Outreach Update Spring, 2025
Outreach continues to work with our area Food Banks - Food is a critical need!
The AIO serves all of Knox County 4 days/week with a wide selection of all needed items including personal hygiene, diapers, and adult protection and energy assistance.
Smaller Food Banks serve their immediate community one day a week with a limited supply of items.
Due to the current cuts in funding to the regional resource centers that supply food to ALL of these Food Banks, AND due to the ever-increasing demand, supplies are dwindling. Food items that have been supplied to FBs at no cost, such as peanut butter, cereals, pasta, may soon be greatly reduced or eliminated.
St Johns Outreach will continue to ask for food items, or other items, which we are told are most in demand.
At this time we are requesting hearty soup, canned tuna/meat, stews, chili, jams & jellies AND now peanut butter.
Outreach will highlight May for diaper donations in addition to the usual food donations.
Thank you for your continued, generous support, AND, for using the green CLYNK bags for all your returnables!! We are now enjoying good returns from CLYNK, which we will share with each quarterly report we receive.
Outreach
Discretionary Fund
Discretionary Fund
The church has a discretionary fund for use for people in need, both in the parish and in the community.
Grants
Discretionary Fund
Over the last decade we have offered grants to various organizations in which people in our parish volunteer and work as a way of supporting their ministries.
Involvement of Parishioners
Many of our parishioners are involved in the myriad programs listed below.
Food Pantries
We support with the other churches in Thomaston, the Thomaston Interchurch Food Pantry, now located in the old Lura Libby school by the new town office.
Homeworthy
Homeworthy is the only dedicated homeless services organization serving Knox County, as well as parts of Waldo and Lincoln counties. After re-opening Hospitality House in 2014 and developing our wraparound programming, we now see a clear path to a strong and hopeful future for all who live and work here. We are addressing root causes of homelessness through innovation and collaboration around affordable housing. We’re achieving incredible results in breaking the cycle of homelessness through wrap-around client services. And with our comprehensive youth program, The Landing Place, we are deepening our capacity to reach whole families in the most effective and impactful ways possible. Website
Rockland District Nursing Association
RDNA provides a critical service throughout Knox County, serving home-bound individuals who don't qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. Website.
Groups we work with in the community
Trekkers
TREKKERS - For 25 years, Trekkers has been cultivating the inherent strengths of young people through the power of long-term mentoring relationships. Our evidence-based best practices and principles have become a model of exemplary programming in the field of youth development. Website
The Landing Place
Located in the heart of downtown Rockland, The Landing Place youth center is part of Homeworthy’s comprehensive suite of services for highly resilient and often marginalized youth living in Midcoast Maine.
Using trauma-informed, strength-based, restorative practices, we aim to break cycles of poverty by compassionately supporting young people who are at high-risk of experiencing different types of adversity, such as unstable housing, food insecurity, insufficient access to resources and supplies, personal conflicts, and other barriers that make it difficult for youth to succeed.
Since opening our doors in 2017, The Landing Place has emerged as a hub for collaboration and is a steady presence not only for youth and families seeking acceptance and support, but also for community members who are interested in giving back. Website.
Knox County Humane Society
Restorative Justice Program
MISSION STATEMENT: Pope Memorial Humane Society is devoted to caring for and placing unwanted and abandoned animals in loving homes and promoting responsible pet ownership and humane treatment of all animals.
OUR HISTORY: The Pope Memorial Humane Society was founded in 1989 in response to the needs of homeless animals – their protection, care and adoption. Money was raised to purchase the land between Dexter Street Extension and Buttermilk Lane in Thomaston, Maine. With generous support of many animal lovers, and a substantial mortgage, the shelter was built and opened in November 1991. Since that day thousands of animals have been lovingly tended, rehabilitated and adopted. Volunteers and members of PMHS are from every community – students, retirees, artists and businesses.
Restorative Justice Program
Restorative Justice Program
Restorative Justice Program
RJPMaine operates in the four counties that comprise Maine Prosecutorial District Six, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln and Sagadahoc, as well as Hancock county, which is part of Prosecutorial District 7. Its programs encompass the broad spectrum of need from prevention to integration and reintegration and seek to offer every student, victim, youth or adult offender and incarcerated individual reentering his community the opportunity to participate in a restorative process. http://www.rjpmidcoast.org/
Knox County Head Start
Restorative Justice Program
Knox County Head Start
Providing high-quality early education and family engagement services since 1965.
All six Knox County Head Start Centers have received quality star ratings under the Step Up to Quality program, administered by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services – Bureau of Child Care Development
The Apprentice Shop Sailing Program
The Apprentice Shop Sailing Program
The Apprentice Shop Sailing Program
There’s no better way to spend the summer than out in a boat! Each week, we group students based on their size and level of skill so that they get tailored instruction whether this is their first time in a boat or their hundredth. Instructional staff reserve the right to adjust classes during the course based on the experience level of students. The skill levels below help us sort out the right level of instruction. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their experience. If you have any questions, feel welcome to contact our sailing director by calling 594-1800.
Knox County Health Clinic
The Apprentice Shop Sailing Program
The Apprentice Shop Sailing Program
The Knox Clinic is a volunteer based non-profit advocating for and providing free/low cost medical, dental, prescription assistance, mental health and wellness services to the uninsured and underinsured in Knox County, plus our border towns.
We believe everyone deserves access to quality care!
The Knox Clinic is located at 22 White Street, Rockland, Maine.
The Dental Clinic is located at 1019 Commercial St. Rockport, Maine.
To set up an appointment, or for more information, please call 207-301-6996.
New Hope Midcoast
New Hope Midcoast offers support to people in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo Counties affected by domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, and provides educational resources to assist our communities in creating a safer and healthier future.
AIO Weekend Meal Program
One in five children in Maine is food insecure and almost half of the children in Knox County experience food insecurity, making this program critical to the health and well-being of our local children. The AIO Weekend Meal Program provides meals and snacks for families in Knox County, Lincolnville, and Waldoboro. The program was launched in Knox County in 2015, in partnership with Good Shepherd Food Bank, with a handful of volunteers, and is now driven by a robust, dedicated team of volunteers who perform a myriad of tasks related to the program including designing the weekly menus, assembling food bags, delivering food to schools, interacting with the schools, and much more. Our volunteers are teachers, parents, nurses, community members, everyone is dedicated to ensuring families have food on weekends.