A Coalition for a Beloved Community

Service | Solidarity | Advocacy


Scroll down for current opportunities

Justice Education Initiative

Book Parties & Activities for Adults and Youth

Read about and discuss

poverty and homelessness in Durham.


The Holy Cross Coalition for A Beloved Community launched a Justice Education Initiative in February 2024, to increase understanding about poverty and homelessness in Durham. The Coalition is using the Book Parties model to facilitate learning and discussion.  Contact: Ava Thompson.


  • What happens at a Holy Cross Book Party? These are casual events. You are welcome to bring a cushion, blanket or lawn chair - anything that would make you comfortable as you read.
  • First Book Party: Tuesday, February 27, 11 AM at Holy Cross
  • Book title: When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and  the Role We Each Can Play in Ending Homelessness in American , by Kevin Adler and Donald Burnes.

(The book is available for purchase online through Amazon or check with your local bookseller or library.)


Holy Cross Book Party attendance is limited to 25 people.  Sign up via Flocknote (links below) for the date(s) you will attend the Book Party. If you later discover that you cannot participate on a date you reserved, please cancel that signup in Flocknote, so that someone else may sign up in your place.


Sign-up links for Book Party dates (via Flocknote)


Related Youth Activities (during faith formation classes) will include poverty and homelessness simulations, discussions, and an Expo in May. Fall activities will include guest speakers and presenters, a retreat, and listening sessions. The goal is to develop ways that the parish can work together to address the concerns of poverty and homelessness in our Durham Community.


Service


Holy Cross is currently accepting donations of the following items for the Durham Community Food Pantry.

  • Canned fruit and fruit cups
  • Pasta and spaghetti sauce
  • Peanut butter
  • Dried beans
  • Canned tuna, salmon and chicken
  • Toothpaste and toothbrushes
  • Deodorant and body wash
  • Sanitary napkins
  • Baby diapers and baby wipes
  • Paper towels 


What We Do

The Coalition for a Beloved Community at Holy Cross is an inclusive community approach to ministry that allows all parishioners to answer their Baptismal Call: To be disciples of Jesus and to share his love with others.  Through the efforts of the Holy Cross Faith Community working together, we can accomplish bringing about better care, reduce poverty and hunger, and fight the root causes of hate and racism for all members of society.


February 2024 | Current Mercy Activities (shown in image display above):

Holy Cross is currently accepting donations of the following items for the Durham Community Food Pantry.

  • Canned fruit and fruit cups
  • Pasta and spaghetti sauce
  • Peanut butter
  • Dried beans
  • Canned tuna, salmon and chicken
  • Toothpaste and toothbrushes
  • Deodorant and body wash
  • Sanitary napkins
  • Baby diapers and baby wipes

November 2024

  • Paper towels 
  • On Saturday, November 11, 2023, eight volunteers gathered to assemble bags of non-perishable food items that parishioners donated for families who are clients at Catholic Charities Durham Community Food Pantry. On Tuesday, November 14, 40 bags were delivered to the Food Pantry.
  • During Respect Life Month in October, parishioners donated infant diapers and baby wipes to the Catholic Charities Durham Community Food Pantry.
  • On Friday, December 1, the Adopt-A-School Planning Team delivered to Burton Magnet Elementary over forty gifts provided by parishioners for three students.


New Mercy opportunities are posted below, as they become available. Scroll down to see what opportunities are currently available.


> Contact: Ava Thompson, coordinator, Coalition for a Beloved Community.

Click on the videos below to hear from several of our current Coalition members. .

Mercy Ministry coordinators reflect on their ministry experiences. New mercy ministry opportunities are listed below. If interested in leading a mercy ministry, contact Ava Thompson.

Mercy Opportunities

Service



Solidarity



Advocacy

Easy to Participate

Service

Parishioners are encouraged to look beyond themselves to people in our Community and to share the love of Christ. Holy Cross does this through participating in the following outreach programs in our community.

Food Pantry | Participate in seasonal fresh and year-'round packaged food drives to help fill the shelves at the Catholic Charities' Durham Community Food Pantry (DCFP). Place your packaged food donations in the bin located in the gathering space at Holy Cross Church. Urgent needs are listed at the top of this page. Read below for opportunities to supply fresh produce for the DCFP.

> Contact: Ava Thompson

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HC Community (Sharing) Garden | Garden members can 'rent a bed' to grow and harvest produce for their own use, and are asked to help weed, plant, harvest, rinse and package for delivery vegetables from the Sharing Garden Beds. The Sharing Beds vegetables are harvested and packaged each Tuesday morning and delivered to the Durham Community Food Pantry that day.


Garden 'rental' members are asked to control weeds in their garden beds during the growing season, and to clear and mulch (with fall leaves) their garden beds at the end of the growing season.


> Ten garden beds are available for renters each growing season at a cost of $35 per bed each season. The donation helps cover the cost of seeds, starter plants and other gardening supplies). Online payment link will be posted here soon. In the meantime, send a message Anna Rzewnicki at garden@holycrossdurham.org to let her know you would like to participate this summer.

