Home  |  Sitemap  |  A A A
Church of the Holy Spirit
Episcopal Church

Fighting Hunger & helping people

Want to feed hungry people or help hungry High School Students? Here are some of the ways you can fight hunger or help people make it through the day in West Haven.

Abraham's Garden

If you like to garden – or to help fight hunger – please join our gardening crew as we tend Abraham’s Garden. Each summer we grow tomatoes, lettuce, and other crops for distribution by WHEAT. For almost 50 years WHEAT, Inc. has been providing food, personal care items, advocacy, and support to those in our community suffering from food insecurity. Based on the belief that access to good quality nutritious food is a basic human right and social justice issue, WHEAT was founded in 1975 by the West Haven Clergy Association as a central place where West Haven residents in crisis can obtain food. Please email Kati for more information. 

Cooking breakfast @ Columbus House

We could use your help making breakfast for people at Columbus House once a month. Columbus House serves people experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk by providing life-saving outreach, shelter, and housing and by fostering their personal growth and independence. They also advocate for and create affordable housing to end homelessness in our communities. Please email Kati for more information.

West Haven High School Pantry

As a parish, we acknowledge too many young people do not have access to adequate food, hygiene, or laundry supplies. To that end, we collect snack foods, easily prepared foods (cereal, PB&J, canned spaghetti), hygiene, and laundry products for the WHHS Pantry.  A parishioner who is a teacher at the school delivers our monthly offering. Please bring your item(s) to church on Sunday and or drop them off during office hours. Please email Kati for more information.

WHEAT Donations

We are one of the founding churches of WHEAT, our local food bank.  In addition to growing fresh vegetables during the summer, our parishioners provide shelf-stable products every week.  Please place your donation in our WHEAT Wagon next to the church door on Sunday and it will be brought forward during the Offertory as another offering to God. Or you can drop your food donation off at our office during the week.

This Christmas season, we will also be creating jars of cookie dough supplies to be distributed to families with children receiving food from WHEAT.   What is Christmas without a cookie or two (maybe one for Santa?) Please email Kati for more information.

Adopt a teacher

Each fall we help a local elementary teacher by purchasing essential items for her classroom – things like school supplies and cleaning products. Please give your support to this worthy effort. Please email Nancy for more information.

Advent Offering

Each Advent we ask for a special gift to benefit a local charity. In the past, we have donated to Yale New Haven Hospital’s Toy Closet, WHEAT, Columbus House, and Deployed Service People. This Advent, we will offer a Reverse Advent Calendar: instead of you obtaining a small gift after opening a door on your advent calendar, you get to place a food item in your Advent Basket. Then you bring it to church on Sunday or drop it off when the office is open.  At the end of Advent, we will donate all we collect to WHEAT (West Haven Emergency Assistance Taskforce). Help us make the Christmas season a little brighter all around our area. Please email Kati for more information.