St. David's Church

St. David’s Church School is open to children ages 3-12. We have a one room schoolhouse style and use a Montessori approach called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Students choose what aspect of scripture or liturgy they want to learn about and use specific hands-on materials to explore that topic. Children practice leading prayer and songs with each other and join the congregation for Holy Communion at 10:45. 

Outreach Ministry is a key element in the operation of St. David's.  A major thrust in this church has been to assist others beyond the parish.  Outreach ministry at St. David's has been central since the church began. St. David's is active in concerns for housing and homelessness on the Cape.  When the mortgage on the church was burned in 1978, we were determined that St. David's would give 20 percent of its income to support a Special Ministries Fund, designed to assist those in need both locally and beyond and to serve as a conduit through which church monies are expended in support of worthy causes. 

The Committee distributes funds that are allocated to it from the annual church budget, or from special gifts, or from various fund raising efforts. In addition, much of the Committee's time is spent evaluating donation requests from a variety of sources, locally from Cape Cod, nationally from within the United States, and internationally from the larger world. All charitable requests are carefully evaluated and researched before they are honored. A special effort is made to keep an updated list of all approved agencies, and additions or deletions are made when deemed appropriate. 

The Special Ministries Committee distributes the interest earnings from the 3.5 % of the DIT funds and proceeds of the annual bake sale, plus any designated bequests.

Cape Cod organizations supported are: American Red Cross, AIDS SUpport Group of Cape Cod, Duffy Health Center, Guindon House, Homeless Not Hopeless, Independence House, St. David's Paper Pantry, A Baby Center, Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod, Hospice & Palliative Care, Champ Homes, Housing Assistance Corporation, Yarmouth Food Pantry, Angel House, THRIVE, WE CAN, CapeAbilities, Cape Cod Times Needy Fund, Yarmouth Masonic Angel Fund, Sight Loss Services, Women of Fishing Families and Amazing Grace of Cape Cod.

National organizations Center for Victims of Torture, Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, ER&D, St. David's Cathedral in Wales.

St. David's offers paper products to pepople in need who are residents of the Cape. This is a special ministry not available elsewhere on Cape Cod, so we serve a large number of people from all communities. The paper products we provide are those not covered by food stamps and may include: incontinence items, sanitary napkins or tampons, toilet tissue, paper towels, facial tissues, as well as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, bar soap, razors, shaving cream and shampoo.
Clients show an ID with a Cape address each month and new clients show proof of need which may be a food stamp card, transitional housing letter, disability letter or a card from a food pantry on the Cape.
We serve over 50 families each month. Family size varies, but ranges between 1-8 individuals or 150-180 individuals each month.

DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC - WE OFFER CURBSIDE PICKUP!

ST.DAVID'S FOOD MINISTRY: "the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied"

In March 2017 St. David’s began serving a "TAKEAWAY MEAL" to the clients of the Paper Pantry, which went very well. Thank you to all who helped make it so.

After each client picks paper goods and personal hygiene items, they receive a paper shopping bag with a meal sufficient for their family size, which includes- a main dish, fresh carrots and celery, a bread item, dessert and fruit. Volunteers prepare and package some items the day before and the rest on Wednesday before the Paper Pantry opens at 1:00. 

In 2019 added dental and nursing services to this monthly event, so that is a true drop-in center for health and wellbeing.

DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC - WE OFFER CURBSIDE PICKUP!

The Dennis Yarmouth Ecumenical Council for the prevention of Homelessness (DYECH) is the organization that supplies us with grocery and other retail store certificates to sell and 5% goes to DYECH to give to Housing Assistance Corporation's "Project Prevention" to help people not fall into homelessness. You pay face value for the cards and use them like any other gift certificate at the participating store.

The food collected every Sunday is delivered to the Cape Cod Council of Churches' "Hands of Hope" Food Pantry in West Harwich. It joins the items given by other churches, organizations, individuals, and clubs. The food pantry serves people who meet the US income poverty guidelines and have proof of residence in the towns of Harwich, Dennis, Yarmouth, Barnstable and MAshpee. Participants may go once a month and receive 3-4 grocery bags of food.

The second Sunday of each month is "Focus Sunday" and everyone is encouraged to make a special effort to brings a particular item.

Our memorial churchyard includes an herb garden and plantings around our memorial garden of parishioners and friends of St. David's.

Plots measured 2' by 2' are still available for the burial of loved ones.

St. David's is one of the founding churches of Amazing Grace of Cape Cod, a one week residential camp program at Camp Burgess in Sandwich for children from Cape Cod and the South Shore whose parent is or has been incarcerated.  Founded in 2014, Amazing Grace became a stand- alone 501C3 organization in 2015 but still has strong ties to Episcopal Churches in the Cape & Islands deanery. 

St. David's provides many different forms of support for Amazing Grace: volunteers to serve on the board and as mentors at camp, monetary donations and every year the quilting group has created beautiful handmade quilts for every child that attends the program. Parishioners also support the many year-round activities of the program.

Sacred Ground is dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race, racism, and whiteness while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity. The 10-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories.

Sacred Ground is a resource coming out of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. This series is especially designed to help white people talk with other white people, while being open to all racial/ethnic groups. Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.