Cathedral Church of the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire, WI
Cathedral Church of the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire, WI
News
Nick and I wanted to say "thank you" to everyone at Christ Church Cathedral for the welcome, the hospitality, the love - we have both felt loved and embraced by evryone during the times I have "supplied" at the church. You are all amazing and spirit/ God filled people. Your desire to be a welcoming place is apparent. We wish you the best in whatever God has in store for CCC!
Thank you!!
In Christ,
Mother Kathy Charles and Dick Charles
Chippewa Valley Street Ministry notes:
March 19, 2025
We, like so many organizations and individuals in our community, have a lot on our minds. We are aiming to keep this non-political and share some news that has us concerned about the populations we serve. On the street, we see familiar faces that are tired and frustrated. There is little we can do to alleviate those feelings but we try to decrease some anxiety by supporting day-to-day needs. A hoodie or blanket might not seem like much to most of us but for someone who survives from one day to the next, those items provide more than the basic intent of warmth or protection from the wind: they may feel a sense of compassion, a sense of importance, a sense of being cared for. The act of providing a hoodie includes a time to have a conversation, for a person to share what they've done during the day, what frustrates them or gives them hope — and hope is an invaluable commodity for all of us.
Rather than repeat or rewrite entire articles, we've chosen to paraphrase the issues from our perspective and give you the links that will provide additional information.
Sojourner House: There is a real concern that the shelter will need to reduce its service hours. This information has created a significant level of anxiety for the people who currently shelter there. While the potential closure is not forecasted to occur until May, people are unsure as to what they will do without that service. We have been asked if we will still be available and we are assuring our visitors that we will continue to be in service. We are discussing and anticipating what additional needs we will have to support people should a closure occur. For more information regarding this concern, please click HERE.
Elimination of the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program: The street ministry regularly partners with Shepherd's Closet, a ministry of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, to provide leftover food to local schools in their pantries and food assistance programs for families. Representatives from Shepherd's Closet mirror the concerns of our local food bank, Feed My People, and share that the elimination of the LFPA program will harm many, many children and families due to the decreased access to supplemental nutritious foods. For more information regarding this situation, please see Feed My People press release. From a Shepherd's Closet volunteer:
"A majority of the food and supplies comes from Feed My People Food Bank. The schools place weekly orders with them and have a certain monthly budget that they use to fill in any gaps we have in the Pantry. The rest comes from donations from students, families, and staff of North and Memorial High School's. We have been taking leftover food from Ruby's Pantry and donations from the Street Ministry for the last 3 years. In March we took 2 car loads to both Memorial and North this week and one carload to South Middle school. These donations help extend the school's budget. Donations of any kind are appreciated."
North High School Information (as noted from Shepherd Closet representative)
"Feed My People requires us to track how many people receive pantry items, and how much goes out (by weight). Here are North's statistics from February. I believe this would be a good snapshot of our monthly average.
-Over 1300 pounds of food were served
-98 total households were served
-244 children were served
-219 adults were served
-7 senior adults were served"
Eau Claire Areas School District/Family Services:
Per Dani Graham, ECASD Coordinator, 280 students have been identified who have experienced homelessness within this school year - so far. Most significant this year has been that seven of the identified families stay in their vehicles, including a family of seven; this is the most the school district has ever identified in one school year and the school year is not over yet.
The district's Free & Reduced numbers are around 42% of the student population, and most of those students' family's incomes are low enough to qualify for free meals.
There are food pantries at all ECASD middle and high schools and they all partner with Feed My People to get food items for students and families but struggle to get any snack items and ready-to-eat food items for students who need those. To help with this issue, bins are located at each school to help collect those items:
The community is welcome and encouraged to drop off snacks and ready-to-eat items.
With the warmer weather, we are seeing more visitors and we are grateful for the opportunity to assist them in their needs. We are also grateful to you, our support system, for providing the means to be of service. We have begun transitioning from winter to summer gear — only to retreat back to some winter items as the weather can't seem to commit to warmer, safer weather quite yet.
People gather in a park.
The warmer weather is a welcome change.
We recently encountered a visitor who has us concerned about his safety and vulnerability. We did take some action behind the scenes but are unsure that he won't fall through the cracks of the systems that are in place. He appeared unsteady and erratic but none of us believed that he was under the influence of substances. Many of his peers recognized his vulnerability and were committed to keeping him safe. We'll try to keep track of him and contact other agencies if possible.
Steve is assisting a visitor who arrived without shoes and needed some hygiene support.
A woman who typically arrives just as we are leaving has shared some of her history. Because of concerns about domestic violence in her past, we assisted her by providing information about the domestic abuse shelter. One volunteer walked to the shelter with the woman to be screened for services.
While there is significant concern about how decisions at the federal level will affect the people we serve as well as the community as a whole, we remain steadfast in our mission to help those in need, particularly the unhoused. We appreciate your support and encourage you to continue reading our journals for news and ways to help support our brothers and sisters who are struggling. Please be alert to changes in services and policies that affect us individually and as a community.
Blessings to all.
CVSM staff
Service Schedule
Sunday
Rite II with Eucharist service – 9:00 AM;
In person, Zoom and Facebook live.
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Holy Days – Eucharist as announced in the Weekly Update
