Outreach
Jubilee Ministry Center
Trinity Memorial Church contributes to various ministries that express our care and concern for our friends and neighbors and further the work of God’s hospitality and healing.
On May 12, 2003 Trinity Memorial Church was designated a Jubilee Ministry Center. Jubilee Ministry Centers are congregations, ecumenical clusters with an Episcopal presence, or agencies with connections to the Episcopal Church that are engaged in active mission and ministry among and with poor and oppressed people.
Jubilee Ministry is called to help the church live out its prophetic vision of empowering people to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before their god” (Micah 6:8).
By creating a direct and dynamic link between our theology and our ethics—the talk and walk of our faith—Jubilee Ministry involves our congregation in the important work of empowering people to change their lives.
For more information, see Jubilee Ministry in The Episcopal Church.
Additional Outreach Ministries
In addition to our Canteen and HAVEN programs, we have numerous community and nonprofit groups which use our buildings. We consider the ministry of our Facilities to be a significant part of our outreach.
Trinity participates enthusiastically in the CHOW program of the Broome County Council of Churches. CHOW, the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse, has pantries throughout the community to meet the needs of low-income clients in need of food. Food donations are welcome at any time, but Trinity is especially focused on bringing food items on the first Sunday of the month. We announce a special item--frequently on the CHOW request list--and parishioners are encouraged to bring that item.
The Friends' Dinner is held each Tuesday evening at Trinity for people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Trinity takes turns with other groups and provides the meal once each month. The group is affiliated with STAP (Southern Tier AIDS Program).
A "Front Door Ministry" has developed at Trinity. Our interim rector has used significant amounts of his Rector's Discretionary Fund to provide food-only cards at the Giant Market and bus passes for transportation on the Broome County bus network. Persons in need come to our front door and request assistance. There are more requests than we can meet, but the generosity of the parish is meeting a need that is beyond our annual budget.
Mentoring social service clients who are placed at Trinity church to work is a quiet, behind-the-scenes ministry supported by our office and custodial staff.
Trinity Church has long hosted 12 Step Programs. Various groups of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have met in our buildings. Currently an Hispanic NA group meets weekly at Trinity.
We reach out to our homebound members in a variety of ways. We call the folks who can not attend church regularly our "Trinity Companions." We send them bulletins monthly, with the Day by Day devotional booklet. They receive altar flowers periodically and are remembered at Christmas and Easter with plants and small gifts. We have an annual luncheon where parishioners volunteer to bring them to church and host them at worship and lunch.