$4,939

The Agape Cafe, a feeding ministry of the diocese, seeks to grow our fund-raising capabilities in response to the increased demand for our services and the subsequent increase in our needed budget. The Cafe needs fundraising software, subscription to a grant database, and short-term staff to explore and confirm the viability of this approach. Since the end of the national pandemic, the Agape Cafe has served more guests each year. From 2022 - 2023, meals served increased 35%. During the first six months of 2024, we have seen an additional 15% increase. The Cafe has but two paid employees, for a total of one half-time position. The Cafe staff needs the tools to be able to raise needed funds efficiently to maintain and sustain the important work of feeding our neighbors. This grant will allow us to explore available grant options and to expand our current donor base. Grant funds will be used to purchase a fundraising software package (for a discounted two-year subscription), a paid subscription for an Iowa-specific grants database, and a short-term grant researcher who will implement the software with information from our current donors, research and apply for grants.

Website

Facebook

$5,000

In 2018, a group of concerned church members at St Luke's recognized the food scene was changing, especially for those struggling with food insecurity. After prayerful discussion with church family and staff and NEIFB (Northeast Iowa Food Bank) staff, a decision was made to move from hosting a monthly community meal to a food pantry. In July 2019, the St Luke's Neighbor to Neighbor Food Pantry opened with the mission of serving our neighbors who are food insecure in the Cedar Valley. This ministry continues to grow while the food scene continues to morph as need increases and resources are strained. Church family, friends, and community members continue to be generous, and food is obtained through the NEIFB as well as ongoing food drives and when needed, purchases at retail stores. Supply chains are inconsistent, and we need to supplement our food storage capacity by adding a commercial freezer in the original kitchen space in the undercroft. Minimal renovation is needed in the space, but the addition of the freezer requires updating electrical capacity to ensure safe and reliable electrical service.

Grant funds will be used to renovate the undercroft kitchen (unused and adjacent to the food pantry), removing 10' of base cabinets and providing adequate electrical service to support a new commercial freezer. A commercial freezer would be purchased to support the food pantry.

St. Luke’s Website

St. Luke’s Facebook

$5,000

Post Covid, most families are more familiar with online education than they were in the past, and homeschooling can benefit children who are marginalized, bullied, or overlooked by traditional education. Members of St. Luke’s/the community approached St. Luke’s for support of homeschool children in the community, needing a safe space for their children to study and foster a sense of community. The home school hub will offer home-schooled students the opportunity to experience socialization, sports, music, and study time in a structured, safe, mentally and physically healthy environment. It is not a drop-in center – parents register for their child/ren to participate in the hub. It is especially beneficial to working parents who want the benefits of homeschool, but don’t have the resources (i.e. someone to supervise their child while parent(s) works, provide supplemental social and educational activities). The hub is in no way responsible for the actual education of the students - this all takes place online in their current educational program – but it offers a safe supervised space for students to do their homeschool studying and supplemental activities. The local YMCA test kitchen will be the main location for the hub’s study hours, band/instrumental, and home economics activities; St. Luke’s will supervise and coordinate activities and activity locations throughout the community that parents can choose for their child/ren to take advantage of, as needed, to supplement their child’s homeschool education and experience (which will also include some activity options at St. Luke’s, like music therapy, chapel, and/or choir). Grant funds will be used for wifi, needed equipment, food, and other expenses related to coordinating the hub and activities to ensure that St. Luke’s and volunteers don’t have any out-of-pocket expenses during the school year.

St. Luke’s Website

St. Luke’s Facebook

$5,000

What has been formerly known as the Children, Youth, and Family Mental Health Funds assisted with providing funds for children, youth, and families who might not be able to pay their copay for a mental health appointment. Our goal is to continue to assist the most vulnerable Iowans in obtaining mental health services. The support we offer is through the processes of brief evaluation, resource availability, appointment copay, and follow-up with the family. Since 2021 we have seen that there is a greater need for reimbursement of funds used for mental health appointments as we have seen an uptick in people requesting reimbursement. In talking with several young adults in the diocese, we have seen that this is a need for all people, not just children, youth, and families as originally planned. This reimbursement encourages all people in the diocese to treat their mental health in the same way they would treat their physical health, by seeking out professionals when dealing with mental health issues. We talk about our bodies being a temple, and how our bodies cannot work without one piece missing, this is a step in improving our health in service of Christ. Out of pocket costs for mental health services vary between $25 - $120 on average in Iowa. Depending on individual cases, some therapists could request weekly meetings while others may only need appointments once a month. Grant funds will be used to supplement $50 for out-of-pocket therapy costs to any individual or family who applies.

