We strive to live God’s love not only with our lips but in our lives through service to others. Our local outreach efforts have traditionally focused on issues surrounding homelessness, hunger and the needs of children within San Mateo County.
St. Matthew’s Thrift Shop
The Thrift Shop has made its home in the basement of St. Matthew’s since 1949 and resells donated items at a very low price. Our operation provides the principal source of income for the League for Service, which is disbursed to local, regional and national charities. The Shop is staffed entirely by volunteers, most of whom are also parishioners. We welcome donations of gently used clothing, jewelry, small furniture items, household goods and children’s toys.
The Shop is open ten months of the year, September through June, five hours per week: Fridays from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. In addition, the Shop sells small, higher value items on Ebay and hosts an annual fundraising Spring Tea as well as our own version of Antiques Road Show. This year our Spring Tea will be held on Saturday May 20th. Please stop by the Thrift shop during business hour to purchase a ticket to attend. Tickets are $20.
If you would like to volunteer at the shop, or have questions about donating items, please contact Diana Dykes, Thrift Shop Manager, at dianadykes@aol.com.
Episcopal Day School of St. Matthew
Episcopal Day School of St. Matthew is the church’s first outreach program. In 1953, the Reverend Wilder proposed building a nursery school on the church grounds and invited the Sisters of the Transfiguration, whose mother house was in Glendale, Ohio, to start a school at St. Matthew’s. In 1954, a kindergarten was added and in 1955, Sister Grace Elizabeth, C.T., arrived to serve as principal. In 1962, the Day School began a seventh grade continuing to eighth grade in 1963.
Laundry Love
Laundry Love really is a ministry of love that emerged over the course of a few years from parishioners with increased concern for how our neighbors who are in the most need are making ends meet. With a deep desire to get to know these neighbors better, we have partnered with Samaritan House, to host a free laundry event at a local laundromat on a monthly basis.
If you would like to volunteer or donate supplies, please contact Betsy McCall, at elizabeth.h.mccall@gmail.com.
Back-to-School Backpack Drive (InnVision Shelter Network | Children’s Fund)
We work to get children in need off to their first days of school with the physical tools they need to help them succeed. Whether we partner with InnVision Shelter Network who is committed to providing housing and support services that create opportunities for homeless families and individuals to re-establish self-sufficiency and to return to permanent homes of their own, or with The Children’s Fund, an agency committed to providing goods and services not otherwise available by public funds, to low-income and foster youth, our goals have been to support children in our own community
2015: Collected numerous supplies for school children!
2014: Packed 110 backpacks for children!
2013: Packed 100 backpacks for children!
To learn more about this important ministry or to volunteer please contact Kitty Van Beckum.
The Journey Home (Home and Hope)
Home & Hope offers homeless families safe, nurturing, shelter and support while working to regain their self-sufficiency. Family homelessness in San Mateo County is a significant, though often invisible, problem. Every year, an estimated 6,000 people in the county become homeless; two-thirds of these homeless people are families with children. Join us as we walk to raise awareness and funds to support the work of this important neighborhood ministry.
2015: Raised over $8,000 for Home and Hope!
2014: Raised over $6,000 for Home and Hope!
To learn more about this important ministry or to volunteer please contact Paul Zen.