Community Outreach & Resources

Outreach for St. Thomas

These are some of the services in the community to which we provide, or have provided, assistance throughout the year.

Cottonwood Community Schools

St. Thomas collected winter clothing for the youth at our local schools. This included warm jackets and sweatshirts, shoes and winter boots, and gloves and hats. Our parishioners also helped us purchase school uniforms for the kids. We plan to do this again for the youth at our schools.

Yavapai-Apache Reservation

We reached out to those living on the Yavapai-Apache Reservation, located only a few blocks from St. Thomas. We wanted to see if they had any needs that we could assist with. We are still working with them to determine how we can help.

Mingus Union High School

We reached out to our local high school music teacher and asked if he had any music students who might be interested in, and more importantly, financially benefit from, joining us on Sundays to sing at our services and be paid to do so. So far the music teacher has not provided us with any names but we are still hoping that we can help some student(s) in this way.

Past Outreach for St. Thomas

Diocesan Prison Ministry

In connection with the Arizona Diocese Prison Ministry, St. Thomas collected clothing for inmates who were getting ready to be released from incarceration. The items collected were nice articles of clothing and shoes that could be worn to job interviews. We also collected good walking shoes for individuals who did not have their own transportation. St. Thomas collected more usable clothing items than any other church in our Diocese.

We also remain active in the Angel Tree Program. At Christmas we collect new, age-appropriate gifts for children who have one or more parents incarcerated in an Arizona State prison.

Verde Valley Coalition for Abused Women

Our very active ECW ladies collected many items for women’s shelters in our area. Items included hair styling products, shampoo, conditioner, soap, make-up, razors, etc.

Manzanita Outreach

St. Thomas worked directly with Manzanita Outreach and, with their help, set up a weekly food sharing program at St. Thomas. People in need of food came to our church and received food boxes free of charge. The boxes contained canned goods, pasta items, fresh produce, bread and cheese. Often times we were able to provide some extra items, such as socks and toiletries. Due to Covid related complications we had to close down our food sharing at St. Thomas but some of our parishioners continue to volunteer with Manzanita Outreach at another location in our area.

Resources