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Adopt-a-School | Support is provided to the teachers, staff, and students at Burton Magnet Elementary School. The plan includes support for academic enrichment, behavior and achievement incentives, improved school climate, and college and career readiness.

> Contact: Ava Thompson

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Families Moving Forward | Click here to read how
you can help Families Moving Forward in its mission to help families successfully transition out of homelessness. 
> Contact: Ava Thompson

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Food Pantry | Participate in seasonal and ongoing packaged food drives to help fill the shelves at the Catholic Charities' Durham Community Food Pantry. Packaged food donations may be placed in the bin located in the gathering space at Holy Cross Church.

> Contact: Ava Thompson

______________________

Solidarity

Catholic Relief Services and Lenten Rice Bowls | Holy Cross participates in these annual global drives to support global relief services.

> Contact: Ava Thompson, socialaction@holycrossdurham.org

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Durham CROP Hunger Walk |  Solicit pledges for the miles you walk in this annual act of solidarity with the poor, raising funds to help eradicate hunger, locally and globally. The 50th Durham CROP Hunger Walk will be on Sunday, March 24, 2024. Watch for  details.

> Contact: Debbie Hilliard

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Quilting Ministry | Gather with others in the Parish Hall to make simple quilts for distribution to those in need, including our neighbors who live outdoors. No sewing experience necessary. If you don't sew or are not able to come to church to work on quilts on site, you can help by cutting fabric into squares at home and dropping them off for the sewing team members who will create the quilts.


> Meeting time: The Quilting Ministry has temporarily stopped meeting.
> Contact: Lorie Crump, coordinator.

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Advocacy

  • Durham Congregations in Action
  • Durham Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods

Holy Cross has memberships in and regularly attends meetings of these local community organizations , keeping the parish informed of community engagement opportunities.
Contact: Ava Thompson

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> Explore the full range of opportunities available through our Coalition for a Beloved Community.

> Contact Ava Thompson, coordinator, A Coalition for a Beloved Community



Adopt-a-School Attendance Recognition Breakfast


In the foreground: just a few of Holy Cross's 2022 Durham CROP Hunger Walk team members.  Holy Cross contact: Debbie Hilliard, team captain.

New opportunities to serve, walk in solidarity with, or advocate for are posted below as they arise.


Mercy Opportunities is an alternate term for "volunteer opportunities". What we do to help our brothers and sisters should be a sharing of God's love for us and our wanting to share his love with others. It is more than just volunteering; it includes evangelizing.


Details regarding Mercy opportunities will be sent to subscribers in our Beloved Community Flocknote network. Not receiving parish news and updates in your inbox? Click here to join our Flocknote network or to update your contact information and select which ministries' messages you want to receive. You can also set how you want messages to come to you, via email, text, or both.


HOLY CROSS COALITION FOR A BELOVED COMMUNITY


Mercy Opportunities

Updated: December 12, 2023


> Holy Cross Durham CAN Core Team

The Holy Cross Durham CAN Core Team works collaboratively with other congregations and community institutions to support creating ways for Durham families to have a powerful voice in community decisions that affect their lives.


The Core Team:

  • assists the pastor and ministry leaders in conducting congregational actions, communication, and workshops.
  • recruits new talent to action teams.
  • encourages parishioners to attend Durham CAN meetings to assist with research and developing suggestions for action.
  • provides quarterly Durham CAN reports to the entire congregation.


Contact: Ava Thompson at socialaction@holycrossdurham.org


> Fight Hunger | Casserole Ministry

Help supply hot meals for clients of the Durham Ministries' Community Cafe'.


On the first weekend of each month, aluminum roasting pans -  with a casserole recipe attached - are made available in the Holy Cross Gathering Space. Parishioners who would like to support this ministry are invited to take home one (or two) of the pans and to prepare the attached casserole recipe. Cool and wrap the prepared casserole in aluminum foil; freeze it, and then bring the wrapped and frozen casserole to church the following weekend, placing it in the freezer in the Church Kitchen. All casseroles are donated to the Durham Urban Ministries Cafe.


Contact: Nancy Waarich-Fischman

nancywf8@gmail.com


>Fight Hunger Food Pantry Donations

As you shop for your families and loved ones, remember those in Durham who are food insecure. The Catholic Charities Durham Food Pantry needs the following items for their clients:

  • Fruit, canned and cups
  • Pasta and Spaghetti sauce
  • Peanut butter
  • Dried beans
  • Canned salmon, tuna, and chicken
  • Hygiene products - toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, body wash, sanitary napkins
  • Infant diapers and baby wipes
  • Paper towels


Explore all the opportunities to participate fully

in our parish and in our community.


  1. Click to read about our ministry options.
  2. Choose those you want to join or explore, and contact the coordinator listed in the ministry description.
  3. Interested in joining the Coalition for a Beloved Community? Contact coordinator Ava Thompson: ava.thompson3@gmail.com (or complete the online form below).
  4. Enjoy the fellowship and personal growth that come through service. Click to read about health benefits of volunteering.

Contact our Coalition for a Beloved Community any time.

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