Mission

We at St. Martin's, as members of the Body of Christ, desire to live out our Baptismal vows as a vital Christian community that reaches out to the world with compassion.

What We Do

We are very proud of our Outreach efforts in the community. Outreach is a compilation of individual efforts to help people in need: in the community, within our parish, or wherever a need is recognized in the world. The Outreach team coordinates hands-on involvement and the distribution of parish outreach funds. The projects that we are currently involved with are:

Somerset County Food Bank: St. Martin's serves at the food bank handing out food on Saturdays for the months of May and August.

Appalachia Service Project: a summer experience for our teens and adults to help make homes safer and warmer.

Interfaith Hospitality Network: St. Martin's is in charge of helping out the homeless who are staying at the Pluckemin Presbyterian Church 3 evenings a year. One person or a team prepares dinner for 2-3 families and serves the meal. Another person or team is present with the families after dinner, and then a third team sleeps overnight. This is a very rewarding hand on ministry.

Other ways we help include:

Making ziti for S.H.I.P. (Samaritan Homeless Interim Program)
Staffing the Mobile Soup Kitchen: A driver and two helpers are needed to run SHIP's Mobile Soup Kitchen at the United Reformed Church in Somerville on the third Wednesday of each month.
Donation of Toiletry items for indigent inmates at the Jail
Donation of Peanut Butter and Tuna for the County Food Bank
Donation of clothing in the fall and spring to Family Resource Associates

Christmas Angel Tree Gift Donations for needy children in the Somerville area
Sweatshirt donations led by the youth of St. Martin's and donated to teens of families using the Food Bank
Episcopal Relief and Development Offerings to those in crisis around the world.
Additionally, the outreach team identifies specific groups to support with financial contributions. These include: Somerset County Food Bank, Jail Chaplaincy of Somerset County, S.H.I.P., Chaplaincy to the Elderly, Trinity Cathedral (the cathedral church of our Diocese of New Jersey), Appalachia Service Project, an Orphanage in India for children affected by 2004 tsunami, and our fair share of the Diocesan Mission that supports the diocese and Episcopal missions in the world at large.

We also host local substance abuse support groups within our building on a daily basis.