Our members are involved in many outreach efforts both locally and around the world. We provide financial and participatory support for the following:
Hospitality House
Hospitality House is a transitional shelter and 90-day program for homeless women from South King County. The program can accommodate a maximum of nine women at one time and is located in Burien, Washington.
Riverton Place
Riverton Place is a residential recovery program for men, nestled in the peaceful woods of south Seattle, located at 3020 South 128th Street. The tragedy of addiction ravages families and erodes the foundation of our culture; Riverton Place is a “multifaceted” resource for the local church and community to effectively address the issues surrounding men caught in the cycle of addiction.
South Sudan Ministry
St. Elizabeth is blessed with parishioners who have families here in Burien and also in South Sudan. For many years, we have joined with our friends and families who are former Sudanese “lost boys” in trying to make a difference both in South Sudan and here in the Seattle area. We have been involved in efforts to help raise funds for infrastructure like wells and schools. In 2007, the late Jeanne Tebo Pfeifer published a book, “I Once Was Lost But Now Am Found,” to tell the story of what’s happened in South Sudan, as a fundraiser for this ministry.
More recently, Bishop Abraham Yel Nhial of South Sudan and our rector, Fr. John, met to talk about new ways to join with our brothers and sisters to support young girls in South Sudan. At the same time, some of our parishioners had already begun exploring a focused initiative to help young women maintain their health and stay in school. Two major efforts are coming together as a result and we are inviting anyone and everyone to help us out financially.
The first effort is already getting underway at St. Elizabeth for the girls of at the Marial Bai Secondary School in Aweil. We are creating and will be delivering 125 feminine hygiene kits that will help young girls who are otherwise excluded from school because of cultural notions. Each kit will last three to four years. They are comfortable, effective and discrete, and will give the girls back days of dignity, participation and safety that they can count on month after month.
Bishop Abraham explained to Fr. John that, in addition to the difficulties facing all Southern Sudanese people, girls in South Sudan are under additional social, cultural and economic pressures that make it difficult for them to go to school at all. Even if they get there, many do not or cannot finish high school. Persuasive research by Lawrence Chickering, the founder of the International Center for Economic Growth, shows that the fastest approach to healthy development in a new country like South Sudan is to educate their young women.
Consequently, the people of St. Elizabeth started collecting money to help build a dormitory for about 50 young women at St. Mary’s High School in the capital city, Aweil. When it is completed in 2016, St. Mary’s will be the first girls’ high school in the state of Northern Bahr El Ghazal.
Anyone interested in joining us in these small but focused ways can send a check for any amount to St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church with a notation that the check is for the Rector’s Discretionary Fund. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 66579, Burien, WA 98166. If you have questions, please contact the Rector at john_forman@comcast.com. Every nickel donated will go directly to these two efforts. Thanks for your consideration.
St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church 