Behavioral Health Ministry Team Website

Facebook page

$5,000

For over 15 years, St. Andrew’s has taken a public stance on our love for and inclusion of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. This year, St. Andrew’s has also joined the Diocese of Iowa in their new project, Episco-Pride. Last month, The Episcopal Church unveiled a new Pride shield to match its strong public stance that “We believe that God loves us all – no exceptions.” As Episcopal priest Fr Patrick Cheng has said: “Because of the ways in which many LGBT people have been taught to hate ourselves from an early age, pride is an important act of spiritual healing and witness that allows us to develop a healthy sense of ourselves, our communities, and those who we love.” The Pride kit at St. Andrew’s is one of the most visible and established tools we use, year-round, to bring God’s love for all into our community. St. Andrew’s would like to refresh and expand our Pride kit. We use this kit at Capitol City Pride each year, as well as at other events, and it has also been borrowed by other diocesan churches for use in their communities. Our Pride kit consists of things such as: booth display items and tools, giveaways, training materials, and items to keep booth staffers and public visitors healthy and safe. Some of our supplies are damaged from repeated use, have outdated imagery, or are inadequate for our current needs. We would like to update the kit with current Pride images unique to our church and the Episcopal Church; to invest money in quality booth materials that aid in efficient booth set-up and tear-down; to increase our visibility at events; and to help share love into our community and bear witness throughout the year. Grant funds will be used for these kit updates, which also includes bulk purchasing of small goods like stickers, postcards, button-making supplies, as well as t-shirts for the St. Andrew’s community and booth display materials such as banners, tablecloths, etc.

St. Andrew’s Website

St. Andrew’s Facebook

Video clip from 2024 Pride

$5,000

The vehicle is most important to picking church members from their home and returning home, church activities such as transportation to the park for place and meeting with other church members.  We need a vehicle to go to the camp and church mission. It is the way to promoting the Good News of Christ and bring people to church and keep them in the church.

We need a vehicle to (1) spread the word of God (through teaching the Bible at Sunday School, teaching them their native language, teaching them culture) and (2) to enhance our means of transport to church. In our church, we have so many of our new members who recently came from other countries and they do not own cars so most of them miss out on some of our Sunday service we thought it would be easier if we took the responsibility of picking them out however we lack reliable means of transport. If we can own one car it will be easier to bring them to church and share the good news together Besides that, some of our members work on Sundays, which makes it difficult for them to bring their children to church. However, this can be sorted out by picking them up as they go to work and returning them home after the service. This will help them achieve the goals that we have set for them. Grant funds will go toward the vehicle purchase. We will ask the congregation to make contributions to support the vehicle. We plan to fundraise money to buy vehicle and also, in the future to fundraise money every year to maintain vehicle. The plan is to have fundraising next year and all the church members must contribute what they will afford according to their will and gift to the Lord.

Trinity Cush Website

Trinity Cush Facebook

$3,500

Our grant request primarily stems from our presence at last year’s Mason City Pride Fest. Last year we had an “unofficial” participation by merely being present, spending time walking and visiting with various participants and sponsors. Their response was of overwhelming gratitude that a Christian faith community would show up publicly in support. We immediately decided to officially sponsor a booth at MC Pride 2024. Our booth has been supported by an Episco-Pride grant which funded our marketing items. This GILEAD Grant would extend funding of our evangelical presence in future Pride events and allow us to expand to other public events such as Band Fest Parade, Clear Lake July 4th Parade, Blessing of the Animals, Shrove Tuesday Pancakes. We feel having these materials further our ability to have an active, outward facing, posture in our community. Participation in public events encourages the congregation to “get out there” and be with the people of our parish (parish as in a geography, not merely a congregation). It also furthers our work of being present to wide groups of people and it is a public demonstration of our commitment to respect the dignity of every human being. Grant funds will be used to purchase items needed to create a physical exhibitor booth at indoor and outdoor events. They will also be used to create custom marketing materials that can be distributed at community events, parades, etc., as well as community events organized by St. John's.

