St. Andrew has a Charitable Giving Taskforce which makes recommendations to the Finance Council for how our parish contributions will be distributed annually to organizations in our community and beyond.
Below are the organizations that will be receiving funds during the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Special Collections
On Thanksgiving and Holy Thursday each year the parish will take a special collection which will be matched by the parish up to $7500.
Thanksgiving
Brown Bag Ministry
Brown Bag Ministry volunteers prepare 12,000+ brown bag lunches a month at five locations for distribution to various ministries and communities around Wake and Durham Counties. At Saint Andrew, over 1,400 brown bags are prepared and distributed to the homeless and those living in poverty every Saturday at the Oak City Outreach Center in downtown Raleigh and the surrounding areas. Brown Bag Ministry is also responsible for preparing and serving hot lunches for 175-200 people on the 2nd and 3rd Saturdays of the month at the Oak City Center. Additionally, Brown Bag serves several special local community needs throughout the year through seasonal food, clothing and gift drives. Learn more here.
Holy Thursday
St. Vincent De Paul, St. Andrew Parish Conference
Mission Statement: 1. St Vincent de Paul of St. Andrew the Apostle conference share the love of God through sacrifice, serving, and stewardship. This conference serves those in need of financial assistance with financial burdens that affect their ability to provide the basic necessities of life. If financial assistance is not possible or other assistance in needed references will be made to other organizations that are able to provide those services. 2. St Vincent de Paul of St. Andrew the Apostle Conference shares the love of God through sacrifice, service, and stewardship. This Conference serves those in need of financial assistance to ease financial burdens which affect their ability to provide the basic necessities of life. If financial assistance is not possible or other assistance is needed, references will be made to other organizations which are capable of providing those services. Assistance is offered for rent/mortgage, past-due utilities, or car repairs if needed for work
We will help registered parishioners regardless of their location. We will help Neighbors regardless of their faith if they are within Zip Codes 27502, 27539, 27523, 27511, 27513, 27540. Learn more here.
Additional Recipients of Charitable Contributions
The organizations below, listed in alphabetical order, also receive a charitable contribution from the parish this year.
Bethany Land Institute (BLI)
Inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Bethany Land Institute employs the notion and practice of Integral Ecology to respond to three major challenges in rural Uganda: environmental degradation, food insecurity, and poverty. BLI’s theory of change centers around the assumption that change not only occurs from direct contact and interaction with people and environments but also through indirect contact. This is why BLI has the apprenticeship model built into the Caretaker formation program. When Caretakers take their knowledge and share it with apprentices back in their home villages, the knowledge of Integral Ecology and sustainable agriculture proliferates, reaching more people and places than BLI itself could ever hope to reach directly. Listed below are the ways that BLI sees its direct impacts turning
into indirect impacts and creating far-reaching, lasting change.
* Trained Caretakers (~30/year) ——–> Caretaker apprentices (~60-120/year)
* Partner school children (~600/year) ——–> Local families (thousands)
* Partner village households (~360/year) ——–> Entire village/regional transformation
* Planted trees (30,000/year) ——–> Increased biodiversity, wildlife
* Conserved forest (240 acres) ——–> Cleaner air, less flooding and deforestation
* Ethically treated animals ——–> Safer proteins, less disease
* Sustainable harvests ——–> Food security, good nutrition, better health
Learn more here.
Birthchoice
Birthchoice has been a resource for pregnant women in the Triangle area since 1971. They believe every woman
deserves to be treated with respect and dignity in a loving, safe environment, and that no choice is truly a choice
without complete and truthful information. They provide clients with information regarding all options, yet through truth, Birthchoice encourages often overwhelmed and scared women to sort out the issues they are facing and begin to address them one at a time. As the clients connect with available community resources, the stress begins to fade and they are able to look forward to life with their baby. Learn more here.
