FOOD PANTRY
The Food Pantry is a year-round, quick response source of emergency aid for whatever situations arise. We ask that people donate non-perishable food to the church where we keep storage for distribution during emergency needs and also our three Holiday food basket distributions. The Food Pantry maintains a supply of donated food available on an emergency basis to anyone in need. An especially active time is the sharing of Holiday Food packages with our brothers and sisters in need before Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. In early December, parishioners help prepare Christmas gifts by taking suggestions from the Food Pantry Caring & Sharing Tree and returning the wrapped gifts for distribution on a Saturday before Christmas.
GIVING GARDEN MINISTRY
In February 2016, the Giving Garden seed was planted as parishioners Lisa Vilar and Christa Pusateri began bringing together ideas on how to most effectively grow food in support of feeding those in need in the Howard County area. In the fall of 2016, we celebrated the existence of the garden by supplying the annual St. Michael Festival with fresh garden greens for the salad at dinner!
Eight years later, having donated thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables to the Howard County Food Bank, we continue to grow! Four Eagle Scouts have contributed to our garden structures: in 2016 Ethan Welsh built the 9 raised planter beds, in 2017 Payton Jaap built the fence and gates, in 2018-19 Noah Stewart built the garden shed out beyond the garden, and in 2021 Josiah Lange installed bird houses around the church grounds. Our latest addition was in 2022, a total rebuild of the raised beds, preserved wood plank cedar boards, and a new composting system was completed by Emily Rice while completing her Girl Scouts Gold Award project.
Parishioners have caught the bug: in the early days, Paul Thompson donated lumber for the projects, Emmett (Doc) Full donated topsoil, and Mike’s Landscaping donates wood chips for outside the planters.
Current Needs:
We are collecting gear to use in our garden, and could really use a functional garden cart or wheelbarrow. If you’re cleaning up your garage and find something you think we can use, please let us know.
Many parish families and members have come to help out and more are welcome! Please use our sign up to facilitate planning for watering, weeding and harvesting:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4EA8AF2EAAFE3-50085370-giving/122628891#/
Many thanks to the Vilar family for the inspiration and sweat effort to make this vision a tangible result of charitable hearts. If you have questions, want to help, or have extra harvest from your garden you’d like to add to our donation, please contact Lisa Vilar.
Chair: Lisa Vilar & Jennifer Gilbertson
Staff Lead:
Don’t miss out on this amazing corporal work of mercy, contact Lisa Vilar to join in the great work!
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR MINISTRY
Love your neighbor Ministry is offered for those in need of a hand in getting things done around the house and yard. You may need a ramp for an elderly parent or a physically disabled family member. You might just need someone to put up a handrail or any other type of job. Contact our lead, Mike Fitzpatrick to see how we can assist.
PASTORAL VISITORS MINISTRY
Pastoral Care is part of the mission and ministry of the church. Every member of the parish has a responsibility to serve others. At St. Michael Church Poplar Springs we have an active group of friendly and compassionate Pastoral Visitors who visit the sick and homebound persons who have contacted the church requesting such a visit. There are two functions of this group, one to visit, the other to take Communion as an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist.
The two nursing homes within our parish boundary in Mount Airy, MD are Lorien Life Center and Pleasant View Nursing Home. At Lorien, Fr. Paul celebrates Mass once each month and on the other weeks there is a possibility of us offering a Sunday communion service. Pastoral Visitors are needed to distribute communion to residents at Pleasant View on a regular, generally weekly, basis.
Besides bringing the Eucharist, our Pastoral Visitors bring the message that the confined person is still considered part of the parish community and that the rest of the community is one with them.
Schedules are flexible and you can sign up to serve as little as once a month! Whenever you become aware of a need for a pastoral visit for yourself or any of your family members, please contact the Parish Secretary.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR MINISTRY
The Love your Neighbor Ministry is offered for those in need of a hand in getting things done around the house and yard. You may need a ramp for an elderly parent or a physically disabled family member. You might just need someone to put up a handrail or any other type of job. Contact our lead, Mike Fitzpatrick at [email protected] to see how we can assist.
LUNCHES FOR THOSE IN NEED MINISTRY
Every month for decades, we have gathered a team of children, youth and their parents, and adults to assemble 500 bag lunches to be delivered to soup kitchens in Baltimore and Frederick. We now gather on the 3rd Sunday after the 8am Mass in the Fellowship Hall. It takes a team to assembly line produce these hearty lunches. We attach a beautifully written and designed prayer card as well to warm the heart in addition to the stomach. Each month a grocery list is published on our website and everyone is invited to supply a portion of the many items needed, from plastic spoons, napkins and sandwich bags, to pounds of sliced lunch meat and loaves of bread. We start set up prior to the 8am Mass, and usually send the lunches off after a group blessing at 10am. Children and youth need to be accompanied by their parents during this activity.
Check out our grocery list here!
