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. 

If you are in need of immediate food assistance or any other assistance, please contact our Director of Christian Service, Shannon Pryce at [email protected] or you can visit the local food pantries we work with that include:

Open Door Outreach Center 

Holy Spirit Catholic Church of Highland Food Pantry

Evangelical Charity, aka Christian Service, is based on the belief that all human life is sacred and deserving of basic necessities and love.

The Catechism of the Catholic Churhc in article 2447 defines the Works of Mercy as "charitable actions by which we come to the aide of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead."

St. Teresa of Calcutta said, "The poor must know that we love them. The poor do not need our sympathy andpity. They need our love and compassion." These works are not restricted by age or financial means, but by our desire to put them into action and ultimatesly being a witness to God's love and grace. 

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. 

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. 

Angel's Place Home
Angels' Place are adult group homes in our area. We are always looking for volunteers to help with special services the individuals in these facilities need. Learn more at their website.

Angels' Place are adult foster care group homes in our area. Recently a group of ten volunteers went to Joliat Home to help with outdoor clean up. They had a great time and provided needed service. See below if you are interested in joining our growing list of volunteers for drop in service opportunities. Christian Service Outreach is looking to build a small group of volunteers interested in doing various tasks in the community. Could be helping an elderly parishioner, cleanup at a retirement home, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, Meals on Wheels, etc. We have different ways to help the community and would like to build a small group we could call on for various tasks. This will not be a weekly commitment, just "when you can help" type group. Email Kelly Brittingham at [email protected] for more information. 

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, Matchan 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.

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. Respect Life-Luminary donations go to LARTL on Sanctity of Life Sunday in January.  For Right to Life /Lifespan or annual baby shower benefits RTF/Lifespan

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. 

Recently, the requests for help with rent, utilities and food has increased greatly as you would expect with so many out of work. If you are able, please consider a donation to enable them to continue to help those in need. The best way to get funds to St. Vincent de Paul is to write a check (Attn: St. Vincent de Paul) and place it in a donation envelope then place it in the boxes at the back of the church. Thank you for your generous support!

Volunteer

Our Conference is looking for like minded volunteers to help those in the area who are struggling. Please leve a message at 248-698-3103 ext. 218 if you are interested in joining or learning more. 

Kroger Rewards
The St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Patrick in White Lake is recieving Kroger Community Rewards dollars. This money is used to help clients in need of food, rent and utility assistance. If you link your Kroger Plus card to our St. Vincent de Paul Conference, we could help even more families in need. 

All you need to do is go to kroger.com, sign into your Kroger rewards account and choose 'community rewards' from the top banner. In the search box, enter 83173 to find our SVdP conference. This will link your rewards card to the St. Patrick SVdP, and a percentage of your purchases will go to the poor we serve. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Christian Service office at 248-698-3100 ext. 216 or email Shannon Pryce at [email protected] and we will help you set up your account. This program does NOT affect your reward points.  

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

• 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
• Parish Nurse