AA and ALANON
St. Paul's hosts regular AA and AL ANON meetings throughout the week: Sundays at 6:00 p.m. (Speakeasy), at 7:00 p.m. (11th Step); Mondays at 8:30 p.m. (Royal Beginners); Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. (Free at Last); and Thursdays at 6:45 p.m. (Old Town Women).

The Alexandria Social Services Angel Tree
Background: St. Paul's Angel Tree is a ministry in which parishioners are asked to collect, wrap and deliver toys and clothing to families designated by the Alexandria Child Protective Services agency and the families of children who attend the Network Preschool.

What you can do: In early December, sign up to support a family or families; later in December, help wrap gifts.  Please contact Liza May 703-317-1911 to volunteer.

Alexandria Tutoring Consortium
Background: The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium is a partnership between Alexandria churches and the Alexandria Public Elementary Schools. Volunteers tutor children one-on-one in reading. A St. Paul's parishioner recruits tutors and assists with scheduling and coordinates our effort with the Alexandria schools coordinator. Tutoring materials are selected by the schools and the schools also provide training for volunteer tutors. Scheduling is flexible.

What you can do: Volunteer to tutor; the only qualifications for a volunteer tutor are a love of reading and love of children.

Alexandrians Living Ecumenically (ALIVE!)
Background: ALIVE is a nonprofit organization of volunteers from nearly 40 religious congregations and the community working together to help those in need in Alexandria. Founded in 1969, ALIVE is the largest private safety net for the needy in the City, addressing short-term to long-term needs for those less fortunate in the community. ALIVE serves over 12,000 Alexandrians annually with shelter; low-cost early childhood education and childcare; financial help for rent, utilities, medical care and other critical needs; emergency food; and deliveries of donated furniture and house wares.

St. Paul's provides volunteers, donated food, and financial assistance for 3 or 4 ALIVE! community projects throughout the year.

What you can do: Volunteer to help with the twice yearly packing and delivery of food and furniture to needy families or donate items such as pots and pans, towels, sheets, dishes, silverware, and blankets.  To donate items, contact Gail Evans at 703-836-4965.

Carpenters' Shelter
Background: Carpenters' Shelter, Northern Virginia's largest homeless shelter, provides free comprehensive case management services that promote self-sufficiency in an environment of dignity and care to Alexandrians in need.

What you can do: Sign up to serve dinner at the shelter on the fourth Wednesday of each month; we prepare the dinner in Norton Hall kitchen the preceding Sunday. Additionally, you can help with a children's program, in the library, or simply answer the phone.

Child and Family Network Services
Background: For over 17 years, the Child and Family Network (formerly the Network Preschool) has been helping families in our community with free neighborhood based pre-school programs, parenting education, support groups, workshops, and job training. This preschool serves over 100 children from at-risk families.

What you can do: Help these children succeed in school by helping with reading, arts and crafts, book drives, and clothing drives.

Children's Friendship Project for Northern Ireland (CFPNI)
What you can do: Host two Irish teens for six weeks during the summer months, one from a Catholic family and one from a Protestant family.

Background: The Children's Friendship Project for Northern Ireland (CFPNI) was established in 1987 as a peace and friendship building program that fosters understanding and promotes interaction between Catholic and Protestant teenagers of Northern Ireland, their families and friends. CFPNI seeks to promote trust, understanding, friendship, and peace in Northern Ireland by bringing together teens-the potential leaders of the next generation.

Christ House Dinner
Background: Under the umbrella of Catholic Charities, Christ House serves the homeless by providing housing, employment counseling, meals, and both new and used clothing to those in need. For more than 20 years, Christ House has operated 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Volunteers from St. Paul's prepare and serve dinner to 60-80 people on the fifth Monday of each month. Christ House is located at 131 West Street, Alexandria (corner of West and Prince Streets).

What you can do: Volunteer to prepare and serve dinner to 60-80 people on the fifth Monday of each month.  Contact Bob Aulthouse at 703-527-7293 if you are interested in helping.

Community Lodgings
Background: Founded in 1987, Community Lodgings tackles the problems of homelessness and lack of affordable housing in Alexandria by providing transitional housing and computer training for homeless families and individuals and affordable housing for the economically disadvantaged. You can help formerly homeless families by helping renovate or paint transitional housing, provide budget counseling, or help with acquiring job skills. There are always short and long-term tasks that need volunteers. Each November we have a mini-walk to financially support Community Lodgings. Our youth (the Sunday School and Episcopal Youth in Community or EYC groups) participate in the walk—we welcome your participation.

