Giving Garden
Our backyard is a busy place during the growing season, when a vegetable garden dedicated to former Marion Cross School principal Bill Hammond serves as a teaching tool for the school children and provides vegetables for school cooking projects and the Willing Hands food distribution program.
Shining our Light in the World
Members of the congregation serve the community with different talents. They give their time to the community by volunteering at the Haven homeless shelter, Meals on Wheels, Norwich Women's Club, the Grange. Several members of the parish perform music in the community, with Revels North, the Handel Society, Shape Note singers and baroque and Renaissance music ensembles.
The Outreach Committee
Our Outreach Committee opens our eyes to the needs of our community and world. The Committee organizes a sandwich-making day to provide 200 sandwiches to children in need during the summer months. Each year it helps the church decide where to direct special contributions. Contributions go to Upper Valley Haven, Vermont Food Bank, Good Neighbor Health Clinic & Red Logan Dental Clinic, LISTEN (a second-hand store). Every year our congregation directs contributions to areas of special need, some of which are highlighted by the Episcopal Relief & Development fund. In 2019 we sent a contribution to Annunciation House on the Texas border and to Hurricane Relief in the Bahamas. In 2020 we contributed to restoration of Black churches in the West End of Louisville, Kentucky. In 2021 we supported the work of COVER in White River Junction. In 2022 we contributed to the World Food Program of the UN.
Appalachian Trail Hikers
Our location on the Trail allows us to share our church with hikers. Over the course of the summer, more than 250 hikers have stayed the night in our rectory or parish hall. Their journey can be a metaphor for our spiritual journey. And like St. Barnabas, the Apostle, we can become known for our encouragement.
Vermont Interfaith Action
Our church supports the VIA, where religious organizations work to bring about economic and social justice, in our community. Promoting affordable housing, stewarding the earth, encouraging voting, opposing consumer fraud, and improving living conditions for the elderly are all part of our work.