St. Teresa of Calcutta Ministry (Outreach)

Saint Gabriel's Outreach Committee strives to embody the fundamentals of Catholic Social teaching. These teachings include the belief in human dignity, the fundamental right to life, caring for the poor and vulnerable and safeguarding God's creation.  
To that end we lead a variety of clothing and food drives to enable our parishioners to give to those in need.  

If you have any questions or want to reach out to us, please contact Sue Garcia below.

Point of Contact:
St. Teresa of Calcutta/Outreach Committee Chair
Sue Garcia
[email protected]

2026 Outreach Activities

For 2026, we have the following activities:

March – April 2026:  Easter Basket Giving to benefit over 100 Fostering Hope foster children.

July 2026:  Back to School Drive supporting D20 school children and Fostering Hope foster children. 

November 2026:  Thanksgiving Food Drive.  Prior to Covid, we have supplied Thanksgiving food items and gift cards for Turkeys to a variety of recipients.  In recent years we have provided grocery store gift cards with amounts based on family size to families in need as identified by Academy School District 20 and military veterans through the Military Outreach Ministry (MOM).

December 2026:  Christmas Giving Tree.  Saint Gabriel supports various organizations with gifts and gift cards at Christmas to include needy parish families, Bakhita Mountain Home residents, young military families, Mater Filius residents, and God’s Sneakers in Panama.

Other ongoing activities that the Outreach Committee overseas are the Monthly Food Pantry drive, Fostering Hope support and God’s Sneakers in Panama support.

 

Food Pantry items are collected the last full weekend of each month and delivered by the parish Knights of Columbus to Mercy's Gate for distribution.  We hold a special collection in May to support the Catholic Charities Life Support Center with donations of baby items.

Fostering Hope’s ministry at St Gabriel consists of a small group of volunteers who assist and befriend a local foster family who cares for adolescent boys.  We are hoping to expand our support to Fostering Hope in 2026.

Saint Gabriel uses money collected through the Christmas Giving Tree to support God’s Sneakers in Panama.  A former parishioner who moved to Panama provides our interface.  The charity started as a drive to provide shoes to local children, but quickly expanded as food was as vital a need as were shoes.  The money provided by Saint Gabriel provides the bulk of the operating budget for the charity.