What you can do: Sign up to help formerly homeless families by helping renovate or paint transitional housing, provide budget counseling, or help with acquiring job skills. Support our Sunday School and EYC annual mini-walk in November the proceeds from which financially support Community Lodgings.

Computers for Africa (CAATE)
Background: The Computers for African Anglican Theological Education (CAATE) program is accepting donations of unwanted computers, computer components, software and related parts and items. CAATE refurbishes the equipment and sends it to Anglican seminaries in Africa. If you have a donation, drop it off at the parish office or in the entry way to Norton Hall. Be sure to include your name and address so CAATE can thank you.

What you can do: donate unwanted computers, etc.

Food Pantry
Background: Those parishioners who would like to help our Lazarus Ministry will find grocery bags with a wish list attached in the back of church indicating what we need to provide for a family of four for two days. If you can shop for us, great. If not, we can accomplish that task for $25 a bag (label your check Food Pantry in the memo line). Thank you for your support. Staff contact is Dorothy Kiley.

What you can do: Donate a bag of groceries.

The Highland Education Project (HEP)
Background: The Highland Education Project (HEP) is an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia to people in the economically depressed region of southwestern West Virginia. This ministry provides an opportunity for persons of varied religious, racial, economic, and social backgrounds to work together. Groups come for about week and spend the majority of daytime hours cutting weeds, cleaning houses, and repairing or maintaining homes of the elderly or disabled. HEP has a center that provides fellowship and hot lunches for senior citizens. It has a meals-on-wheels program, a library, and tape ministry, the Good Samaritan clothing center, a food panty, and an emergency assistance program.

What you can do: Participate in our annual one-week mission trip (you can come for the entire week or a portion of the week).

Lazarus Ministry
Background: The St. Paul's Lazarus Ministry serves the poor and those who are experiencing difficulties because of illness, loss of job or other misfortune. For three hours one day a week, Lazarus Ministers meet in an office in Norton Hall with people needing assistance (bus tokens, a bag of groceries, referrals to City of Alexandria agencies or organizations). Training is provided.

What you can do: Volunteer time to assist people needing assistance or visit their Web site, www.lazarusministry.org for information on how to participate in this ministry. Staff contact is Dorothy Kiley.

Meals-on-Wheels
Background: Sponsored by the Alexandria Church Women, Meals-on-Wheels provides a hot and cold meal to over 90 people who are too sick or infirm to do their own shopping and cooking. For many of those served it is their only contact with other people that day. 

What you can do: Volunteer for this daytime activity on the fourth Wednesday of the month (takes only about 90 minutes).

Northern Virginia AIDS Ministries (NOVAM)
Background: NOVAM provides financial and other support for people affected by AIDS or HIV in Northern Virginia.

What you can do: Provide a Thanksgiving basket, drive a person with AIDS to medical appointments, or help with the annual spring fundraiser. To help, please contact Karen Grane: 703-780-3988.

Rebuilding Together
Background: The Alexandria Rebuilding Together program is an annual volunteer project focused on repairing the homes of low-income, elderly, and disabled persons. Each year over 1,000 volunteers repair approximately 40 homes and several shelters throughout Alexandria.

What you can do: Respond to the annual request for volunteers in early April.

Saturday School
Background: Parishioners may volunteer to participate in the Saturday School Tutor Program at William Ramsey Elementary School from 9 a.m. to noon during the school year. Volunteers may sign up to work one-on-one with children needing reading help. A two-hour training program by a professional reading instructor is provided for tutoring children K-2.

What you can do: Pick a date and sign up to tutor on a Saturday morning.

Southern Sudanese Community (SSC)
Background: The Southern Sudanese Community (SSC), is a nonprofit, community-based organization, organized initially to respond to immediate and increasing needs of Sudanes refugee community in the Washington metropolitan area. The SSC is comprised of various religious denominations. A small and vibrant congregation of Episcopalians meet monthly to worship on 2nd and 4th Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Alexandria.

What You Can Do: For more information, please contact the Rev. Andrew Akuak at (home) 703-781-7148 or (work) 703-207-8330.

Uganda Project
Background: Our Sunday School has sponsored Allen Korutard through Compassion International since 2000. She lives in the mountains on the border of Uganda and Rwanda. Classes take turns writing to Allen and watch her progress. Our Sunday School continues St. Paul's relationship with Uganda by learning about the need for food in the developing world through Heifer International by raising funds to purchase cows.

What you can do: Donate money to finance the purchase of cows through Heifer International.