St. John’s Website

St. John’s Facebook

$15,000

We will build a low deck and ramp on the back of the parish. It will overlook the Resurrection Garden, which was established in 1985 and where cremated remains are buried and there is an outdoor altar for the Eucharist. The ground has grown very uneven; access is impossible for many. Cement steps from the parish to the yard are cracked, sunken, unlevel, and unsafe. The back of the parish is unusable and unattractive. A deck will allow people to attend burial services and visit the resting place of people they love—something that cannot be done currently. As those entrusted with tending the grounds where people have been laid to rest, a deck will help immensely. The ground behind the parish quickly becomes overgrown with thick weeds despite attempts to control them. A deck will dramatically and appropriately make this final resting place welcoming and attractive, as it should be, to honor and respect those buried there. The deck addresses serious issues of accessibility to the back yard and the Resurrection Garden, a place that is spiritually important to many in the parish – where beloved people who have gone to God’s nearer presence are buried. It will also be meaningful for fellowship and evangelism, expanding opportunities for community groups as well as parishioners. We have $15,500.00 in hand from memorials and gifts from fundraising. Grant funds would put us within easy completion of the amount we need, paying of materials and labor for the construction of the deck and ramp.

St. Paul’s Website

St. Paul’s Facebook

$5,000

The Simpson College Youth Academy (SYA) is a year-long, ecumenical program for Iowan high school youth grounded in the conviction that young people have gifts and power that are essential for the healing of the world now. Through college-level intellectual engagement, training in worship and prayer leadership, and reflective service around community issues, we help youth step into mature young adult Christian faith as they discern their particular callings as agents of peace and justice in their churches and the world. The Academy requests a Gilead grant to provide tuition scholarships for Episcopal youth, LGBTQ youth, and youth whose racial or economic status inhibit their ability to pay tuition for the program’s summer residency. Scholarships for these populations address critical needs in our communities. First, the Episcopal Church in America is rapidly aging and shrinking. Thus urgent, intentional investment in forming young Episcopalians is needed to sustain our church institution. Second, American LGBTQ youth are faced with consistent marginalization at higher rates than non-LGBTQ youth by the general public and by religious communities. And third, this Diocese is committed to acting tangibly to combat racial and economic injustice. Therefore, the Diocese and Academy’s decision to offer financial assistance to such youth would be a prophetic statement of radical welcome for queer and BIPOC youth in the name of Christ. Gilead Grants not only assist SYA in covering tuition for students – this assistance also frees our staff to have more capacity devoted to listening to students, building new curriculum, and implementing relevant experiments that are timely and responsive to the emerging needs of students. For example, SYA has built new curriculum that addresses mental health needs, navigating social media, and building healthy relationships, based on youth feedback that they need more support in these areas. SYA has also built an alumni track, added more monthly events to its program calendar, and created new staff positions for young adults in order to help SYA students and alumni continue to receive the community and formation they need. These are just a few examples of how a Gilead Grant can play a critical role in SYA’s ability to continue growing to meet the needs of youth and young adults. Grant funds will be used for scholarships for high school youth to attend the Simpson Youth Academy 2025.

SYA Facebook page

SYA Website

$5,000

During the Covid pandemic we began to livestream the service for those that did not wish to attend. However, this did not allow for the use of our hearing loop for those with hearing impairment. In 2021 St. John's by the Campus applied and received a Gilead grant for the installation of a new sound system and equipment to live stream the services that works with the hearing loop, and the new system has been in use since.  Now we have discerned a need for additional equipment and permanent mounting. We have three volunteers who have been willing to run the equipment. We did have a training and had more interest from parishioners but feel that the set up and tear down is a barrier to finding consistent volunteers. Also, with only three volunteers if one would stop for any reason it may be difficult to stream every Sunday. Currently, the equipment is kept in two different places and on a mobile cart. This creates a lot of extra work before and after the service for setup and teardown of the equipment. We have also identified a need for new lapel microphones as we reused existing microphones and the quality for the stream is not where we want it. This new grant would allow us to permanently mount the camera and keep all equipment in a locked desk. This new system will improve the experience for volunteers as they will simply need to open a desk and power on the system. All presets and sound settings will be ready and not need to be reentered. The grant funds will be used to pay contractors and buy the equipment needed.

