worldwide causes through the Archdiocese of Detroit

Catholic Relief Services Annual Rice Bowl Collection
Christian Service manages the annual CRS Collection for our Parish. We order, distribute, and collect the monies raised and forward the proceeds to this world-wide cause. 

Angel Haven Shoe Box Project
St. Patrick Parish has been filling Christmas shoeboxes, hundreds of them, annually for many years now. Some of the poorest Americans living in the Appalachian Mountains in Vansant, Virginia are struggling to survive the damaging effects of coal mines ruining the ground water and the loss of livelihood in their poor area. We have many volunteers who work all year to procure items, wrap and pack the boxes filled with warm clothing, personal products, small toys, and a sweet treat for Christmas. We so appreciate the abilty to help this caring program.

Oakland Family Services and Atherton Schools
We support these two causes with back-to-school necessities and backpacks. Our parishioners also support providing Christmas for area families who would not otherwise have Christmas for their children. We help approximately 30 families each year. Our Knights of Columbus along with our parishioners are huge supporters of our Christmas Sharing program. 

Adult Foster Care Homes
Christian Service works with 4 adult foster care homes in our area. Lakeside Manor and Teggerdine House are group homes for those who can do some work to make their lives meaningful. Briarwood and Sandyside have residents who are too ill or disabled to leave their residence. Many of these residents have no family or family who cannot take care of them. 

At Christmas and Easter, we ask for donations like gift cards or an Easter Basket to help share the JOY of the season. 

Our outreach of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist program also delivers the Eucharist to the above homes on a prearranged schedule. Some also request a prayer service. 

Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing Centers and Homebound Residents
Christian Service supports Independence Village, Neighborhoods of White Lake, Westlake Health Campus and Our Senior Living home in White Lake.

Our Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist also deliver the Eucharist to Catholic residents, other volunteers do prayer services and the Stations of the Cross on a pre-arranged basis. We also take flowers at Christmas and Easter to share the joy of the holiday seasons. 

Pregnancy Centers
St. Patrick Christian Service supports Mary's Mantle, Mother and Unborn Baby Care, and Another Way Pregnancy Center. The agencies assist pregnant mothers with ultrasounds, maternity care, baby items, parenting classes for both parents and monetary support. Mary's Mantle also has live-in assistance for Mothers with no family support. We collect clothing, diapers and all baby necessities, gift cards for other needs during our Season Sharing programs.

The Open Door Outreach Center
We support the Open Door with back-to-school seasonal sharing items, Thanksgiving food collection, Christmas and Easter gift card requests. We will also partner with them for client support if they need money to help cover large requests for rent or utilities. 

Baldwin Center, Hope Warming Center, Marchan Nutrition Center
These are a combination of soup kitchen, warming center, where to take a shower and get necessary personal items for the homeless and underserved in the Pontiac area. We support them in various ways, financially, shower kits, laundry kits, socks, clean, warm clothing and bagged lunches.

St. Anne and St. Aloysius Detroit
We support these Detroit parishes and thier neighborhood outreach programs for the poor and homeless. We send gift cards, school supplies, socks warm gloves and hats, and shower kits. 

Jail Outreach Ministry
Christian Service helps support tow Jail Ministries. Deacon Mike Chesley and his Jail Ministry requested clothing for those rehabilitated and returning to work. We helped collect an amazing amount of new and used clothing for this cause.

Oakland County Jail Outreach, headed up by Sister Peggy Devaney supports victims and the families of offenders dealing with lossof income and the trauma of changed lives due to crime. We supply gift cards, Easter baskets and clothing. 

Respect LIFE
Christian Service also has fundraising events throughout the year for two local right to life agencies. 

For Right to Life/LIFESPAN we have our Luminary Candle kits available for Sancitity of Life Sunday in mid-January, we sell Christmas Cards, Mother's Day carnation event, all supporting LIFESPAN's Education efforts and their annual bus trip for the March in Washington.

For Lakes Area Right to Life we support them with two fundraisers, our Baby Bottle Drive, and our Father's Day Chocolate Tools. We also participate with the LIFE Chain event in October for Respect Life Sunday. 

Meals on Wheels
We have a dedicated group of people scheduled to deliver food from the Meals on Wheels local program, our delivery is schedule is every 4th week. In the fall a large group of volunteers deliver the blizzard boxes, intended to sustain their recipients during times of inclement winter weather when deliveries may be disrupted. 

These volunteers build relationships with their recipients and for many the volunteers are the only faces they see on a regular basis. They also check on their health and wellbeing when they see them during deliveries. 

Last year we had a collection for pet food, it was a tremendous success, now the pets can eat their food and the owners can eat their Meals on Wheels delivered food instead of sharing. 

Utility Assistance
Every year during our Seasonal Sharing Drives we ask for monetary donations so we may avoid utility shut-offs for at-risk families. 

Rent and Mortgage Assistance
We routinely recieve calls for eviction help and past due mortgage payments. We help where we can, if the need is too great, many agencies work together to keep the roof over the heads of a family in need. 

• Advent Tea Team
• Circle of Care
• Community Affairs
• Respect for Life/Right to Life
• Peace & Justice
• Garden Angels
• St. Vincent de Paul Society
• Health Care
• Hospitality Team (funerals, receptions, etc.)
• Red Cross Blood Drive
• Communion Visitors
• Homebound Visitors
• Greeting Cards
• Transportation
• Meals on Wheels
• Care Facilities
• Food for Sharing
• Seasonal Sharing
• Coffee & Donuts
• Stephen Ministry
• Parish Nurse