Christmas Basket Project
Participate in this short-term volunteer opportunity in December. Assist with food and gift gathering, sorting, bagging, delivering to homebound, and helping give out baskets the day folks pick them up. Hours will be days, evenings, or weekends. Sign-up opportunities will be available in November and December.

Food Pantry Ministry
Work in our emergency assistance food pantry through various opportunities. Daytime hours, Monday through Friday. Volunteers will be contacted as needed.
Pantry Worker - fill orders on a weekly/monthly basis (1-2 hours), help keep pantry clean and orderly, sort food donations.
Homebound Food Delivery - take food orders to clients who are unable to pick them up.
Pantry Stocking Crew - assist in monthly pick-ups, deliveries, and/or shopping trips to keep our pantry stocked.

Holy Family Catholic Worker House
Prepare and serve a meal at Holy Family Catholic Worker House. A crew of SFX parishioners volunteers together the 1st Thursday of every month from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m. The crew helps prepare and serve a meal for 150—200 individuals.

Sister Parish Committee
Responsible for facilitating St. Francis Xavier's commitment to the Sister Parish Covenant with St. Martin de Porres in Belize City, Belize. Initiate and/or coordinate activities within our parish that will foster faith sharing, community building, and cultural understanding with our sister parish.

St. Francis Xavier—Visitation Social Concerns Committee
Working together to increase our commitment to Catholic social teachings. This committee plans yearly activities, which includes the annual Hunger Banquet, JustFaith, Habitat for Humanity, Christmas in October, and other events dedicated to the Church's social teachings. This is a one-year commitment, starting in August, with monthly meetings.

St. James Soup Kitchen
Serve a meal at St. James Place. A crew of SFX parishioners volunteers together the 4th Tuesday of every month from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. Duties include set-up, serving of food, and clean-up.

Sustainability Committee
Responsible for guiding the parish to live in harmony with God's creation as inspired by Scripture and Church teaching. Provide educational opportunities to the parish through films, discussion groups, seminars and other activities that illuminate ways to lighten our footprint on the planet. Provide concrete examples and opportunities for action to reduce our impact on Earth as individuals and as a parish.

Outreach Program

The Outreach Program is the largest of our direct service activities. The Program, located in the lower level of the Parish Center at 3628 Lindell, is open on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and operated by 33 parish volunteers; we provide direct services and assistance for those who are homeless, of low income or in transition, and ex-offenders.

We help our visitors obtain their Missouri State photo identification cards. The IDs allow them to move on in their search for employment, housing, schooling, child-care, food stamps and so on. Without these identification cards, common everyday tasks are not possible and public services are not accessible.

The Outreach Program also helps individuals get their birth certificate, the main document needed to acquire a Missouri State ID. Getting a birth certificate is becoming more difficult - because of identity theft issues, a photo ID card is now needed to get a birth certificate in most states; Missouri is one of the few exceptions. During FY 2009 we assisted 2,251 individuals with birth certificates and 2,294 with identification cards.

More information can be found here.

Xavier Winter Inn

Xavier Winter Inn is part of a unique collaboration between several congregations to provide overflow emergency shelter for homeless men and women during the coldest winter months when temperatures drop below 20 degrees, typically the months of late November through February in St. Louis. We host overnight visitors in the lower level of the parish center on Wednesday, Thursday, and alternate Fridays. The program would not be possible with the support of the Parish, the University, and many Parish and SLU volunteers.

More information can be found here.

Legal Clinic

As part of our Outreach Program, a Legal Clinic is offered on the 3rd Wednesday of every month staffed by attorney parishioner volunteers. If a case requires attention beyond what can be provided in a clinic session, the attorney will either take on the case himself or refer it to one of the pool of attorneys in the Parish who have volunteered to handle clinic cases. These services are for non-criminal cases only.

The Legal Clinic is the only time an attorney is here - we are not able to provide legal advice at other times or by telephone. More information can be found here.

