Trinity By The Cove: Local

Trinitarians commit to act as God’s hands in our local community by helping those in need. The mission: to plan, organize and execute a series of community service projects for Trinitarians to participate in and experience spiritual growth by providing Christian service.

Habitat for Humanity

Trinity-by-the-Cove has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to complete our fourteenth home for a deserving family. Habitat for Humanity is driven by the desire to give tangible expression to the love of God through the work of eliminating poverty housing. Its mission and methods are predominantly derived from a few key theological concepts: putting faith into action, the economics of Jesus, the theology of the hammer.

Immokalee Not-For-Profit Project

Playground & Kids

Immokalee Non-Profit Housing is an organization formed in 1985 with the dream that even the poorest of farm workers and their families need and deserve decent and affordable places to live. When it was time to move into their new community center many of their programs like after-school and summer enrichment programs, adult literacy, household management classes and others programs; they need help. Trinitarians stepped up to help by erecting the children's playground, gardening and organizing classrooms and offices.

This was a particularly fulfilling service project for Trinity-by-the-Cove because all of the funds used to purchase the playground were raised through the Naples Art & Antiques Show, the Church Mouse, Christmas Market and the Women of Trinity. We were able to close the circle of giving by providing manpower to erect the playground only because you are so generously donating your Playground final time and talents!

The Naples Daily News reported the event saying:

A double starfish to the Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church.

Not only did the church raise the money for playground improvements at Sanders Pine Housing Development in Immokalee, church volunteers closed the loop by doing the volunteer setup themselves.

The expense in money $2-3000; the follow-through: PRICELESS.

RELAY FOR LIFE

Luminaries

The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, the fourteenth annual event at Gulfview Middle School, was held on April 17-18th. The event is a time for the community to come together to celebrate those who have survived cancer, remember those we’ve lost and fight back against a disease that touches all of our lives. It runs from 6:00 Friday night until Noon Saturday and thousands of people, young and old participated.

For more information on this year's Relay for Life, click here.

Fine Art of Living

This year, 2011, we are very excited to introduce the Fine Art of Living series. Since 1982, Trinity has hosted a community event to raise funds for charities in Collier County. For the past 29 years, the charity event has been the very successful Naples Art & Antiques Show. During those 29 years, over $3 million was raised and distributed to Collier County charities. This year, however, Trinity decided to try a fresh approach to its fundraising efforts, and the Fine Art of Living series was born.

The Fine Art of Living series raises funds to support programs to improve the lives of the underprivileged in our community. These funds are distributed through the Archangel Fund for Collier County Charities, a 501(c)(3) organization, which is administered by Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church. In 2011, the Archangel Fund will distribute its funds to Collier County agencies, which provide services focused on mental health, shelter, and families. Examples of charities in these categories that have received funds in the past include the David Lawrence Center, the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, National Alliance on Mental Health, AVOW Hospice, Youth Haven, St. Matthew’s House and the Immokalee Friendship House.

The 2011 Fine Art of Living series will host a Vintner Dinner in February honoring Clarke and Elizabeth Swanson of Swanson Vineyards in Napa Valley, California and Naples, Florida. The dinner will be prepared by Celebrity Chef John Tesar, formerly of the Mansion at Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. In March 2011, the Fine Art of Living will present “Lilly on the Lawn,” a Lilly Pulitzer-inspired party on the beachfront lawn of a fabulous Port Royal home. A Low Country Barbecue Dinner Buffet will be served, and guests can dance under the stars to Rockin’ Jason D. Williams’ boogie-woogie piano-playing style.

For more information on the Fine Art of Living events, please view the website at www.fineartoflivingnaples.com.

Kids Against Hunger

DSCF2079 On May 15th Trinity's Service Commission teamed up with Kids Against Hunger for a second time to help feed the hungry in Collier County. In just a few hours, volunteers from Trinity-by-the-Cove prepared 24,000 fortified Meals Ready to Eat (MREs). The meals will be donated to the Harry Chapin organization and the Collier County Schools. Meals are sent home with children who are on the free lunch program and are distributed to these familes for pick up sites in the summer. DSCF2051

Each MRE contained soy protein, dried vegetables, chicken flavoring, rice, beans and twenty-one vitamins and minerals. Simply boiling the bag in water provides enough food for six people. Each bag costs ten cents to make. Each volunteer donated $10 to cover the expenses of the ingredients.

This is one of Trinity's favorite service projects because it makes a great intergenerational experience for our parish. Ages five to eighty have fun together as they perform a great service for Collier County.

Canners and Cookers

Lois Osler 239-263-4586 grandilo@aol.com

This dedicated group of gourmet cooks gather to prepare a multitude of jellies, sauces and canned goods. Their specialty items are offered for sale at the Christmas Market in November each year. These women and men work in the Church's kitchen on many Thursday mornings to produce wonderful gourmet goods. The proceeds of their efforts go to grants given by the Women of Trinity board.