St. Elizabeth has an active Justice and Service outreach program which through volunteer efforts and the generosity of our parishioners provides help and support to those in need.  Examples include:

• St. Elizabeth has been delivering (and helping to prepare and serve) a luncheon meal on the 2nd Saturday of every month to SOME for over 40 years.  Questions? Contact Brian Crowe at brian.crowe1@verizon.net 
• Food is collected on the 1st Sunday of the month for the St. Camillus Food Pantry. We deliver about 1,900 bags of groceries annually to the Pantry.  Questions? Contact Brian Crowe at brian.crowe1@verizon.net
• Over 100 Thanksgiving meals and 1,000 Christmas gifts are provided annually to local needy children and adults. Questions? Contact (for Thanksgiving: Cathy Ann Grundmayer at grundmayercaed@yahoo.com)  (for Christmas Advent Tree: Susan Storz at sstorz@verizon.net)

These and other very important Parish Ministry efforts continually need volunteer help and financial support to maintain their effectiveness.

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1.  Weekly Social Concerns Collection
 
The parish has a weekly social concerns collection to assist partner organizations in helping vulnerable people access essential social services.  The designated charities are announced in the Church Bulletin and baskets are placed at all Church doors every weekend to accept contributions. 
 
2.  So Others Might Eat  (SOME)
 
St. Elizabeth has entered the 42nd year of our “2nd Saturday of the month” outreach to So Others Might Eat in Washington, D.C.  (In September 1978, we joined 25 church and civic groups in a commitment to provide -- and in most cases, help to serve -- a monthly meal at SOME. )  We serve about 3,000 chicken-based hot lunches every year at the main SOME building on 71 "O" Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C.  We can always use new donors (this can be on an occasional basis or a regular basis).  When possible, donors are asked to provide food for ten people consisting of:
* cooked chicken (either fresh, frozen, or boxed);
* green beans (cans), and
* fruit (bananas & oranges).
Food is collected in St. Elizabeth's parking lot (in front of the school) on every "second Saturday" between 8:30 –9:30 AM.
 
3. Langley Park
 
St. Elizabeth's outreach to the Catholic Community of Langley Park (a mission of St. Camillus parish) began in 2007.  The focus has been on supporting the St. Camillus Food Pantry, annual collections of school supplies and winter clothing, teaching English as a Second Language, and using the annual advent tree to help meet priority needs.  We work in a partnership with St. Camillus and Our Lady of Mercy on some of the activities.
(In addition one of Elizabeth's "Social Concerns" collection is earmarked for the Food Pantry every quarter.)
 
The St. Camillus Food Pantry is staffed by 150 volunteers and receives a wide range of financial support from local government, faith communities, businesses, and individuals. The Pantry provided 9,000 emergency food packages (more than 200,000 pounds of food) last year. 
 
Grocery bags marked with the Pantry's food priorities are placed on a stand in St. Elizabeth's Commons the weekend before every monthly collection.  The Pantry's top four food priorities are Vegetable Oil, Masa Harina (for tortillas), Black Beans (dried), and White Rice.    Other key needs are Dried Milk or UHT Shelf-Stable Milk, Canned Fruit (pineapple and peaches), Oatmeal (canisters), Spaghetti, Pasta and Pasta Sauce, Cornflakes or Cheerios, Macaroni and Cheese, Canned Tomatoes, Tuna Fish, Canned Corn, Canned Peas, and Peanut Butter. (The toothpaste, toothbrushes, and toiletries that some parishioners include with their food donations also continue to be very much appreciated.)
 
4.  Community Reach of Montgomery County ( formerly Community Ministries of Rockville)  (est. 1967)
 
St. Elizabeth is one of twenty-one local faith-based affiliates who support Community Reach of Montgomery County and its broad range of basic services to the local needy in such areas as housing, healthcare, home care, education, and emergency assistance.  It's Mansfield Kaseman Health Clinic serves over  1,500 low-income uninsured adults annually.  Agnes Saenz, Community Reach's Executive Director, is a parishioner (and Eucharistic Minister) of St. Elizabeth.   One of St. Elizabeth's weekly "Social Concerns" collections is earmarked for Community Reach every month.
 
Questions? Contact Agnes Saenz at asaenz@cmrrocks.org
 
5.  Meals for Local Homeless Shelter
 
--  Since 1995, St. Elizabeth has provided an evening meal on the 2nd Wednesday of every month for the residents of our local homeless shelter.  (Since the closure of Chase Partnership House on East Gude Drive the meals are delivered to the Dorothy Day Shelter (run by Catholic Charities) on Marinell Road in Rockville.)  There are three teams with a total of 22 volunteers*.  Each team has the responsibility for preparing and delivering the food to the shelter once per quarter.
 
*  The teams are coordinated by Colleen Steele, the Volunteer and Events Coordinator at St. Elizabeth.  (csteele@stelizabethchurchmd.org)
                                           
--  For more than 15 years, St. Elizabeth has had an annual spring collection of toiletries, paper goods, and other priorities for our local Shelter's clients 
 
6.  Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive
 
This longstanding collection of gift cards and traditional holiday food provides a complete meal for over 100 needy people in the local area. 
 
7.    Advent Tree 
 
The "advent tree" is set up in the Commons on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with more than 1,000 tags for needy families. (This is a particularly popular outreach project for parishioner families.)
 
8.  Justice and Advocacy Council  (JAC) of Montgomery County
 
With representatives from various parishes in Montgomery County, the Justice and Advocacy (J&A) Council of Montgomery County speaks on behalf of the Archdiocese of Washington in terms of legislative issues affecting people living in poverty in light of Catholic Social Teaching.  With approval from the Archdiocese, the J&A Council testifies before the County Council, makes public statements, publishes articles, meets with public officials, and sponsors candidate forums prior to elections and to highlight particular issues, such as housing, affecting people in poverty. Larry Couch, a St. Elizabeth parishioner, is the current co-chair of the JAC. 
 
-- Questions: Contact Larry Couch at lclobbyist@gsadvocacy.org