Careers in Transition

Food Pantry

Interweave

Mission Statement

We understand Outreach to consist of giving both of ourselves and our financial resources for the building up of God's people.  Accordingly, the mission of Christ Church's Outreach program embraces several key principles:

1. To assist God's work in our immediate community and in the Diocese of Newark.

2. To support the work of the Episcopal Church in lesser developed countries and distressed areas of the United States.  In particular, we support the collaborative grantmaking program of the Consortium of Endowed Parishes of which we are a member.

3. To strengthen the ordained ministry through grants to theological education and ministry training programs.

In addition to financial stipends, the Christ Church Outreach Committees work:

1. To encourage "hands on" (i.e., time and talent) efforts within the parish – as contrasted with simply financial stipends – as a way to enrich our overall Outreach efforts.

2. To assess Christ Church activities directed at organizations and programs beyond the immediate parish whether or not they travel under the rubric "Outreach".  The objective here is to have an ongoing comprehension of all that Christ Church does for others with a view to steadily enhancing these efforts.

Grant Making Guidelines

The general policy of the Outreach Grants Committee is to make a few large grants annually and a greater number of smaller ones.  Our semi-annual deadline for grant requests are April 15 and October 15.  Grants are made regularly in the May-June and November-December time frames.  Grant request forms, along with this document, are available from the Christ Church business office.

CAREERS IN TRANSITION

The Careers in Transition group meets on the first and third Saturdays in each month 8:30 – 11:00 am.  All persons who are either in transition or exploring career alternatives are welcome to join us. CIT has its own yahoo based group website.  Access is limited to active participants in the Saturday meetings.  Members forward job leads, articles, post inquiries about particular companies, consultants, etc. The group has been meeting since 1987 with three persons continuing to participate as part of their own outreach ministry.  Without a doubt the CIT group is the most ecumenical undertaking of Christ Church.  Our leadership includes Catholic and Jewish individuals, all of whom are gainfully employed but return to help others.  Unlike other groups in surrounding towns, our group is open to anyone regardless of religious affiliation. At the high point of the last recession the group ran 85+ at each meeting.  We seem to have hit a low point of 25 during the Summer 2006.  This fall attendance has gradually increased with as many as 8 new members at a meeting. The meetings are informal and provide the benefits of networking, resume critique by peers and a degree of support.  We provide a membership list to attendees and know there is a great deal of contact between meetings. The standard format is a quick introduction from everyone stating name and what they are searching for.  We then break into smaller groups for strategy sessions.  There is the resume review group that aims to be kind but very honest.  Anyone is invited to participate and everyone is considered an expert - because most of our members are middle to upper management and have hired employees. The other 3 strategy groups tackle various topics such as, what is the biggest problem you are having with your search, interview techniques, websites, age discrimination, mapping a career search strategy.  Each strategy group is lead by a volunteer and the group try to supportively deal with whatever issues are critical at the time. They also report that CIT was the most helpful group that they worked with.  Anyone who lands has to return to tell the others what worked for them - and in a new tradition which has been well received - to bring doughnut holes for the group.  Christ Church supplies coffee and tea to go with the snacks.

FOOD PANTRY

The Interfaith Food Pantry has a great new home!!  We’re out of the basement at the old location and into a clean and  easily-accessible first-floor space at The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany (formerly Grace Church) in Orange!

We need your help for a total of 2 ½  hours, several times a year.  That’s it!!  The task is easy:  prepare bags of good and distribute . . . to as many as 40 clients, some of whom truly fall through the cracks in qualifying for other programs and count on us. Please call the church at 973.379.2898 if you would like to be part of this important ministry! Thank you very much.

INTERWEAVE

Interweave is a community learning center teaching skills for wholistic living that strengthen wellness, deepen spirituality, and promote the common good. Serving the Church and the community since 1980, it offers a wide variety of classes, workshops and conferences for people of all faiths that draw on the resources of depth psychology, spiritual wisdom, and wellness disciplines. Housed at Calvary Church in Summit, it is also a resource group for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. http://www.interweave.org