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Ways to Help your community!

- PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN ABOUT THE MANY WAYS TO HELP!
- We are working with Small Things, a new non-profit right in our own community.
  
  Click on the photo to be taken to their website to learn more, and to donate!
- Please click on link below to download the "Friday Focus" and find out many ways you can help during this crisis, as well as ways that Catholic Charities can help you handle the stress and anxiety you may be feeling.
  
  CLICK here OR ON THE PHOTO TO BE TAKEN TO CATHOLIC CHARITIES WEBSITE
  
  "Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.
  What we need is to love without getting tired.
  Just do the small things of daily life: be faithful, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting.
  Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
  
  -Saint Teresa of Calcutta
- Documents
  
  Catholic Charities Friday Focus (Jan 2021) - download here!
  
  Coping with Covid Virtual Support Group
- HUMBLE REQUEST FOR CHILDREN
  FROM MY VILLAGE IN INDIA
  
  Thank you for your kind donations for the children in my village last year. This year I will not be able to come to St. Stephen’s due to the Covid virus. I am well but travel is not easy. If I come I will be in Quarantine for most of my visit.
  
  The children in my village are still in need and I make a humble request to collect for the tuition fees and their supplies. The reason is that I know America is hit very badly during the time of lockdown. In India, in our places people are only daily workers. The poor people will get to eat only if they go out every day for daily work. It is not like a job, one would wait for the end of the month. But one has to work each day for each day's meal. They don't have anything in bank nor crops in the field to rely on for survival. Given this situation, they will not have anything practically for eating, let alone sending their children for education.
  
  Most of the parents of our children were in the cities for work and they were stuck there for 3 months without work. Now they have come back to the villages, but thank God they were tested negative. But other workers were tested positive. My village and surrounding villages are under red zone...because the migrant workers were infected; it is under a seal.
  
  If the children do not go to school they may not eat. They would not get the education they need to better themselves and their families. So I humbly ask if you can help these children. If you are able, please give $150 per student or any amount that you can. Your money will go very far to helping the children. The $150 I ask for pays all of their expenses for the school year: tuition, clothing, book bag, and other supplies.
  
  Please make your check out to Jeesaya Nayak and send or bring to the church office. I will wire all funds to the Being Kind Foundation in India. At this time, I cannot accept checks made to the foundation as due to Covid they have not sent me the paperwork.
  
  I greatly appreciate your sacrifice and will gladly send you information on your sponsored child.
  
  Fr. Jeesaya Nayak
additional services
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- Supporting the Warwick Food Pantry
  The Warwick Food Pantry is currently operating under a modified system to provide local needy families with groceries. The pantry is utilizing a curb-side delivery model to families in their vehicles. They are offering a standard pre-bag of groceries, which is determined by the family size. The panrty is purchasing a limited number of groceries in bulk. The pantry is requesting monetary donations at this time. To make a donation, visit their website here, or send checks to the Warwick Food Pantry, 135 Forester Ave., Warwick, NY 10990.
- Supporting Catholic Charities of Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties
  Catholic Charities remains open during the Covid-19 crisis. They serve our communities through a food pantry, homeless shelter, a halfway house, and addiction treatment programs, to name a few. Click here to view the Catholic Charities flyer. Monetary donations to Catholic Charities of Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties may be made here.
- Support Seniors in Need
  A program to support local seniors in need has been established and is being coordinated by three local residents, including Jim Mehling, a St. Stephen Parishioner. Willing volunteers are assisting senior citizens in Warwick, and now neighboring towns with accessing food, supplies and medications. If you are interested in joining this worthy effort, please visit them on Facebook at Adopt A Town of Warwick Senior.
- Support the Florida Community Food Pantry
  We're modifying our distribution model so that only volunteers are in the pantry. Our current client choice model is the most cost effective, but we'll be going to a more limited curbside checklist that will still offer some client choice with fewer options. We're adding an additional evening to serve those in Warwick and Goshen who aren't already clients of ours.
  
  So what do we need? Right now, money.
  
  We have no idea how many additional families we might temporarily serve. We anticipate our ShopRite food recovery donations to decrease as stores have turned over product leaving less on the shelves. Half our food has been through the recovery program-- food at the edge of expiration or in excess. It is also possible too that food donations to the Hudson Valley Food Bank (where we get about the other half of our food) will decline as well. We have always accessed the most economical food at the bank.... salvage, donated and USDA. We love the variety it brings, but a temporary change in distribution model means we might have to purchase more of what is called coop. It's still cheaper than what you could buy at a grocery store. A dollar donated to the pantry will stretch further than your dollar at the store. We'll still be needing items that the food bank doesn't have in inventory, but we'll reach out for those in the near future.
  
  I'm so honored to be associated with our volunteers. Their faith and commitment to helping those who suffer food insecurity is inspiring. Every volunteer raised their hand when asked who would be willing to not only continue our mission but temporarily expand it. I am also always in awe of the goodness of those in our community who time and time again have answered our call for help. ❤
  
  Blessings for all to stay healthy.
  
  Donations can be made through paypal, by check made out to Florida Community Food Pantry, PO Box 94, Florida, NY 10921 or in person. We're at the pantry Mon and Wed mornings 9 to 1030 am without clients.
  
  Beth Maas, FCFP Director