Vitality Grants

A Native American cultural dinner and Christmas pageant to engage with neighbors and learn more about their community. Goal is to build a better working relationship and invite them to our community.

After their first experimental grant, St. Paul’s applied for a $2,000 grant. They offered a series of 6 workshops in partnership with the Seminole Nation Boys & Girls Club, focused on urban agriculture in Oklahoma. Each summer, the Seminole Nation Boys & Girls Club enrolls roughly 130 youth ages 12-18, primarily Native American, representing many different tribes. The community of Holdenville, like many of our towns in Oklahoma, has a high rate of poverty and is a food desert. Many of the youth have little knowledge of how to obtain nourishing meals, grow food, or even prepare it. They also hoped to host a field trip to Durbinshire Farms, a local goat farm, owned by one of the new members of St. Paul's.

The hope was to bring them into contact with a large group of youth in their community.

Pastor Radach, a supply priest at St. Paul’s shared, "Such cross-cultural engagements are always a blessing. The people of St. Paul's have had little contact with this group. This seemed to be a God-given opportunity that dropped into our laps."

In June 2023, St. Paul's was awarded the grant, and off they went! Their workshops included butter and biscuit making, homemade ice cream, origami, card making, portrait drawing, pizza making, sun catchers, and even goat petting!

Not only was this effort popular with the youth, St. Paul's was honored as the 2023 Volunteer of the Year by the Seminole Nation Boys & Girls Club.

This honor came after St. Paul’s, Holdenville, in March was recognized as organization of the year by the Holdenville Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture.

Read more about St. Paul’s Vitality Story HERE.

St. James passed out 100 dozen eggs door-to-door in the surrounding neighborhood on April 1st, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, and included a flyer inviting folks to join them for Easter services and informing them about our monthly St. James Food Pantry. They are testing if Anglos and Hispanics can work together on an outreach project, learn how to love each other across cultures and build upon one diverse congregation at St. James. They hope that conversations door-to-door in either Spanish or English will enable them to learn who their neighbors are and what issues are important to them. They hope to determine if they are aware of St. James and to assure them they are welcome at our services and Food Pantry.

The goal is to meet and chat with neighbors in St. Bede's Westport neighborhood and to allow their neighbors to enjoy a connection with the tranquil, retreat-life setting of St. Bede's.

In the Fall of 2022, St. John's in OKC opened their spacious property for a brand new dog park for the local community around their church. The congregation noticed that the apartments and neighborhood surrounding their church had many dogs and not much green space for them to roam. So, St. John's took a leap of faith to reach out to their neighbors and applied for a large vitality grant to create a community dog park on their property. The diocesan grant provided approximately 10% of the funds for this project.

Fr. Nate Carr, Vicar of St. John's, shared his vision of the dog park at St. John's as a way to repurpose church property. This space is now a vibrant hub for the local community. The fenced park includes benches for pet owners, large rocks, and other items for dogs to dodge and play with. Water stations will also be added, and a children's playground will be near the dog park.

Fr. Nate Carr also serves as the Diocesan Missioner for strategic development. He assists the Diocese in reimagining its properties to serve the community better and generate revenue for congregations.

Read more about St. John’s Dog Park HERE.

The goal was to build relationships with the community, by holding a neighbor BBQ and passing out flyers to all neighbors and various other organizations, ie. police, fire department, EMS, Chamber of Commerce, inviting all to stop by for a burger or hot dogs. They were surprised and delighted at who responded, especially the children in neighborhoods around the church.

A pillowcase ministry to reach out to the Watonga community, the pillowcases were distributed to tribal members. It has a prayer/song that was printed on the pillowcase in both English/Cheyenne.

While almost every child is comfortable in a conversation, they might feel like they don’t have the right words to talk to God. It is so important that we encourage kids to pray.

For Darrel James, a Whirlwind Oakerhater Episcopal Church member in Watonga, he hoped a Pillowcase Prayer will give them tools and language for prayer to help ease the awkwardness.

“I want our congregation, and particularly the kids, to understand the importance of prayer,” said James. “This project will help them share what they have learned with family and friends, where they can help create a prayerful tribal community.”

All Saints applied for a $500 Diocesan Vitality Grant for the purpose of community partnership around St. Francis Blessing of the Animals.

In October 2023, they held a pet blessing in the green space around their church and partnered with the local PAWS program (Partners for Animal Welfare Society). Their team of volunteers and doctors brought over 160 rabies vaccinations for dogs and cats, and they used every dose in their cooler.

With the Vitality Grant All Saints purchased 50 small bags of dog food, 30 bags of cat food, toys, treats, leashes, and collars for 50 dogs and cats. They also partnered with a local food truck who offered delicious Mexican food on a chilly and windy day!

The Rev. Janie Koch, Vicar of All Saints shared her appreciation for the grant, "Thank you so much for offering these grants to the Oklahoma parishes; the ability to bring ministry ideas forward into our communities offers such energy and good will in our communities."