St. John’s Website

St. John’s Facebook page

$5,000

We propose to expand our new efforts to reach our congregation, the surrounding community and outward by improving internal communications, and through outreach through social media. Right now we are trying to significantly increase our video creation capabilities for YouTube, Facebook, and other media outlets. In the last year we have used an internal gift to install a new internal network structure capable of handling streaming media, and we have installed the first phase of adding one controllable PTZ camera and supporting PC to improve streaming our Sunday services to YouTube. We would like to add a second camera to the Sanctuary, another wireless microphone, and purchase a hand-held camcorder, vlog microphone, and tripod to enable us to shoot video to record church events and video messages. We believe this effort is a perfect fit for the mission of our church and diocese to improve participation and volunteerism, and to reach out to disconnected and disaffected communities including those that have been negatively impacted by organized religion to offer a loving, inclusive and Christ-centered home. We hope to streamline both internal and external communications to make it much easier for the clergy and volunteer members to create, manage, and communicate all the work being done by the parish. Grant funds will be used to fund the next phase in our plan to expand our technology for church management, communication and social media presence.

St. Andrew’s Website

Facebook

YouTube

$5,000

We are proposing to upgrade our current 1970’s system to a modern system, which includes a mixer, new microphones, and speakers, increasing our effectiveness to share God’s word. We are also requesting a portable system to use outdoors, which will facilitate our outreach in our community. The microphone at the lectern and the pulpit interferes with each other and give feedback. We have had some comments made by members of the congregation that they cannot understand what is being said. Our organist has also complained she cannot hear what is happening. We met with a Sound System businessman who, along with our clergy and Keith Rusher, Sr. Warden, discussed upgrading what we have. These technology upgrades will help us relay the word of God for our congregation and community and expand the growth of our church. Grant funds will pay for the installation and materials for this new sound system.

St. Luke’s Website

St. Luke’s Facebook

$5,000

St Thomas, Sioux City, would like to improve our technology by adding additional speakers, lapel and wireless mics, a sound mixing board and finally bump up our Wi-Fi internet (for streaming and also accessing the internet for music and other media) which will allow us to function to the fullest while meeting the needs of our congregation and community. Our building is old and so beautiful, but that can create some challenges. The acoustics and modern technology can be an issue. The St Thomas congregation is aging and we are often told it is very difficult to hear. We have one central speaker that has been added over the years - it is cumbersome, sits in the front area, which can also block the view of the altar. And, depending on the location in the sanctuary, sounds can be somewhat muffled. Our streaming of live church services and other events requires Wi-Fi. Our current system is dated and will not keep up with the demands of modern usage. During streaming, the system will frequently lose connectivity and cause problems for viewers at home, or for recorded video. As with anything, technology is important and we want to ensure the congregation, visitors and the community have access to our services, that we can share our mission and encourage involvement from all. The upgrade to technology will allow us to continue our work with those in the community. The general congregation for St Thomas will, of course, benefit, but also the community at large, who also makes use of our facility, will enjoy the improved technology (this would include those who use the labyrinth for any events, concerts, recitals and other gatherings). Grant funds will be used to obtain necessary equipment and pay for the required installation and setup.

St. Thomas’ Facebook

$4,500

We want to improve our audio and visual equipment so that we can hear better at in person worship, and improve the sound and video for our streamed worship services. We also want to build the capacity for future use of digital images and materials in both worship and formation. Proclaiming the gospel is our primary call as disciples. We are to do that any way and every way that we can. We never know how the message will land with people, but we want to make sure the gospel is heard to begin with. The gospel is visible too – through the ways we are hospitable to the vulnerable who are unable to attend and still hunger for community and God’s word. We want to retain our current membership as well as be accessible to new members. We intend for the added microphones to allow people worshipping in person to hear better. The added camera, along with the improved microphones will make viewing worship more engaging so that viewers will feel more a part of the worship experience, whenever they watch. We expect to use the projector and screen during worship, in formation for different ages, and in the preschool program for all the ways digital content can be used. Completion of this project will improve the way people are able to worship. It will allow people to participate more fully in this important primary weekly time together. The daycare/preschool is an important mission of our church. Both the preschool and our own formation of all ages will benefit from this expanded equipment because we all will be able to use more digital content in our different educational formats. Grant funds will go to purchase two new microphones, a new laptop to run the software, a permanently mounted camera, a permanently mounted projector and a retractable screen. The funds will also cover the installation costs for the camera, projector, and screen.

Trinity’s Website

Facebook