Boy Scouts

In 2007 St. Peter's invited Boy Scout Troop 228 (one of three troops in Morristown) to move to our building after it had outgrown its space at another church.  Its membership is not limited to St. Peter's boys and, while a form of outreach, it is not funded or run by the Outreach Commission.

Clergy Council

The Morristown Clergy Council is our local "ministerium," an association for clergy and rabbis open to all religious institutions in the Morristown area. Much of the social outreach in the community is initiated and coordinated through the Clergy Council. Monthly breakfast meetings are held with presentations on community issues.

Collinsville Child Care Center 

Collinsville was started in 1970 by a group of low-income minority mothers in the Collinsville section of Morristown who could not afford childcare and who joined together to mind each other's children.  When they lost their lease on an unused schoolhouse they were occupying, St. Peter's offered them space.  The center also offers Saturday morning English classes and parent education classes. Except for a number of St. Peter's members who volunteer, Collinsville is entirely independent. 

The Community Soup Kitchen

In 1985 St. Peter's opened our Saturday Soup Kitchen with the help of Bishop Mark Beckwith, who was then our associate rector.  Soon this became an interfaith project, open every day of the week, with 32 congregations taking turns supplying a hot meal for approximately 125 guests.  Although the Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown eventually moved six days a week to the Church of the Redeemer, we continue to host it on Saturdays. Approximately 10 of our parishioners run it every week, year-round.  From time to time we also have a used clothing give-away in conjunction with the meal. 

The Interfaith Food Pantry

The Interfaith Food Pantry was established in 1994 by a group of local churches of which St. Peter's was one.  During its initial phase we provided the salary of its director, and our young people helped in stocking its shelves. The Pantry serves more than a hundred families each week, and our parishioners bring dry and canned goods each Sunday, which are presented at the altar at the time of the offertory. Several hundred pounds of food collected at St. Peter's are taken to the Food Pantry every month. We also support the Pantry with an annual grant.

Homeless Solutions, Inc.

Homeless Solutions, Inc. is an independent non-profit organization with the motto, "A hand up, not a hand out."  They are known locally for operating shelters and offering low income housing.

Perceiving the need for a homeless shelter here in Morristown, several churches, including St. Peter's, joined together to open one at the Presbyterian Church.  After two years the shelter moved to its own building on West Hanover Avenue, and its first Director was a member of St. Peter's.  The Shelter is now run by Homeless Solutions. Members of St. Peter's provide dinner for the residents on one Sunday every other month.

The faith communities in our area partnered again with Homeless Solutions, Inc. to open Hospitality Link, an outreach center for the unsheltered homeless of Morristown. The center, which opened in early 2008, is open five days a week and housed at St. Peter's (rent-free, and is partially funded by the Outreach Commission).  The purpose of the center is to provide case management services, medical referrals, direct assistance, a mailing address to receive Social Security or disability checks, connections to mental health and addiction treatment and referrals to emergency shelters.  

Hospitality Link

Morristown's faith communities and Homeless Solutions, Inc. (HSI) have partnered to provide high-quality, comprehensive outreach services to Morristown's homeless community. The Hospitality Link outreach center opened on March 4, 2008. St. Peter’s donated the space for Hospitality Link in the Friendly Guild Room on South Street, and HSI staffs the center between the hours of 9:00 am and 4:00 pm weekdays. The purpose of the center is to offer case management services, benefits eligibility determination, connections to mental health and addiction treatment programs, referrals to emergency shelters, and direct assistance to clients on a case by case basis.  Hospitality Link also provides a mailing address, access to phones, and limited storage to guests.  Hospitality Link can be reached at 973-538-1442.

Morris County Correctional Facility Chaplaincy Program

Since the 1940s St. Peter's has been involved with ministry to the inmates of the Morris County Correctional Facility (located in Morristown).  Initially this was an informal ministry led by several laymen; today we support one-third of the salary of an ordained chaplain at the jail.  We also collect socks, underwear and toothbrushes and bake Christmas cookies for the inmates.

Nursing Home Ministries

Our clergy provide a Eucharist one Sunday each month at Morris View, the county nursing home located in nearby Morris Plains.  St. Peter's parishioners help with the service as lectors, piano players and Eucharistic ministers and help to transport the home's residents to the service.  We also provide a lay-led service of Morning Prayer at another nursing home on each of the Sundays in March, July and November.

Other Community Activities

We participate in community efforts in many other ways.  Members of St. Peter's sit on the Boards of the Soup Kitchen, Homeless Solutions, and the Jail Chaplaincy, as well as other local charities. We collect coats for the Market Street Mission's annual coat drive.  Parishioners participate in the annual 5K Walk for the benefit of the Eric Johnson House, an AIDS residence.  Our Giving Tree provides approximately 150 Christmas gifts for two local nursing homes and Youth Consultation Service. We collect 30 Thanksgiving turkeys each year for an economically challenged parish in Dover.  We also make known to the congregation opportunities for individual volunteering in local programs.

Two members of the Outreach Commission, with the vestry's endorsement, meet regularly with the Worker Coalition, which is trying to find ways to reduce the friction between Morristown's police and the undocumented workers in town. We are in the process of creating a social justice sub-committee, and in the fall of 2008 we ran an event promoting the use of Fair Trade coffee.