Christ Church Outreach News: July 24, 2025
- Christ Episcopal Church
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
FISH and CCC Combine Pantries, Making it Easier for You to Help People in Need
Recently FISH and Columbia Community Care (CCC) have partnered to provide food services for Howard County residents. The two organizations have merged their food pantries. CCC will distribute food, including by home delivery, from the groups’ newly combined pantry. FISH will continue to supply the pantry by picking up donated goods from Christ Church and other cooperating churches, schools, and civic organizations.
Continue to place non-perishable food and personal care products in the altar basket. Elsewhere on campus, you can place items in the bin just inside the Parish Hall (main office) building door; look for the bin labelled “FISH/CCC.”
Please do continue to donate baby wipes and diapers, especially those in sizes 5 and 6. These remain in great demand, according to CCC’s April Lee, manager of the combined pantry. CCC continues to distribute groceries, staples, and baby supplies at three sites on Saturday mornings. For information, visit their site to Get Help.
The personal touch is crucial when people are in crisis, so FISH will continue to provide telephone support to Howard County residents. And you could be the one to lend a helping hand, doing so by lending an ear!
FISH of Howard County needs phone volunteers to assist our neighbors in need throughout Howard County. You can help from the comfort of your own home by dedicating just one day a month to assist those who could benefit from financial assistance from FISH. Training is provided. For more information, ask Christ Church parishioner and FISH treasurer Andy DeLong, or you can email him at andydelong.fish@gmail.com. Thank you always for your support and for welcoming FISH at Christ Church.
SLYC Invites Parishioners to Carpool to its Camp Imagination Showcase in Linthicum at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 31
On Sunday, July 13, we heard from Engagement Coordinator Darlene Clark of St. Luke’s Youth Center (SLYC), who described how much its young people enjoy Camp Imagination. Once again this summer, the day camp is being held at a cooperating parish in Linthicum, MD. And once again, we are invited to St. John Lutheran (& Episcopal) Church, 300 Maple Ave., Linthicum, Md., to see youth perform in the camp showcase at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 31. For carpool information, you can email outreach@christchurchcolumbia.org.
SLYC is a collaborative of West Baltimore families who together provide youth with life-enriching experiences. It is also in the midst of a campaign to re-envision the historic St. Luke’s Clergy House with the help of a plan by Episcopal Housing Corp. In addition to summer camp, SLYC offers programs such as “SLYC After School” and “Moms on a Mission.” Please consider volunteering in West Baltimore at SLYC’s partner church when the school year resumes. To view Clark’s remarks during the 10:30 worship service, go to Pentecost V: July 13, 2025 on the Christ Church YouTube channel. The SLYC portion can be seen from 1:03:30 to 1:10:06 in the video.
Christ Church's LEMS Backpack Drive Will Soon Be Underway
The students and families at Lake Elkhorn Middle School rely on us each year to help provide assistance with school supplies. We have just received a list of the most frequently used school items and are now ordering them in bulk to secure the best prices. We will then load the supplies into 125 backpacks after the second worship service on Sunday, August 17th, so come downstairs, have a sandwich, and help fill them.
If you can’t come that day, plan to visit New Brick on Friday, August 22, at 2:30 p.m. to help load the school supplies into cars and drive them to LEMS. That afternoon, they will have their Annual Back to School Block Party, where families will register their children and enjoy a picnic from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. You are welcome to stay to help distribute the backpacks to those appreciative students and families.
Please email us and let us know if you can come to either or both of these events by emailing Cathy Whittaker LEMS@christchurchcolumbia.org.
Each year, we ask for the congregation's support in providing these school supplies, and you always come through (thank you so much!). We don’t have a line in the church's annual budget for this, so we rely on and deeply appreciate your direct support. You can give to the LEMS campaign by writing a check to Christ Church with "LEMS" in the memo line, or you can give online at https://onrealm.org/christchurchcolumbia/give/lems. Either way, your gifts are very much appreciated.
Somos Amigos Patient Euclides Continues His Recovery after Cancer Surgery, Expresses Gratitude for Help from Fund for Referrals Care
When Somos Amigos Medical Missions alerted Christ Church and other supporters in May that its staff member and patient, Euclides, had been diagnosed with colon cancer, we donated to a fund for referrals’ care so that he could be treated by specialists.
In mid-July we got the latest update from Somos Amigos Executive Director and CEO Frank Brightwell on Euclides’ recovery after colon cancer surgery. The father of six receives oral chemotherapy and radiation treatments while staying with his mother at her home. “A recent message from his physician regarding his condition and prognosis sounded very positive, but his recuperation will continue for some time,” Brightwell said.
“I wish you could experience first-hand the gratitude expressed by Euclides, his mom, his son Johan (who is working with us at the clinic this week), and the rest of his family. They know his future could have taken a much darker path, and they know you helped save his life. How can that be captured in words? They try, and they ask me to pass it along. Thank you again.”
Somos Amigos holds clinics quarterly in Naranjito, Dominican Republic. The next clinics occur Oct. 11-18 and Jan. 10-17, 2026. Go here for volunteer information.
The Outreach Commission approved $1,000 in donations to Somos Amigos for patients’ referrals, as described in the Outreach Blog of May 1, 2025 and the Outreach Blog of May 29, 2025. The funds go toward specialty care such as surgeries, colonoscopies, mammograms, and cataract removal. These are Vestry-approved Outreach budget funds derived from contributions to Christ Church. Thank you!
In general, if you have suggestions about ways to help the community, if you want to get involved, or if you need assistance, please email Christ Church Outreach at outreach@christchurchcolumbia.org. Your help is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thank you.
