What We Do - Our Outreach

Bethlehem Winter Emergency Shelter

Beginning in 2009, St. Andrew's opened our church on Friday nights to serve as an overnight shelter for Bethlehem's homeless. St. Andrew's, along with 12 other churches, provided shelter, a place to sleep, dinner, breakfast, and companionship to our guests from the beginning of December until the end of March.

Beginning in December 2017, the shelter for men and women was moved to a single location, United Church of Christ at Market and Center streets. St. Andrew's is responsible for providing and serving dinner, shower monitoring, and donating light breakfast for approximately 50 guests. 

Contact Carol for more information or to volunteer.

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Family Promise Shelter

The Vestry gave permission to Notre Dame volunteers to host homeless families in the church's classrooms downstairs for two weeks (August 29 to September 12). Family Promise operates in over 200 communities to help homeless families regain their independence. The number one cause of homelessness (especially in the Lehigh Valley) is unaffordable housing. The families are carefully screened to find the best candidates for successful outcomes. The 3 to 4 families (maximum 14 people) stay overnight in participating churches, are fed dinner, and provided with  bagged breakfast and lunches. They return to the Family Place daycenter in Allentown for showers, laundry facilities, daycare, training and transportion to jobs and the children's schools. This arrangement keeps the children's education from being interrupted and helps the parents to find affordable housing, retain jobs, get training, and find affordable daycare. More info here.

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Pennsylvania Ave. Interfaith Food Pantry

The Pennsylvania Avenue Interfaith Food Pantry (PAIFP) at St. Andrew's serves food-insecure families in our area. The food pantry is open on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 6 PM-8 PM - except for church holidays. Designed to supplement Bethlehem's West End Food Bank, we depend upon donations and volunteers to meet our goals. St. Andrew's partners with several other area churches to fulfill this mission.

Volunteers are needed for about 2 hours on the first and third Thursday mornings of each month to unload deliveries from Second Harvest Food Bank and to stock shelves. Volunteers are also needed to hand out food on the first and third Wednesday nights of the month.

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Victory House of Lehigh Valley

Victory House is a residential non-profit organization located on the south side of Bethlehem. Through its programs and support efforts, it helps homeless men, many of them veterans, return to productive lives in the community.

Our volunteers prepare and serve a home-cooked meal the first Saturday of every month at this shelter. We usually serve around twenty men.

Contact The Rev. Lane Perdue to volunteer a meal or for more information. 

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CROP Hunger Walk

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Every October, members from St. Andrew's participate in the annual CROP Hunger Walk in Bethlehem, PA. This event raises funds for those in need in our community and abroad, provides disaster relief, and aids refugees world-wide.

Walk or be a sponsor in the Bethlehem CROP Hunger Walk.  Join the team online here. For more information about the Bethlehem event contact Alana Hercules. Learn more how your donations help here.

See photos of our team at CROP Hunger Walk