SERVE IN THE COMMUNITY

Our team prepares and serves dinner for 30–40 residents at St. Francis House, a shelter serving families and individuals experiencing homelessness in St. Augustine. We participate in the Chef’s Night Out program on the 2nd Sunday of every month. 

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Teams of three to six volunteers cook and serve dinner on the second Sunday of each month for up to forty-five residents of the St. Francis House Crisis Center in St. Augustine. You may sign up to cook or to serve, for one month or for several.

For more information, please contact [David Burnside] (mailto:CNO@stfrancispvb.org).

Since 2010, St. Francis has partnered with San Pablo Church in Bolondrón, Cuba. We support our companion parish through prayer, mission trips when possible, and tangible means of support.

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We maintain through annual visits where we carry food, medical supplies, and support, and fund essential infrastructure through fundraising here. You may take part by giving, by praying or by travelling.

For more information, please contact [Win Everett or Steve Durr](mailto:Cuba@stfrancispvb.org).

Volunteers sew and assemble reusable feminine hygiene products that are distributed to women and girls in need, both domestically and internationally.

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No sewing experience is required, since there is a task at every table for every level of skill, including cutting, pressing and packing.

For more information, please contact [Gretchen Kuck](mailto:Daysforgirls@stfrancispvb.org).

Four volunteer teams take turns preparing and serving meals to 40–60 food-insecure individuals in St. Augustine. Each team serves three times per year.

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Each team consists six to eight volunteers who serve a meal on the third Saturday evening of each month, at 92 South Dixie Highway in St. Augustine. A team leader prepares the meal, so you need only come and help serve it.

For more information, please contact [Jan Kary](mailto:DWD@stfrancispvb.org).

We support Her Song, a residential program for survivors of human trafficking, through supply drives and partnership. Learn more at hersong.org.

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We support them with household goods, clothing and Christmas gifts, and our annual Giving Tree is dedicated to this ministry each year. The need is steady rather than seasonal, so donations are welcome at any point in the year.

For more information, please contact [Cindy Laabs](mailto:outreach@stfrancispvb.org).

Volunteers complete training and travel to a state prison near Lake City, Florida to lead a four-day spiritual retreat for 36 residents, modeled on the Cursillo movement. 

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Not everyone is able to go inside, and those who cannot are just as needed, for baking, for letters and for prayer.

For more information, please contact [Ed d'Avi](mailto:Kairos@stfrancispvb.org).

Each summer, we collect donations to purchase backpacks and grade-specific school supplies for students in need at Valley Ridge Academy. Volunteers of all ages help shop, pack, and deliver.

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Since 2014 we have provided grade-specific backpacks of school supplies to students at Valley Ridge Academy, along with sweatshirts, sneakers, lunches for teachers and emergency help for families. The aim has always been to go past the basics.

For more information, please contact [Lauren Kersting](mailto:lauren@stfrancispvb.org).

Once Upon a Room transforms hospital rooms into warm, welcoming bedrooms for children facing challenging health horizons. Volunteers provide the items to furnish and decorate these rooms based on a theme the child loves.

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In 2026, we provided 225 Easter baskets to children in local hospitals and sponsored 2 hospital rooms for children dealing with very long hospitals stays. This need is growing into 2026 and 2027, so please watch parish communications for updates and opportunities.

.For more information, please contact [Lauren Kersting](mailto:lauren@stfrancispvb.org).

We collect and deliver non-perishable food for St. Francis House and Port in the Storm, the only full-time emergency shelter between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach. We also coordinate an annual Giving Tree gift card drive for residents.

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This is St. Johns County's principal homeless services charity. They are in constant need of items that we collect through food drives, sock drives and collections of winter coats and hats. Watch the parish announcements for the drive that is running now, or write and ask what is most needed this month.

For more information, please contact [Lauren Kersting](mailto:lauren@stfrancispvb.org).

Each spring, we collect donations to fill baskets with cleaning supplies for families moving into new housing through the St. Johns Continuum of Care.

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Volunteers assemble baskets of cleaning supplies for families moving out of homelessness and into a home of their own. It is a small thing to carry through a door, and not a small thing to receive.

For more information, please contact [Lauren Kersting](mailto:lauren@stfrancispvb.org).

Wrapped in Love is prayer worked with needles. Members knit and crochet shawls and baby blankets, which are blessed by the clergy and carried to people in this parish who are ill, who are grieving, or who have just welcomed a child.

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Each piece is made prayerfully while the work grows, so that the prayer is in the thing itself and not only in the giving of it. New knitters and crocheters are always welcome, whatever your level of skill.

For more information, please contact [Susan Delaney](mailto:Wrappedinlove@stfrancispvb.org).