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St. Bart’s in the World
This vibrant umbrella ministry is committed to exploring opportunities for global commitment that make a difference in our world through projects that help to improve the lives of the most vulnerable members of the human family.
The group focuses on a variety of working areas, including global and third world
issues, AIDS, and international partnerships including those that advance the Millennium Development Goals (see below) to eradicate chronic extreme poverty.
 On November 30, 2007 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, top entertainers and activists gathered to commemorate World AIDS Day. AIDS remains the world's most disastrous pandemic – and the most preventable. Sponsored by St. Bartholomew's, The Hunger Project, UNAIDS, Global Coalition against AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC), the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the World Council of Churches and many other organizations.
Performers included 2007 Grammy award-winner Angelín Chang and the
Harambee Dance Company (above). Other UN officials and staff, representatives of Missions and civil society organizations, and partners in the city government are also participating.
Soledad O'Brien of CNN (right) served as emcee for the event.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
At the start of the new millennium, leaders from 191 nations, including the United States, agreed on the Millennium Development Goals, a plan to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015. St. Bartholomew's joins our national and worldwide Anglican Communion, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD, the international development arm of the national Church), and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), by designating 0.7 percent of our giving toward this worldwide effort to eradicate extreme global poverty within the next decade. Join St. Bart's and the World to become involved in ongoing MDG awareness and advocacy projects.
Update: Our commitment to fund .7% of our giving toward organizations doing effective work on one or several of the MDGs involved funding four organizations from our 2006 pledge and plate giving.
Habitat for Humanity
Our Habitat for Humanity Team grows stronger each year, and participates in local builds as well as taking on overseas projects in areas where housing is in critical need. A combination of “Raise the Roof” benefit concerts, personal giving and some grants, have also enabled our St. Bart’s Habitat Team to be a very generous financial contributor to Habitat For Humanity.
Carpenter's Kids
 The Carpenter's Kids Program is a partnership between the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika and the Episcopal Diocese of New York. "Carpenter's Kids" are HIV/AIDs orphans and other vulnerable children who are selected after screening by their parishes. The goal is to support 50 children in each of 200 parishes.
The aim of the program is to ensure that each "Carpenter's Kid" receives a school uniform, a pair of shoes, and adequate school supplies to enable them to attend primary school. These children will also be provided with breakfast on school days
Beginning in 2006, St. Bartholomew’s, along with other New York parishes, agreed to provide $50 per child per year for school fees, breakfasts, uniforms, shoes and books—and to do this for 100 children per year over the next five years. We reached our first and second-year goals of $5,000 per year and sent this through our diocese to the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (all administrative costs are covered separately; therefore every dollar given is going directly to support the orphans’ school and nutritional needs).
We have been matched up with the Mvumi Makulu parish and 100 of their children. The most needy children received their new shoes and school uniforms on February 24, 2008. The purpose of this new relationship with the parishioners of Mvumi Makulu is to increase understanding between our parishes. Click here to see a gallery of photos taken on distribution day. Or, visit the Carpenter’s Kids website at www.carpenterskids.net to keep current on their progress.
If you’d like to see first-hand where your contributions have made a difference, you can join one of the diocesan-led trips to Tanzania. A group of St. Bart's parishioners went on a pilgrimage in August 2008. Read a first-hand account about this trip from parishioner, Judy Hall.
Click here to read a personal account by Diane Posnak about her 2007 pilgrimage.
If you'd like to contribute toward our $5,000 goal for 2008, please write a check to St. Bartholomew's Church and include "Carpenter’s Kids" in the memo line mail it to St. Bartholomew’s Church, 109 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022. The Rev.Lynn Sanders is the contact person within St. Bart’s if you have further questions. Contact her at 212-378-0245 or sanders@stbarts.org.
More about St. Bart's in the World? Contact the Rev. Buddy Stallings at
stallings@stbarts.org or 212-378-0215.
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