Christ Church Link - telephone help line:  For nine years, the parish’s volunteers and the coordinator have provided emergency information and referrals to nearly 9,000 callers. Most callers need help to prevent evictions and utility turnoffs, or to get food, medicine, clothing, jobs, etc. Volunteers are needed 9 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday. Flexible shifts available; training on easy referral system provided.

Prepare for Success: This community-wide project, coordinated by Christ Church Link and the Howard County Public School System, has distributed backpacks and required supplies to 8,700 Howard County students from low-income families over the past five years. Volunteers are needed to help obtain donated supplies, funds and sponsors, and to sort supplies and fill backpacks for distribution to the schools.

Giving Tree Committee: Volunteers on the Giving Tree committee work on two major outreach projects within the parish--the donation of backpacks and school supplies for Prepare for Success during the summer and donation of Christmas gifts during the winter months. The parish donates over 100 backpacks with supplies to needy students at three county schools and Christmas gifts for 150 children from low-income families.

Vivian L. Reid Community Fund: Volunteers work on fund-raising events to assist Howard County seniors with emergency needs. The community fund is administered by the Howard County Office on Aging. Assist with gospel concert fund raiser; generate ideas to raise money for the project.

Food Gift Cards for Hungry Families:  Parishioners can help by donating gift cards from local supermarkets and placing them in the offering plate, or delivering them to the office. The food cards supplement non-perishable food items families receive from food pantries.

Homeless Children Project: Help plan and supervise parties and field trips for homeless children and parents at Grassroots Shelter and tutoring center at Valencia Motel in North Laurel.

To assist children with special needs at Cedar Lane School, save the box Tops or Educational Logos from Old El Paso, Progresso soups, Pillsbury and General Mills cereals. Put the box tops and Educational Logos in the container in the Elevator Room

American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life will recruit 24 or more parishioners—children and adults--to undertake this fun-filled community fundraising event. Two parishioners at a time will walk around the athletic track at Hammond High School. Members of the Christ Church team will walk a total of twelve hours. The event begins at 7 p.m. on June 10 (Friday) and concludes 9 a.m. on June 11 (Saturday). The event includes games, music and food.

The Mite Box collection is a Sunday School project that will include the congregation. It starts the first Sunday in Lent (Feb. 13, 2005). Parishioners are asked to donate loose change by placing coins in the mite box. The funds will be used this year for the Granny Project in Uganda. The Ugandan project enables grandmothers in the African country to care for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

Canned and Boxed Food for FISH—Every Sunday parishioners can leave boxes and cans of food for hungry Howard County families in a basket in front of the ambo.

HANDS provide transportation to medical appointments and to grocery stores for those unable to provide their own transportation. HANDS is looking for parishioners who are willing to drive clients to medical appointments and help with grocery shopping.

Springfield Visit Project is a parish project that started more than 50 years ago. It includes once a month visits (September thru May) to Springfield State Hospital in Sykesville by parishioners, who bring food items to share. An annual picnic for Springfield State Hospital patients is held on the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church in June. Parishioners also bring Christmas gifts collected at a Women of Christ Church party for the patients at the state hospital.

Summer Night Dance Party featuring the popular DJ Tony Compofelice will be held June 25 at lower level of New Brick under the auspices of Women of Christ Church. Proceeds are distributed to different charitable organizations.

First Sunday offerings to Episcopal Relief and Development and United Thank Offering are ways parishioners can contribute to world relief projects of the Episcopal Church.

Rebuilding Together is an opportunity for parish volunteers to make improvements on a local home needing repairs. Christ Church joins with several other Episcopal churches in the region for this project. The construction project is held in April.

Visiting the Ark—Participate in the morning visits on the fourth Monday of each month with special holiday visits on Easter, Halloween and Christmas to interact with homeless children in a Head Start program in Baltimore operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. You can also donate paper products, snacks,disposable diapers and cleaning supplies to the project. Participants read stories to the children.

Decorated sweatshirts and tee shirts for children at the Ark—Just prior to Christmas, the Women of Christ Church produce.25 gaily decorated sweatshirts for children at the Ark along with mittens, hats and scarves, and just prior to Easter they produce decorated tee shirts along with socks, hair clips and ribbons for children at the Ark. The wearable art work is displayed in lower level of New Brick for several weeks prior to delivery of the items to the Baltimore program for the homeless children aged three to five.

Christian Women’s Thrift Shop has a drop off box in the parish hall lobby. Parishioners can drop off clothing and small household items.

Annual Red Cross Blood Drive at Christ Church. This is an excellent opportunity to donate blood.

Cold Weather Shelter Assistance: Parishioners can help the operation of Cold Weather Shelters hosted at other local Episcopal churches..

Texas Barbecue holds its annual barbecue cookout and a community picnic in July. Volunteers can help with cooking the meat, serving the meals, bringing side dishes, serving and clean up. Beef dinners are supplied to the residents of the Grassroots homeless shelter by the project.

Knitwits knit and crochet sweaters for the Guideposts Magazine’s The Knit for Kids Project. In addition, the group makes hats and scarves for the patients at Springfield State Hospital The Knitwits meet once a month for fellowship and knitting/crocheting.