ACTION PROGRAMS
Pantry Partners
Our Pantry Partners Program is our response to the need for food security within underserved communities in Syracuse. We have 20 pantries associated with our program who feed families in need on a weekly/monthly basis. Our pantries are Food Bank certified and independent pantries that are located in Black and Brown communities.
Since the COVID-19 Pandemic we have fed approximately 18,000 individuals through our pantry partners program. Another component of our program is our urban/suburban connection. In our attempts to remove barriers we pair suburban congregations with urban congregations to increase cross cultural communication around food security and justice.
OTHER ACTION PROGRAMS
Clergy Parking Passes
Community Campaign for Love
CNY Inspirations
Community Gardens
Our Community Gardens project, originally funded by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, is currently located at 347 Cortland Avenue. The Community Gardens seeks to build community collaboration around healthful food choices in neighborhoods where there is low availability of fresh healthy foods. The Community Gardens have been a welcomed community project connecting people around gardening, sharing of recipes and cooking.
VACCINE PROMOTION CAMPAIGN
It Start’s Here vaccination promotion project seeks to engage and accelerate local ministry’s efforts to raise awareness, educate the public and offer vaccination in community accessible locations, particularly for communities of color and those who are vulnerable. Collaboration between health systems, community organizations and health departments are essential to ensure coordinated and aligned vaccine distribution, education and continued COVID-19 response. The Vaccine Promotion helps make those connections within communities with the highest risk of infection and the lowest accessibility and knowledge of the vaccine.
Chaplaincy
The Chaplaincy Program places chaplains of diverse faith traditions in area hospitals, nursing homes, and correctional facilities to provide spiritual and emotional support through the provision of worship services and spiritual care counseling.
Faith Partners are congregations, judicatories or organized faith communities that formally affirm the mission and support the programs and activities of InterFaith Works. Faith Partners meet regularly to build relationships among each other and carry out projects of common purpose, such as hunger awareness.
BUC (Building United Communities)
Established congregations and New American/refugee groups have many boundaries to navigate and challenges to overcome as they come together in shared worship, faith and service. Language barriers, different cultural and family practices of worship and fellowship, socio-economic challenges and the over-riding sin of racism come into play as these two groups attempt to join together as one family. Americans are exposed to increasingly divisive rhetoric and outright hatred of immigrants and refugees.
This project seeks to develop a model for creating deliberate dialogue and intentional decision-making in these mixed congregations in order to grow the partnership between established, mostly white congregations and New American Episcopalians so that the church could survive and thrive.
Building United Communities integrates New Americans/refugees with established American congregations. BUC uses dialogue, an integration framework, and learning communities in the process of engagement.