Outreach
To promote justice and essentials of a healthy life to those in need beyond our church community.
Food Pantries
All Faiths Food Bank comes to Good Shepherd on the first and third Wednesdays of each month to distribute food and other necessities to those less fortunate in our community. Volunteers from Good Shepherd support this ministry with enthusiasm and dedication.
Food is collected in Good Shepherd’s Narthex and delivered weekly to the food pantry at Center of Hope right here in Venice.
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot repay you.” The Apostle Paul
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St. Mark’s Community Dinners
Our Good Shepherd volunteers have the opportunity to serve at the St. Marks Parish Community Dinners here in Venice. Tasks such as set up, serving meals or cleaning up are ways in which the volunteers serve. St. Marks dinners host 60-80 people twice monthly.
Weekly Panera and Publix Bread Ministry
Each week our bread ministry accepts generous donations of surplus bread, cookies, pies, cakes, pastries, bagels, etc., from Panera and Publix. Our volunteers distribute these offerings to Loveland Center, migrant workers in season, to shut-ins and neighbors in need.
Habitat for Humanity
Local Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota County calls people to leave the halls of the church and to serve in the way that the original apostles served…as the Body of Christ in the world. As a Habitat partner, we help raise the money, provide the labor, and the prayer support – in partnership with a local family. Once monthly, our parishioners can be seen at the local building site offering their labor and enthusiasm.
Annual Mission Trip
Good Shepherd supports the Habitat for Humanity building project in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Each spring we send a team of volunteers to Tuscaloosa to help the ongoing relief from the devastating tornado of 2011.
El Hogar
Good Shepherd has supported El Hogar in Honduras for several years. The mission of El Hogar is to transform and empower abandoned and hopelessly poor children in Honduras by providing a loving home and education. Fr. Bob and Margi Miller of our Good Shepherd parish founded this ministry when they served in Honduras as missionaries.
Creative Design Outreach
Whether you know how to knit, crochet – or would like to learn – please join us in creating prayer shawls, hats, and other “no sew” projects for those in need. Items are donated to Pregnancy Solutions, Ukraine, Hospice and Village on the Isle.
Salvation Army Angel Tree and Holiday Red Kettle Bell Ringers
Good Shepherd adopts several families through the Angel Tree and Prison Ministry of the Salvation Army and purchases gifts for them to enjoy at Christmas. A throng of Good Shepherd volunteers also ring bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle drive at local retail stores.