Camden Street Learning Garden
Camden Street Learning Garden is a part of Interfaith is situated on one acre of land in downtown Raleigh and
features twenty-three community beds, a 1,600 sq. ft. market garden, a food forest, a 5,200-gallon rainwater catchment system, two beehives, a greenhouse, a vermicomposting bin, a composting facility, and a kitchen classroom. It is a space that provides community members with the opportunity to cultivate new relationships as they find out where their food comes from, how to grow it, and how to turn it into healthy and affordable
meals. Learn more here.
CASA
Since 1992, CASA has been working to provide individuals and families in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham with the stability and dignity of a place to live. To provide access to stable, affordable housing for people who are homeless or at risk by developing and managing rental communities. CASA’s 5-year strategic plan, we committed to bold plans to develop 500 new affordable housing units in the Triangle by 2025. For the first time ever, CASA has properties under development simultaneously in all three Triangle counties: Wake, Durham, and Orange. The average household income is $15,541 and the average CASA rent is $327.83. 522 total CASA apartments, 70 % of households are home to someone with a disability, 24% are veterans, 60% live below the federal poverty line, 92% successfully completed at least 1 full year of stable housing. Learn more here.
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh exists to help all people in need. St. Andrew’s donation supports a wide variety of Catholic Charities programs such as counseling, disaster relief services, senior pharmacy program, Oak City Cares (supports the homeless in finding stable housing), food pantries (provide food and when possible small children’s clothing and baby items, such as formula and diapers to those in need). Learn more here.
Catholic Charities Centro para Familias Hispanas
Catholic Charities Centro para Familias Hispanas empowers Hispanic families by providing direct services and
connections to community resources. St. Andrew’s donation supports several different programs such as assisting families in filling out applications for food stamps and Medicaid, offering tax preparation services, and assisting in completing and submitting various legal immigration documents including Applications for Citizenship, Naturalization, and Family Based processes. CPFH professional staff also provides informational sessions to parish and community groups on immigration rights, responsibilities, and current immigration issues and resources. Catholic Charities Centro para Familias Hispanas provides a number of educational services such as Early Intervention for children aged 0-5, ESL and GED classes for adults, and after-school and summer programs for school-aged children. Learn more here.
Catholic Coalition: Habitat for Humanity of Wake County
Catholic Coalition: Habitat for Humanity of Wake ($8,400) Habitat Wake partners with local businesses, individuals, congregations, and community groups to build safe and affordable homes with and for local families. The Catholic Coalition is an organization of area Catholic parishes banding together strengthening relationships and serving families in need of affordable housing. The Catholic Build 2023 is in Raleigh at Old Poole Place, our newest Habitat neighborhood. Learn more here.
Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School
Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School is an affordable Catholic high school located in Durham, North Carolina. Our mission is to deliver a career-focused college preparatory education for students with limited economic resources. We provide a unique educational experience by integrating rigorous academic curricula with four years of real-world work experience. Each student works five full days a month at a local business or nonprofit organization. This experience helps our students develop essential communication, teamwork, and time management skills. Our Corporate Work-Study Partners include some of the top employers in the Triangle area, and our students have the opportunity to work in a wide range of industries. Is a member of the Cristo Rey Network of high schools, comprised of 39 schools nationwide, delivering a career-focused, college preparatory education in the Catholic tradition for students with limited economic resources, uniquely integrating rigorous academic curricula with four years of professional work experience and support to and through college. Learn more here.
Community Culinary School of Charlotte (CCSC)
Founded in 1997, Community Culinary School of Charlotte began its mission in a single room of an unfinished warehouse with just two students. CCSC’s dedication to serving the Charlotte community has grown into a legacy that spans over 20 years. Since our founding, that single office space has expanded into six offices, a conference room, and a fully-equipped classroom to serve our 20-student classes. We continue to provide workforce development training and job placement assistance in the food service industry for adults who face barriers to long-term successful employment. The overarching program goal is for graduates to move from dependency to self-sufficiency through stable employment. Learn more here.
CPO Food Bank
CPO Food Bank – Catholic Parish Outreach is a program of Catholic Charities – Providing help, creating hope, serving all. CPO provides food while treating the people it serves with respect and dignity. Its purpose is to help, and it does this with a food stamp outreach program and a resource list of other assistance that is available throughout the community. CPO is the largest food pantry in the Triangle. St. Andrew’s offers monetary donations annually and collects food donations regularly in their drop box. There are two food drives per year at St. Andrew’s. Learn more here.
