Across the nation, there are more than 600 recognized Jubilee Ministry centers, including 22 in Colorado. The members of the Colorado network include:
All Saints Episcopal Church, Loveland, http://www.allsaintsloveland.org/ runs a food ministry, hosts homeless families four times a year through the Interfaith Hospitality Network, provides support to a prison ministry and various community ministries.
Boulder Episcopal Partnership with Utah Navajo, http://www.saintaidans.org/navajomission.html, is housed at St. Aidan’s but is a joint project of the all the Episcopal churchs in Boulder County. It sponsors an annual mission trip to Navajoland and provides mentoring to school age youth, runs a computer ministry and sponsors and annual art sale that promotes fair trade for native artists.
Caring Association of Native Americans, Denver, http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_100543_ENG_HTM.htm, provides emergency services to Native Americans sent to Denver for critical medical care, as well as long term support for chronically ill Native Americans in Denver.
Caring Ministries of Morgan County, Fort Morgan, http://caringministriesofmc.org/Default.htm, coordinates the outreach ministries of several churches in Morgan County, including St. Charles the Martyr Episcopal Church. Its services include a food bank and commodity program, temporary shelter, thrift shop, emergency rent, utility, transportation and medical assistance.
Colorado Haiti Project, Boulder http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/, aids the poorest of the poor in a rural area of Haiti called Petit Trou de Nippes. Supported by private donations and by more than 40 Episcopal churches in Colorado, its primary mission is with the Episcopal Mission of St. Paul’s, where volunteer work to provide education, vocational training, health care, nutrition and clean water within the mission.
Cooperating Ministry of Logan County, Sterling http://cooperatingministry.org/, provides food, clothing, emergency services, permanent housing, transitional housing and medical equipment loans. It is a ministry of several churches in Logan County, including Prince of Peace Episcopal.
Crossroads Ministry, Estes Park http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102722_ENG_HTM.htm, provides short-term assistance to clients in Estes Valley, including food, medical needs, rent assistance, short-term lodging, utility and transportation assistance, literacy and self-sufficiency classes. It is an ecumenical ministry supported by St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church.
Evergreen Christian Outreach http://www.evergreenchristianoutreach.org/, on the campus of Church of the Transfiguration, provides food, clothing and assistance with other needs to families in crisis in the Evergreen area.
Good Samaritan Center, Cortez http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102726_ENG_HTM.htm, provides counseling and prayer as well as food and clothing to those in crisis in Cortez. Staff members also work with Social Services and with law enforcement to be an advocate for clients.
Grace’s Kitchen, Cortez http://stbarnabascortez.org/, is a soup kitchen at St. Barnabas of the Valley, providing hot meals and bag lunches four times a week, as well as companionship and advocacy for those in need.
Metro CareRing, Denver http://www.metrocarering.org/, is an emergency assistance service for those in need in metro Denver, providing food and held with other needs to an average of 800 to 900 families per month. It is supported by many Episcopal congregations in the Denver metro area.
New Beginnings, Denver http://www.newbeginningsdwcf.org/ministries.html, is a joint project of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorad and the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church to provide spiritual services to women incarcerated in the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
Southern Colorado Prison Ministries, Pueblo http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102737_ENG_HTM.htm, works with the numerous federal and state prisons and county jails in the area around Pueblo and Canon City, sponsoring prisons and jail visits, worship services, Bible studies for prisoners, prison family support groups, summer camps for children of inames and mentoring newly-released inmates.
St. Benedict Health and Healing Ministry, Louisville http://sbhhm.org/, is a medical outreach program of the diocese of Colorado and the Episcopal churches in Boulder County. It partners with local health care and human services agencies to bring medical care to the estimated 30,000 uninsured people in Boulder County.
St. Clare’s Ministries, Denver http://www.stspeterandmary.org/Outreach3.html, feeds between 100 and 150 homeless and low-income people each week at a sit-down dinner in the parish hall at the Episcopal Church of St. Peter and St. Mary.
St. Francis Center, Denver http://www.sfcdenver.org/, is a gathering place for the homeless in downtown Denver, who come there for shelter, showers, counseling, employment referral and an onsite health clinic.
St. George’s Episcopal Church, Leadville http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102735_ENG_HTM.htm, provides a hot meal four times a week to the hungry in the community. It also offers young adults a drug- and alcohol-free environment with opportunities for counseling, skill-building, companionshiop and goal-setting.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Aurora http://www.ststephensonline.org/outreach_ministries.htm, runs a vibrant outreach ministry, including founding the Aurora Interchurch Task Force, tutoring at-risk children, a jail ministry, processing canned food at a nearby cannery for distribution to food banks, and sending volunteers to numerous other Jubilee Ministries.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Denver http://www.saintthomasdenver.org/tp40/page.asp?ID=168944, hosts homeless families four times a year through its participation in the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Church members are also actively involved in the Colorado Haiti Project, and will begin offering an English as a Second Language class in 2009.
Sudanese Community Church, Denver http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102742_ENG_HTM.htm, is a special congregation of the diocese, worshipping at St. John’s Cathedral. The church attempts to serve the needs of the almost 1,000 Sudanese living in the metro area, and to educate the community about the needs of war-torn Sudan.
32nd Avenue Jubilee Center, Denver http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1905_102718_ENG_HTM.htm, housed at Chapel of Our Merciful Savior, serves a largely immigrant community with a food bank, an after-school program, a health care program and a language acquisition program.
Trinity Housing, Greeley http://www.islandgrove.org/igv/aboutigv.htm, a ministry of Trinity Episcopal, offers affordable housing to nearly 350 poor residents at its Island Grove Village Apartments, as well as a free community compuyter lab and GED, ESL, Adult Basic Education, job- and skills-training classes and after school programs.
In addition, the Colorado Episcopal Public Policy Network is an extension of the Diocesan Jubilee Office, monitoring legislative activity and public policy issues pertaining to poverty, hunger, homelessness and health care. The network supports the work being done by the Jubilee Ministry centers as well as the outreach ministries of Episcopal congregations across the state. It seeks to keep Episcopalians informed of what’s happening at the State Capitol and how proposed legislation may affect the people our ministries serve. It will also provide opportunities for members to quickly, easily and effectively contact elected officials and policy-makers.
Those interested in joining the network may do so by visiting the group’s Website, http://episcopal.grassroots.com/coppn/Registration/
For more information about Jubilee Ministries, please contact the Diocesan Jubilee Officer, the Rev. Rebecca Jones, (303) 455-4572, or by email at killarneyrose@comcast.net.
