St. Martin’s believes very strongly in helping those who are in need. The Outreach Committee meets and discusses the different charities and community organizations that we can support. For example, Christine Watt came to our meeting to discuss the Evelyn D. Reinhart Guest House. To help guide us in our outreach ministry, we also added a question to the survey that the Vestry sent out to the congregation on what the members of St. Martin’s see as important to them. A couple of examples of how we aid our community are our donations for relief from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and to Conquer Chiari Walk Across America.

During the year we also sponsored a school supply drive where we donated to two different schools, had a coat drive where we delivered the coats to Puritan Cleaners to be cleaned and given to the Salvation Army to be distributed, collected food at Thanksgiving and during the rest of the year to donate to the Lamb’s Basket, and “adopted” two families for Christmas.  There are six of us on the Committee, but numerous members of the church have helped with these activities throughout the year. The Committee would like to thank those members who are trying to make a difference in helping those less fortunate.

Outreach Programs

The St. Martin’s Project is a large part of the Outreach Ministry, started in the mid-1990s. We partner with three other Episcopal churches to ensure Saturday bag lunches are provided throughout the year for Richmond-area shelter residents. The shelters include a women and children’s shelter and three transitional shelters for men trying to regain their independence through training and establishing a constructive work ethic and job retention. St. Martin’s has three teams that prepare and deliver these lunches. We cover the 4-5 Saturdays per month, preparing and delivering more than 5,200 lunches per year. Our partners are the Church of the Epiphany, All Saints, and St. Mattias-Manakin.
CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world. CROP Hunger Walks help to support the overall work of Church World Service, particularly grassroots development efforts around the world. In addition, each local CROP Hunger Walk can choose to return up to 25 percent of the funds it raises to hunger-fighting programs in its own community.
Conquer Chiari Walk Across America is an outreach project that Saint Martin's is proud to support. Taking place every September, this National Walk supports those afflicted with Chiari Malformations. Chiari Malformations are a set of neurological conditions which afflict approximately 1 in 1,000 people (300,000 people in the US), causing debilitating headaches, neck pain, weakness and numbness in the limbs, balance problems, visual disturbances, and a host of other symptoms.

Other Outreach Programs

Angel Tree

Boys Home of Virginia

Coat Drive

Fisher House

Flower Ministry

Food Drive/Lambs Basket

Meals on Wheels

Operation Christmas Child

Safe Harbour

Thanksgiving Food Baskets