A Doorway to Hope (ADTH)
Christian organization serving working, low-income families who are at a crisis point and need a helping hand. ADTH provides necessary resources and links to local services to give temporary, emergency help to return families to a state of self-sufficiency. We partner with Wake County Public School social workers, churches, and other community agencies (Dorcas Ministries, Western Wake Crisis Ministry, The Carying Place, Interact, and others in Wake County.) These families often do not qualify for government assistance. After carefully screening impoverished and working families, ADTH offers assistance with rent, food & clothing, household furnishing, childcare, and utilities. Our programs include household essential baskets, summer food ministry, produce box delivery, Operation Give Pack, and Angel Tree Christmas Project. Learn more here.
Filling Station
The Filling Station, a dream born out of a long vacant, propane company building, opened its doors on August 28, 2017. Why the Filling Station name? During a walk-through of the building, someone noticed a red hazardous material warning sign with a flame and the number 1075, the DOT classification for propane. The group discovered that Psalm 107:5 read: “They were hungry and thirsty; their lives were slipping away.” A new mission was launched and it was called “The Filling Station” to refer to the building’s prior use as well as to its new purpose. Our mission is to assist with filling unmet needs in the areas of Nutrition, Education, and Connection serving the residents of Jones County. We opened our Food Pantry on September 6, 2018, one week before Hurricane Florence hit Eastern North Carolina. Mayor Jay Bender called on us to serve as a disaster relief center. On September 21st, we opened as a Disaster Relief center providing assistance to over 10,000 individuals (2500 households) with the help from over 75-100 volunteers and approximately 250 donors from around the United States. January 2019, we returned to our main mission of Nutrition, Education, and Connection. Our Food Pantry is open 2 days a week and we have over served 60,000 individuals (20,586 households) in Jones County from 2019-2021. Open Drive-Thru Food Pantry Tuesday and Thursday at 9 AM. Programs: Food Pantry, CSFP Program for Senior (Distributes Commodity Boxes for Seniors), Story Time, Art & Dance Summer Camp, Leadership Academy (Opportunity for Jones Co residents, local government, non-profits, and faith-based leaders to develop key leadership skills). Learn more here.
Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (the Food Bank) is a nonprofit organization that has provided food for our friends and neighbors facing hunger in 34 counties in Central and eastern North Carolina for 40 years. The Food Bank is an affiliate member of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. In terms of total food distributed, the Food Bank ranks in the top 15 nationally among 200 Feeding America food banks and first in North Carolina. Our food distribution programs and child nutrition programs
are based on national models. Simply put, the Food Bank works every day to provide food to people in need while building solutions to end hunger in our communities. The Food Bank began operations in 1980 with funds from the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and now partners with a network of more than 900 partner agencies such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults through distribution facilities in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh, the Sandhills (Southern Pines), and Wilmington. The Food Bank works across the food system to provide access to nutritious food that nourishes families, children, seniors, and individuals. Through partnerships, education, and programs, the Food Bank empowers communities to overcome hunger, creating an environment where all North Carolinians thrive. Learn more here.
Hand of Hope Pregnancy Center
Hand of Hope Pregnancy Center has locations in Fuquay Varina, Raleigh, and Fayetteville, NC. We exist to truly offer women and men who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy a real choice in their decision-making process. We seek to meet a physical need first through the following free services: physician quality pregnancy testing, limited ultrasounds, and NC Women’s Right to Know certification. Both locations are sites for Wake County Health & Human Services STI testing. Life Coach counseling, Life Skills classes, and post-abortion support
Bible studies are also offered free of charge. With the expectant parents’ permission, we provide accurate and essential education regarding the physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences of abortion, while encouraging the exploration of other options such as parenting and adoption. (pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, STI testing, life skills program, postabortion support, parenting education, support groups cooking classes, labor & delivery classes, birthing classes, material support, (medical & professional counseling, adoption, & community referrals). As a Christian center, we affirm the value of life from conception by compassionately sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ; assisting individuals facing the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy, ministering to the emotional and spiritual needs resulting from abortion to miscarriage and promoting sexual abstinence until marriage. Learn more here.