P.E.O.P.L.E. 1st

In 2008 College Church began co-sponsoring the P.E.O.P.L.E. 1st employment program. P.E.O.P.L.E. 1st stands for People Eliminating Obstacles through the Pursuit of Learning and Employment. This is a holistic job readiness program developed and coordinated by Midtown Catholic Charities Community Services. It is a month long program meeting from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm Monday through Friday. It addresses issues such as anger management, drug addiction, depression, and anxiety, as well as teaching the individuals how to write resumes, interview, meet potential employers, learn computer skills, and resources for dressing professionally. Its specific format is based on the assessed needs of the individuals in the class.

During the Outreach Program we publicize this program to visitors looking for employment and we can pre-register them. We are always looking for more volunteers to help teach class sessions, to become a mentor, teach computer skills, or provide job opportunities for the graduates. If you are interested in volunteering please email Jennifer Mohan at 314-977-7309 or  jmohan1@slu.edu.

“Hot Stuff” and “Cool Stuff”

Hot Stuff (February 5 in 2011) and Cool Stuff (July 30 in 2011) are annual events that provide a meal and essential clothing items (socks, underwear, and seasonal items) to homeless and low income people in the City. The events are entirely parish run and supported and are important days not only for our guests but also for our parishioners who look forward to meeting our guests and sharing a meal. For Cool Stuff, the lunch is hearty sandwiches, sloppy joes, cool refreshments, and dessert items; for Hot Stuff, home made chili and soups, coffee, tea, and desert items. Cool Stuff and Hot Stuff are coordinated by parishioner (and staff member) Ruth Cochran. If you are interested in volunteering to help prepare for or to staff either Cool Stuff or Hot Stuff, contact Ruth at 314-977-7303 or cochranr@slu.edu.

Casserole Program to Benefit St. Patrick Center

St. Patrick Center (800 N. Tucker) provides free daily nutritious lunches to homeless clients who come to the Center for treatment/services related to substance abuse, transitional living, job training, independent living skills, GED, job placement, childcare, transportation assistance, and more.

St. Patrick Center specifies recipes and provides 12”x10”x2.5” aluminum casserole pans to volunteer groups, who are instructed to purchase the ingredients, prepare, bake and then freeze the casseroles prior to delivery to the Center. St. Patrick Center heats the casseroles and supplements the meals with salads, fruit, and side dishes. Volunteers at St. Patrick Center serve lunch each day to 250-300 people!

Casseroles prepared by our parishioners are delivered to St. Patrick Center the first Tuesday of every month and can be made from any Chili Mac recipe. Parishioners can prepare and freeze the casserole any time throughout the month and then drop it at the Pariah Center. A parish volunteer delivers all of the casseroles to St. Patrick Center. Our parish provides at least 24 casseroles every month.

If you are interested in joining our parish’s casserole team or if you have questions, please contact Mary Claire Voss, c/o Jennifer Mohan at 314-977-7309 or jmohan1@slu.edu. 

Sandwich Programs

There are two Sandwich Programs:

1) Parishioner Lea Koesterer coordinates volunteers who make 320 bologna and cheese sandwiches on the 2nd Sunday of each month after the 10:30 am mass in Room 14 of the Parish Center. They then deliver them to Karen Catholic Worker House. Usually just 8 people participate each month, so if you want to help, feel free to just show up at the specified time.

2) Students in our Parish Religious Education program, coordinated by staff member Angie Doerr, provide and make bologna and cheese sandwiches for our Outreach Program. Our visitors, who consume over 250 sandwiches each month, are very appreciative. Some even come just for the sandwich and cookies that we provide.

Each year, thousands of individuals and families find themselves without decent and affordable housing with no other option but to spend their nights sleeping on the streets of St. Louis. Winter can be especially difficult, as shelter beds are scarce and the weather is a dangerous force. In an effort to prevent any more weather-related and senseless deaths, we have organized a volunteer outreach team consisting of service providers, students, pastoral staff and anyone willing to help. This group hits the streets on winter nights when the temperature drops to 20 degrees or below, in the hope of keeping those left out in the cold as warm and safe as possible. We travel by vehicle to a designated section of St. Louis City, seeking people who are spending the night out on the street. If there is shelter space available, we offer transportation to anyone wishing to go. We carry blankets and other cold weather items to pass out.