Grace in the Desert Episcopal Church supports Scouts of America Pack 656 in Las Vegas, NV. Scouts of America pack 656, is a Family Pack meaning that both male and female scouts are members of the Pack. Under the umbrella of Boy Scouts of America, this pack offers indoor and outdoor activities that promote character, volunteerism and service to Country. Youngster of all levels of ability are welcome into this Scouts of America Pack 656 Council covers the states of Nevada, Arizona and California.

The Outreach Committee supports Camp Galilee (an Episcopal youth camp at Lake Tahoe) by providing funds to send children from urban areas to Camp Galilee to experience he beautiful surroundings on Lake Tahoe. Contact Tee Gonzalez from Grace for information.

Our Loaves and Fishes Ministry supports Epicenter on the Parkway Food Bank, located behind Christ Church Episcopal on Maryland Avenue and is organized by Ra Simmons and The Rev Cammie Houpt.

This ministry provides non-perishable foods in support to the food bank for those who suffer from nutritional scarcity. Grace in the Desert participates by donating to weekly and monthly food drives.

During the Advent season identify families from several schools who will have little or no Christmas. From the tree, parishioner’s select a card with the simple wishes of a child or a family of children.

Children fill out a card that gives their sizes, color choices and a wish list item. Many enjoy the gift of shopping for these children while others provide gift cards from Walmart or elsewhere.

Parishioners shop for, and wrap the gifts, affixing the original card as the label that includes the identity of the child and of gifts requested The greatest need is for clothing and shoes.

The Food Closet at Clark High School provides individually portioned food (non-perishable) and snack items for students who are often without food. The Closet supplies personal hygiene items as well. Outreach members collect donated items and deliver them to the school. In addition, once a year, in September, all food items collected at Grace are donated to Clark High School.

Grace in the Desert supports the Las Vegas Family Promise program. This organization provides assistance to families in transition with temporary accommodation and meals provided by local churches, synagogues, and mosques while the families seek permanent jobs and housing. Grace in the Desert participates by hosting families for one week at a time three times a year. The Outreach Ministry also has makes a financial contribution to Family Promise.

Nevadans for the Common Good is a broad-based coalition of institutions in the Las Vegas area. This coalition has been built deliberately to cross the lines of race, religion, neighborhood and political affiliation. We take strong stands on issues affecting families and communities, but remain politically non-partisan.

Our three basic goals:

• To build relationships across our community based on trust and a willingness to listen to each other.
• To equip our members and leadership with skills and practices to get results.
• To achieve change on concrete issues, as part of our common call to justice.

In 2017 Grace in the Desert contracted with Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada to provide refugee resettlement assistance. Since then the Refugee Resettlement Committee, working closely with Catholic Charities, has helped resettle more than 40 at risk refugees legally entering the United States. This ministry’s work, among other acts of service, includes:

• Receiving, holding and delivering donated furniture.
• Shopping for/delivering required household items and food.
• Setting up refugee apartments.
• Meeting refugees at the Airport, accompanying them to their new home, and providing a culturally appropriate first meal.
• Introducing refugees to the Las Vegas area, including our beautiful park areas and the Strip.
• Driving refugees to required appointments at Catholic Charities, medical offices, etc.
• The Committee members visit our refugee families when appropriate.

Grace in the Desert members provide funds for food bags and turkeys to upward of 150 families in the Las Vegas community. In addition to providing these meals to families in need who are known to Grace in the Desert, we also partner with members of the Clark County school system to identify families who might need this support.

SHARE Village Las Vegas was established in 1994 and is an award-winning 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the creation and development of affordable housing villages. This is a unique and innovative approach to holistic and comprehensive housing with 24/7/365 crisis intervention center services complemented with intensive supportive services. Public and private partnerships have been formed to develop and operate affordable housing with collaborative medical and mental health services, salon services, employment referrals and placements, and full service community food pantry/nutrition programs.

Grace in the Desert Participation – Bottled Water Drives:

n 2013 the Arnold Stalk, was asked to speak to us about his growing vision for Veterans Village. Two things came out of that meeting. First, we learned about volunteer opportunities and a year or so later our Education for Ministry (EfM) group volunteered to sort an abundance of non-perishable food donated to the Village and helped parse them out to other food pantries in Las Vegas. Secondly, a former Deacon learned that there was a need for bottled water, especially during the summer and hence began collecting bottled water at the church and delivering it to Veterans Village.