Haven House
Haven House is the place where youth who need help find it. Founded in 1973, Haven House programs help more than 1200 youth aged 6-24 each year overcome their challenges and find a path to success. Some are homeless. Others are in-crisis due to difficult family situations, problems at school, and/or mistakes they have made. Many have a history of trauma, abuse, or neglect. Few have positive adult role models to help youth navigate obstacles or provide them with a safety net. But no matter the path that leads youth to us, at Haven House we will do whatever it takes to help each youth identify their goals, overcome challenges, and build the skills and get the resources needed to be safe, supported, and successful. Programs include: Wrenn House Shelter, Street Outreach, Transition in Place, Second Round (Boxing and Fitness), Juvenile Diversion Team, Multi-Systemic Therapy, Outpatient Therapy, Juvenile Assessment Team, Community Alternatives Program, Restitution and Community Service. Learn more here.
Healing Transitions
Healing Transitions Offers innovative peer-based, recovery-oriented services to homeless, uninsured, and underserved individuals with alcoholism and other drug addictions. The program is specifically designed to rekindle a person’s desire and ability to return to a meaningful and productive life. Donations from St. Andrews support those battling substance abuse in obtaining services that they need including long-term recovery programs, an overnight shelter, nonmedical detox, and family services. It costs Healing Transitions $55 per day to provide care for one person in need. Learn more here.
Hospice of Wake County
This program allows Transitions LifeCare to extend all services to patients not eligible for Medicare/Medicaid, not covered by private insurance, and without other means of paying for services. This program also helps patients and families with emergency needs, such as assistance with paying rent or a utility bill. Learn more here.
NAMI – Mental Health
For 40 years NAMI, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, has been dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness and has been a beacon of help and hope, fighting for more research, better education, bolder advocacy, and broader public awareness.
* Educate. Offered in thousands of communities across the United States through NAMI State Organizations and NAMI Affiliates, our education programs ensure hundreds of thousands of families, individuals, and educators get the support and information they need.
* Support. Throughout the country, our NAMI State Organizations and Affiliates host support groups, for both those with mental illness and caregivers, so that no one feels alone in their mental health journey.
* Advocate. NAMI shapes national public policy for people with mental illness and their families and provides volunteer leaders with the tools, resources and skills necessary to save mental health in all states.
* Listen. Our toll-free NAMI HelpLine allows us to respond personally to hundreds of thousands of requests each year, providing free information and support—a much-needed lifeline for many.
* Lead. Public awareness events and activities, including Mental Illness Awareness Week and NAMIWalks, successfully fight stigma and encourage understanding. NAMI works with reporters on a daily basis to make sure our country understands how important mental health is.
Learn more here.
NC Farmworkers Project
NC Farmworkers Project serves as the resource center, home base, and connection to care for more than 3,000
farmworkers in 12 counties in southeastern North Carolina. We have offices in Benson, NC and Whiteville, NC. The North Carolina Farmworkers’ Project began as a community project to respond to the needs of the farmworker community in Eastern North Carolina in 1992. We began meeting in people’s homes, and eventually acquired half of a trailer in Newton Grove as an office. In 1994, the Farmworkers’ Project was incorporated as a nonprofit. Each agricultural season, we visit farmworkers in their homes to assess their needs, engage in health education, share information and resources, and build community. We have multiple program areas and focus on providing farmworkers with information about health insurance and assistance accessing plans; health education and enabling services to access health care; and leadership development through our promotores program. Learn more here.
Oak City Cares
Oak City Cares is a hub for connecting individuals and families, who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness, to coordinated services that helps them transition to permanent housing and access economic, medical, mental health, and employment assistance. The Oak City Multi-Services Center is the culmination of several years of collaborative efforts between the City of Raleigh, Wake County, the Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness and Catholic Charities. Learn more here.
