Christians in Action

Our Mission:
Believing that we cannot proclaim a gospel we do not live, we dedicate our activities to promoting the welfare of those in need of comfort, shelter and food and, through education and action, to working for justice and peace.

CIA Prayer:
Dear Lord, you are the light that brings us together. We thank you for the gifts that you have given each of us to do your work. Help us to remember our blessings and to recognize the needs of your people. Grant that our minds and hearts are open to your will and give us the wisdom to know how we can serve you. In the spirit of St. Clare, may we respond with charity and love. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Meetings:
CIA members (below) invite you to join us as we meet the second Tuesday of each month, from 7-8 p.m. Contact Gordon at 832-580-8006 for information.


General Information:
CIA is accepting calls for emergency outreach assistance and is working with Interfaith Caring Ministries to assist those in need. If you know of anyone in local zip codes 77058, 77059, 77062, 77546, 77565, 77573, 77586, and 77598 who needs short-term, critical help with rent or utilities, please have them call 713-530-7452, from Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon. Volunteers will answer calls and offer help as available.

CIA members and other parishioners continue to feed the local homeless, in partnership with local charity The Mercy Tree. Though we can no longer serve lunches, church volunteers are able to bring prepared food to TMT workers, who then box lunches for recipients. For information on St. Clare’s participation, contact Nancy at 281-286-4548.


Projects/Events, Jan.-March:
The annual Lenten Box Project will begin the weekend of March 4-5, with CIA members handing out lists of needed items after all masses. The project helps clients of Casa Juan Diego, a local Catholic shelter. You can help by filling a small box with items for infants, children, women or men. Items include toiletries, underwear and stationery. Specific lists of suggested items will be available in March. In addition to being handed out, these lists will be posted on the CIA bulletin board and published in the Sunday Bulletin. Donations will be collected through Lent. For more information, contact Gordon at 281-461-6982.

A Prison Card Collection will begin Feb. 25-26, for Easter greeting cards for those imprisoned at the Carol S. Young Prison in Texas City. The 400+ female prison inmates will be offered these cards at no charge to mail to their loved ones. Cards can be put in the fourth drawer--marked “Greeting Cards”—of the wooden CIA collection cabinet in the hallway to the Conference Center.  For more information, contact Deacon Joe at 832-725-1312.

Recent Efforts:
Your fourth-quarter charity was amazing! You supported two parish-wide Thanksgiving Projects that help feed the poor. Food gifts helped 40 local families identified by the Clear Lake Food Pantry, in the Thanksgiving Adopt-a-Family Project. For the second project, the Thanksgiving Food Drive, you donated 140 boxes of food, shared by the Galveston County Food Bank and Clear Lake Food Pantry, to provide for the area hungry. Thanks for your participation.

In the Spirit of Christmas Project, you shared Christmas blessings with the underprivileged from two organizations, Casa Juan Diego and Hope Active. You made Christmas special by giving gifts many of us consider ordinary--jackets, jeans, underwear, and sweatshirts—to clients of local Catholic shelter CJD. For Hope Active, you “adopted” 50 at-risk school children and met their wishes, and provided gifts for many more, from our “Angel Tree.” Thank you.

For the Prison Card Collection Project, you gave nearly 1,300 Christmas cards for the use of those imprisoned at the Carole S. Young Prison in Texas City. The inmates can use these cards to remember their loved ones. Thanks for your generosity.

Thank You So Much:
St Clare’s Christians In Action members gratefully thank all parishioners for your support of our outreach efforts in 2022. Your caring and generous response to these activities ensured that St. Clare parishioners assisted some of the most needy in our community. Together, we accomplished so much:

• Provided lunch for homeless clients of The Mercy Tree 11 times during the year, and gifted jackets and needed supplies.
• Gave emergency financial assistance for rent and utilities to 209 clients, for a total of almost $81,000.
• Supported clients of Houston Catholic shelter Casa Juan Diego by giving 250 boxes of toiletries and personal supplies in the Lenten Shoebox Project.
• Donated 26 boxes of clothing, toiletries and other supplies to support local hospitalized veterans.
• Gave 48 boxes of needed school supplies to Catholic School students at two area under-served schools.
• Donated 140 boxes of food to the local hungry served by Galveston County Food Bank and Clear Lake Food Pantry, in the Thanksgiving Food Drive.
• Provided groceries for 40 local families in need, in the Thanksgiving Adopt-a-Family Project.
• Shared Christmas blessings and gifts with numerous clients of Houston Catholic shelter Casa Juan Diego and many at-risk CCISD students, in the Spirit of Christmas Project.
• Supported inmates at the nearby Carol S. Young Prison by offering nearly 3,300 free greeting cards for the use of inmates.
• Provided weekly donations to our food pantry partners to help the local hungry, and recycled used eyeglasses and postage stamps, to assist non-profit groups.

 

Ongoing Support:
Because parishioner contributions to CIA’s monthly envelope pay for nearly all of CIA’s financial outreach assistance to the needy, we humbly request your continued support. To donate, please use your monthly envelope entitled CIA Aid to the Poor and Needy. It is collected the fourth weekend of each month. If you don’t have an envelope, just note “for CIA” at lower left on your check. Thank you for making a difference to those in need.

Link your Kroger Plus Card to KM540 and St. Clare’s Christians In Action will earn money to help clients who need emergency outreach assistance. You need to link your card only once, either at a store customer desk or by visiting www.Kroger.com.



If you have questions, please call Gordon at 832-580-8006.