Backpack Program
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church cooperate to provide backpacks filled with food to children from low-income families who attend William Perry Elementary School. Food provided by the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is prepared in sufficient quantities to last the weekend and sent home with the children each Friday during the academic year.
Christmas Giving Tree
Pick an ornament from the Christmas Trees in church. Each ornament has the name of a gift requested by those in need. Return the gift by due date and gifts are distributed to those in need.
CROP Walk
The CROP Walk, held in the early fall, is an ecumenical endeavor to provide funds to combat world hunger. The enthusiastic volunteer walkers from St. John the Evangelist Church ask for pledges after masses the week before the walk, which is overwhelmingly supported by our parishioners. As noted in the bulletin following the CROP Walk, St John’s has been a leader in raising money for the past several years.
Disciple’s Kitchen
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat….Matthew 25:35
Disciples Kitchen is a nonprofit 501(c)(3 ) organization and was founded in 2007 to help feed the hungry of Waynesboro. St. John’s was one of its founding church members and has been providing meals since its beginning.
Disciples Kitchen is an ecumenical group with 22 churches and 5 community organizations taking turns throughout the year to prepare breakfast and lunch for the hungry in our community, including the elderly, and those who are currently homeless.
Breakfast is served each Saturday, and lunch is served three days per week. In 2024, during a total of 208 days this ecumenical ministry served a little over 8900 meals for lunch and 1600 for meals for breakfast.
How we Serve through St. John the Evangelist
Our Saturday morning breakfast minisry serves a breakfast or sometimes brunch meal every other month on the 4th Saturday. We decide on a healthy menu and then send out a sign up for our volunteers to make or bring food items to complete our offering.
Our lunch ministry provides a healthy meal consisting of meat, vegetables, and fruit along with a choice of beverages. These meals are served to 50 – 60 of our brothers and sisters in need. Our serving dates vary but usually 2 meals are provided each quarter.
Our Disciples Kitchen ministries are always happy to have new volunteers. Come and take part in this very rewarding ministry, knowing that we are doing the meaningful work that Jesus asks of us.
Haiti Ministry
St John supporters, by prayers and donations, the St Anthony House Food Program in Pointe-Raquette, Saint Louis King of France parish in Haiti.
Click Here for more Haiti Info
Prison Ministry & Kairos
We visit the Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, VA on Thursday afternoons, usually 2-3 times a month for 1.5 hours. We have a Communion Service with Breaking Open the Word. Together with the inmates, we discuss the Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday, pray the petitions, recite the Creed and the Our Father, share a sign of peace, sing hymns, and receive Communion. It is a joy filled experience in a relaxed environment. We average 8-12 men per session.
We share this ministry with volunteers from St. Francis. When their pastor is able to come, he has Mass and Sacraments. Every Thursday is covered by one of the Parishes.
Volunteers must fill out a VA state prison application, be open to a background check, and be finger-printed before receiving volunteer status.
Several parishioners also support Kairos which is an Ecumenical Christian Ministry, designed to be presented in Medium and Maximum Security prisons. Kairos is an outgrowth of the Cursillo and Walk to Emmaus Christian movements. The purpose of Kairos is to build a Christian community within the darkness of the prison, among the inmates. The team enters the prison as servants of Christ — not preaching, not judging, not giving advice — but reflecting the love of Christ. Kairos is a ministry to the lost and forgotten. It truly is a mission field in a foreign land — a land of lost souls. Kairos motto is: Listen, Listen, Love, Love
Sewing Ministry
Meets the first and third Tuesday of each month. They serve our community by making quilts, adult bibs, lap quilts, bags, and masks.
WARM Shelter