Social Ministries
Ministries

If you have any questions regarding assistance or social services, please call the office at (512) 478-7955.

Gabriel Project (Coordinator Deanna Avalos)

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Gabriel Project is a ministry that provides help to pregnant women in need.  It can be described as a good Samaritan approach towards helping women who are in a crisis pregnancy.  Our church community responds to women in a crisis pregnancy in a loving unconditional and nonjudgmental manner to the woman.  This love is a witness to the community of the infinite and healing love of God.

The trained volunteer is called an Angel, is assigned to the mother when she calls in for help and is responsible for ongoing contact with her.  The angel gives emotional and material support to the expectant mom.  Angels meet with their moms throughout her pregnancy.  At Our Lady of Guadalupe we have a very active Gabriel project with 10 active angels and 5 active supporting volunteers.  Our Gabriel Project kicked off in February 2007.  We have a Project Gabriel closet with baby clothes and furniture, but are always looking for more donations!  If you are interested in donating new or used baby items or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Claire Irwin at the parish office.

Life Passages

Life Passages is a ministry that recognizes times of great sorrow and great joy in the lives of Our Lady of Guadalupe parishioners.  We send cards to honor our parishioners that are coping with a death of a loved one or who have celebrated the sacrament of marriage.  We would like to expand to sending cards for births and special birthdays.  If you interested in volunteering or for more information regarding this ministry please contact Claire Irwin at the parish office.

Senior Ministry

We have a group of approximately 30 seniors that meets once a month for fellowship, faith and education.  Every session has a theme and an educational component.  We have had presenters on different health issues and also educational issues.  At the luncheon meetings we give updates on what is going on in the parish.  We are always looking for new ideas for the luncheons.  If you are interested in teaching everyone how to make a craft or presenting on a topic you think the seniors would be interested in, call Claire at the parish office.

AIDS/Cancer Care Team

We are starting a care team here at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish through an organization called The Care Communities.  The care teams are a group of volunteers who provide practical and compassionate support for people with serious illnesses.  The Care Communities connects the care team with a person in need who is facing a serious illness.  The care team supports the person by listening to them talk about their situation, doing laundry, preparing meals, doing yard work, grocery shopping or other household chores.  This ministry takes a special kind of person that is willing to help someone cope emotionally with a serious illness.  Training is available, if you are interested in helping to start this at our parish, please contact Claire at the parish office.

Visitation Team

This is a new ministry that we are starting here at Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The goal is to provide a more comprehensive financial services program using the home visitation model that helps with: budgeting, finding jobs, navigating through government social service programs, emergency financial assistance, other assistance as needed and get parishioners involved in financial assistance process- become less of a band aid program and become more of a comprehensive assistance program.  The time commitment is a once a month evening meeting with the whole team and a twice a month home visits with another team member to the house of a client.  The benefit is that you are a part of giving back to the community, and you are an active participant in “faith in action”

Food Pantry - History: past to present

The pantry opened its doors more then 10 years ago.  It was started by a group of parishioners and has been running in the basement of the church ever since.  Today the pantry is still in the basement, but with some improvements that have helped us have a smoother operation.  We have an intake window where the client and volunteer can talk to fill out the intake.  We also have a pick up window where the client can go to pick up their bags of food when they are ready.  We are blessed to be supported by our church community.  We have been a partner agency with the Capital Area Food Bank for more than six years.  We serve approximately 60+ households a week Volunteers are involved in every aspect of the pantry.  They talk to clients when they come in to receive food.  They bag up the food and give it out to the clients.  They stock food as it comes in and they go and pick up food at the food bank.  They assist the food pantry coordinator and social minister in asking for donations.  If you are interested in volunteering with the food pantry, please contact Sam Castro or Claire Irwin at the parish office.

Who we serve: We serve the 78702 zip code and parishioners in need.  We ask that first-time clients bring an id and a proof of address.

When we are open: OUR HOURS HAVE CHANGED!  Tuesdays 1pm-4pm, Saturdays 10:30am-12pm, and we are now closed on Thursdays.

Where we are located: We are located at 1206 East 9th Street behind the parish offices.

Guess what: The Our Lady of Guadalupe food pantry has been named an “exceptional pantry” by the Capital Area Food Bank!!

Social Justice Ministry

The core team is made up of twelve parishioners.  This group works with other organizations in the area to educate and mobilize parishioners about local, state, and nationwide issues.  For the last couple of months the team has had two retreats and received valuable training from Austin Interfaith to start a new project.  We, the team and Friar, will be meeting with groups of parishioners to find out what pressures are facing their families. From there we will discern what social justice issues the parish would most like to work on.  If you are interested in weighing in on this important process, or in joining the team, I encourage you to contact Claire at the parish office.

Health Ministry

The Health Ministry Team promotes health education on health issues common to our parish community via a variety of avenues, such as health screenings and information sharing.  The team collaborates with health organizations at a local, state and national level to offer services and new ideas and information to promote a healthier lifestyle.  If you are interested in joining the Health Ministry Team, please contact Claire Irwin at the parish office or join us at one of our monthly meetings.  We had a health fair on February 17th in the parish hall it was a great success.  We especially want to thank the health ministry team and Seton family of hospitals for making it such a great success.  We have now started a walking group that meets twice a week by the parish hall on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30.  Please join us!!

Annual Projects

Thanksgiving Baskets:

Every year during thanksgiving our parish puts together the thanksgiving basket program.  Needy families sign up to receive a thanksgiving basket, and parishioners who want to help adopt the family and bring them a thanksgiving meal.  In 2007 we were able to help 70 families!!

Angel Tree:

Every year during advent we put up an angel tree.  On the tree are ornaments that have either types of toys or food on them.  Parishioners pick up an ornament and bring the item to church right before Christmas.  The food is donated to the OLG food pantry and the toys to a local charity.  Last year we donated the toys to the Austin Children’s Shelter.

Check out our volunteers in Action!!!