St. Hubert's Outreach & Mission

St. Hubert’s members give generously their time and talent as well as monetary gifts to various causes and needs in the surrounding area.  As many of these needs are often met discretely, they often go unreported.  Some of our “known” outreach projects are listed below.

Yearly and Ongoing

          Fare share payments to the diocese paid in full

          Reading Camp donations and volunteer help

          Donations to Priest’s discretionary fund

          UTO donations

          Consortium membership helps allow other small parishes to exist

          Donations and support for Virginia Place

          St. Agnes House; donations, volunteer help, annual paper products shower, collection

              basket in sanctuary for donations of personal products (soap, shampoo, lotions and

              other related items.

          Two scholarships each summer for 2 area children to attend Reading Camp and one member

          volunteers at Reading Camp sponsored by ECW

Past Projects (and now, as requested)

           Habit for Humanity – cash donations and labor

          St. Augustine – cash donations and food

          Canterbury Club, Berea – cash donations

          Clark County Community Services – Cash donations for help with rent

          Faith in Action, Comfort Respite, Home instead of Senior Care – Cash donations

         Calamity Jane Fund – helps with parishioner’s sudden misfortune – Cash donations

         Homeless Men’s Winter Program – Cash donations and volunteer help

         Convention Gift Baskets – Cash donations

One Time Gifts – Special Projects

          Seminarian stipend while studying – Cash donation

          Berea Student’s (Jacob) fare to Africa to see family (first time in 7 years)

          Cash donations to purchase a van for Sudanese Church in Louisville (Episcopal)

          Bishop Moody’s Cathedral Domain Fund – Cash donations

          Salvation Army – Cash donations

          Hurricane Katrina Fund – Cash donations

          Iraq Gift Box

          Manchester Center (now closed) Cash donations

          ECW donated funds to The Domain for renovation of the swimming pool

St. Hubert’s E.C.W. sponsors a variety of fund raising activities throughout the year.  Over the past eight years they have written checks totaling approximately $48,000.00 for donations to various causes.  This amount does not reflect the cost of donated food and other items given by church members nor does it include their time, talents, and labors.

A recent (12/2010) article submitted to The Advocate  included a good summary regarding St. Hubert's efforts toward outreach and mission:

THE CHURCH THAT VOLUNTEERS

    `  St. Hubert’s Episcopal Church, built by Bishop Moody in the hunt country of Clark County, has a very diverse congregation. Members live in Lexington, Versailles, Winchester, Richmond, Mt. Sterling and Berea. Our Vicar in Residence, the Reverend Charles Ellestad resides in Frankfort. When building St. Hubert’s, Bishop Moody also consecrated a graveyard on part of the property which is maintained by the church.

    Like all small parishes all members do multiple tasks: i.e. ushers, greeters, altar guild, acolytes, choir, vestry, ECW and web page.

    As a church, St. Hubert’s joined the Small Church Ministries Consortium after the retirement of our long-time priest, the Rev. Dr. John L. Madden. Being part of the Consortium allows us to retain Father Ellestad for three Sundays each month. Father Ellestad serves as a Hospice Chaplin for Hospice of the Bluegrass in the Frankfort-Lawrenceburg area. He also serves as a visiting priest once a month at St. George’s in West Terre Haute IN. On the fourth Sunday each month The Venerable Bryant Kibler, Priest in Charge, serves St. Hubert’s.

    Our vestry assisted The Church of the Resurrection in Louisville to provide funds for the purchase of a van. Our contact with Resurrection was a Berea College student from Bol, Sudan who attended St. Hubert’s while studying in the US. After his graduation from Berea we provided round trip funds for him to return to Africa to visit his family.

    Two priests in the Diocese of Lexington have come from our St. Hubert’s family. We are very proud of the Rev. Elise Johnstone whose family still attends St. Hubert’s and the Rev. Dr. Duane Smith. Elise currently serves as the Assistant to the Rector at Good Shepherd in Lexington and Duane serves St. Thomas, Beattyville as part of the Consortium. Carolyn Howard, recently deceased and former Director of Acolytes, had attended Deacon‘s School.

    St. Hubert’s participates annually with the Room at the Inn project providing meals and companionship to homeless men. Even our youngest member takes part in that project. We also support St. Agnes House monetarily and with volunteers. Food for the Poor is supported as well as ITNB (Independent Transportation Network Bluegrass) which provides portal transportation for seniors. Two St. Hubert’s members serve as advisory and board members with ITNB. National UTO is supported twice annually by our families. Since we are a “country church” we invite and enjoy fellowship with 75 of our area neighbors at our annual picnic. (Picture)

    Our ECW is very active in outreach. They annually donate to three area Hospices (Bluegrass, Winchester and Madison County). The ECW makes an annual donation to Faith in Action: Elder Outreach, Lexington, enhancing resources for our older adults as encouraged by the Older Adult Ministry of the Diocese. Two of our parishioners have directly benefited from FIA services and one member is on the FIA board of directors. Virginia Place, a facility for single parent students receives a donation for Thanksgiving baskets each year. ECW funds two scholarships for Reading Camp and one member volunteers at the camp. This year we also donated funds for renovation of the pool at The Domain. Annual yard sales and bake sales support these outreach programs.

Rosaries Donated to Hospice

     Several Catholic and Anglican Rosaries handmade by Carla Mahoney were donated for use by hospice patients in the area.  These beautiful rosaries, blessed by Fr. Ellestad, will be given to hospice patients for their personal use and are to be buried with them once they pass on.  Fr. Ellestad will supervise the distribution of the rosaries along with his work with hospice patients.