Pardoned by Christ
To restore lives affected by incarceration. To reach out to people affected by incarceration, who will receive the love and provision that is found in Jesus Christ. To restore individuals and their families to our communities through in-prison, transitional, and community programs. Our vision is to establish in-prison, transitional, and community-based Christian programming for justice-involved individuals throughout North Carolina. This is demonstrated with bible study, church services, and mentoring programs in both adult and youth facilities. Transitional programming is established through our multiple residential housing facilities. Community volunteers and partner agencies provide Spiritual, life skills, employment, and transportation assistance. Learn more here.
Rebuilding Together
Rebuilding Together is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing home repair and renovation services free of charge to those in need. Approximately 90 cents of every dollar goes directly toward program costs, providing home repairs for vulnerable, local homeowners. Many of the homeowners we assist are seniors, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and/or families with children. Typical projects include accessibility, electrical, flooring, gutter, HVAC, plumbing, railing, roofing, structural, and windows. Rebuilding Together of the Triangle (RTT) is the local affiliate, serving vulnerable homeowners in Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties. Learn more here.
Retrouvaille
A lifeline for marriages… a program to help couples heal and renew their hurting marriages. The Retrouvaille Program is for Married Couples Facing Difficult Challenges in their Relationship. A Marriage program that helps couples restore their marriage and rebuild a loving relationship. A Christian marriage program, Catholic in origin, where couples of all faiths or no faith background are encouraged to attend. Primarily a practical program to improve communication, build stronger marriages, and help couples reconnect. Presenters are not trained marriage counselors, but rather couples sharing their personal stories of marital struggles and the tools they used to rediscover their love. Retrouvaille is a Three-Phase Program: 1)The Retrouvaille Weekend Experience, 2)The Post Weekend Sessions, 3)Monthly Support. This program considers itself a compliment to marriage counseling and not a replacement for it. The Retrouvaille program is more like a marriage seminar or classroom setting. The program is given by couples who have faced extreme marital difficulties themselves and needed marriage help. Learn more here.
RIP Debt
RIP Debt is an organization founded in 2014 as Medical Debt Resolution, Inc. for the purpose of buying large portfolios of medical debt from healthcare providers and from the secondary debt market, which allows forgiveness of thousands of people’s debts at once. Contributions can be designated for certain campaigns; currently funds are being raised for Appalachia which includes the western part of NC. On average, $1 abolishes $100 of debt. People who earn less than 2x the federal poverty level and whose debts are 5% or more of their annual income and who are facing insolvency qualify. Learn more here.
Room at the Inn
Room at the Inn in Greensboro, NC is one of only two Catholic maternity homes in NC. It helps homeless, pregnant women by providing shelter, food, clothing, etc., through a structured environment. They receive Pre-natal and Postnatal healthcare along with treatment for other medical issues. Faith-based support, continued life-skills education, and assistance in entering/returning to college are included. For 5 years after the birth of their children, clients are eligible for material assistance and support through the Aftercare Program. “We allow pregnant women to bring older children they may have, and don’t require anything for admission other than that a woman be pregnant and homeless. These are the women who truly have no other option and are very vulnerable to choosing abortion.” Learn more here.
Safe Families for Children
Safe Families for Children is a national organization with a chapter in Raleigh-Durham (office location on Glenwood Avenue). SFFC hosts vulnerable children and creates extended family-like supports for families facing a crisis through a community of compassionate volunteers to keep children safe and families together. SFFC Works by hosting and supporting families in crisis. The family in need is called the“placing family”, and the family taking in the child is called the “host family”. Family parents voluntarily place their children with a volunteer host family for a limited time (the average length of stay is six weeks) and they can opt to reunify with their children at any time. The assumption is that the voluntary placement of children by parents and the hosting of voluntarily with no compensation or expectation of adoption builds trust. During the hosting (placement) process, SFFC considers such factors as the location of the child’s school and the existence of siblings, aiming to place siblings together to maintain as much stability and consistency as possible. Learn more here.
