Outreach
At St. Andrew’s, we reach out, in Christ’s love, to those beyond our church. We support over ten active outreach ministries, each involving a mixture of funds, prayer, and labor. One very active group works with the Wil-Mat Project, weaving sleeping mats for homeless veterans using “PLARN” (yarn made from plastic bags). Members personally give the mats to grateful, excited veterans at “Stand Down.”
Our ECW makes up nutritious oatmeal packets at their meetings, which are distributed by a local agency to the homeless in area parks. We also contribute to a local church to help stock their food pantry.
One of our favorite outreach activities is Rancho San Juan Bosco Orphanage in Tecate, Mexico. Church members carpool to the orphanage several times a year to visit with the children, prepare a meal, provide fun activities, and deliver needed items and monetary donations. At times we perform building maintenance, such as painting. Last Christmas each of the children was “adopted” by a church member who provided funds for needed items.
Other popular outreach activities include handing out cold bottles of water to thirsty and grateful participants in the La Mesa Flag Day parade each June, partnering with local churches in The Interfaith Shelter Network for the homeless, and adopting a La Mesa park to beautify each year. We’ve also serve as a polling place for elections, and open our facilities to weekly meetings of several community groups, including a Boy Scout troop, a Brownie troop, and the La Mesa Beautiful civic group.