Tarboro Community Outreach Homeless Shelter (TCO)
TCO operates a 26-man homeless shelter as well as a wonderful home that provides temporary housing for displaced families, women, and children. These facilities have developed into centers for personal growth and transformation, not just drop-in and sleep areas. Tarboro Community Outreach (TCO) is a non-profit agency, which serves needy families and individuals of Edgecombe County, NC. Founded in 1982, TCO gives support to people in need of shelter, food, or clothing. In a region that has been plagued with a number of natural disasters and economic hardships, TCO makes a difference in the lives of the poor. Soup Kitchen. Among its busiest programs, TCO’s soup kitchen facility serves more than 350 meals each weekday for those seeking and in need of healthy, prepared meals. The kitchen also serves as a training area for TCO’s shelter residents who perform volunteer duties to assist in running the program. Food Pantry. TCO’s food pantry redistributes canned goods and perishable foods to those who are experiencing hunger, helping more than 400 households per month. Volunteerism is key to TCO’s success. Recipients help with food distribution, which helps them maintain a sense of dignity when receiving free food. Learn more here.
Wake County Meals on Wheels
Wake County Meals on Wheels Exists to deliver nutritious meals to frail, home bound, older adults and persons with disabilities. St. Andrew’s donation supports Meals on Wheels’ efforts to improve health, reduce isolation and prevent inappropriate institutionalization to persons 60 years old and over in order to promote independent living. Some clients utilize Meals on Wheels while recovering from illness or surgery, while others need meals indefinitely.
* $200provides meals for one person for one month
* $1200 provides meals for six months
* $2400 provides meals for a year
Learn more here.
Wake Monarch Academy
Until now, high school students battling with substance use disorders had no choice but to return to the same schools where they likely began their addiction. They now have the choice to attend a school with like-minded peers in a setting that supports sustained, lifelong recovery. Wake Monarch’s primary purpose is to create programs and environments aimed at the prevention, reduction of, and recovery from substance use by adolescents in the Triangle area of North Carolina.
* RECOVERY HIGH SCHOOL We provide a drug-free and recovery-supportive learning environment for students who are in active recovery.
* FAMILY SUPPORT Adolescents in recovery need support and so do their families who love them. We provide resources to bring the family unit together and begin the process of healing so no one feels alone.
* COMMUNITY RESOURCES We serve as an adolescent recovery resource for our community partners including
educators, mental health providers, and addiction and treatment specialists
Learn more here.
Western Wake Crisis Ministry
Western Wake Crisis Ministry provides assistance to the residents of Apex and Holly Springs with food and emergency funds. St. Andrew’s provides monthly monetary support and two yearly food drives. WWCM was started in 1983 by one of St. Andrew’s founding parishioners, Antoinette Clark. She worked with people from other local churches to open a food pantry in the Apex area. St. Andrew’s parishioners have supported WWCM with food, financial support, and volunteers since its beginning. St. Andrew’s is one of the largest supporters of WWCM to this day. WWCM is an ecumenical organization supported by many local churches, businesses, civic organizations, and individuals. WWCM was able to assist 401 area families with their rent and utility bills, averaging more than $700 per household. The economic impact of unemployment during the pandemic dragged on with debt for those trying to get back on their feet, and households of senior citizens and disabled neighbors joined them in trying to keep their homes while rent and other necessities escalated in cost. In 2021-2022, WWCM almost doubled the amount spent on rent assistance, and increased utilities assistance by 36%. Still, as median rent in our community has shot up 20% this year compared to last, wage growth has fallen far behind that, and the households spending half or more of their income on housing and utilities continue to grow in number and they find their way to WWCM when other solutions run out. Learn more here.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a weekend for married Christian couples who value their relationship and desire a richer, fuller life together by learning tools to keep your marriage strong. The emphasis of WWME is on communication between husband and wife, who spend a weekend together away from the distractions and the tensions of everyday life, to concentrate on each other. Every marriage deserves a WWME weekend! St. Andrew’s donation enables NC couples with financial need to attend a weekend. Learn more here.