Feeding God's People Spiritually and Physically

St. Alban's has always been involved in our neighborhood and in the city in a variety of outreach programs and projects, responding to and serving the needs of our own parishioners and of those seeking spiritual and physical nourishment.

Fifty years ago our parishioners started the St. Alban's Little League (SALL) for our own children, and that program has changed into a community program that serves children throughout the city.  SALL now serves mostly African American children ages 6-14 who come from all over Marion County to participate in a Spring baseball program.  In 2008 SALL had 175 participants-- down from previous years because of a lack of coaches.  SALL particularly emphasizes sportsmanship and team commitment.  And in 2008 SALL was chosen as only one of three leagues in Indiana to participate in the Urban Initiative for Little Leagues and one of our teams traveled to Pennsylvania to participate in championship playoffs.
(stalbansll@gmail.com )

Until 2004 St. Alban's had an on-site food pantry in our building serving 200 families and offering foodstuffs to other pantries in the area.  That pantry no longer exists but we do support food ministries throughout the city through food drives and through the collection of money which is distributed to Dayspring (housing for homeless families), Damien Center (for people and their families affected by HIV/AIDS), Horizon House (a homeless day center), and Forect Manor Multi-Service Center (our neighborhood center for social outreach).
(www.dayspringindy.org, www.damien.org, www.horizonhouse.cc, www.fmmsc.org) 

In addition, our members prepare dinner once a month for the residents of Craine House, a home where women (who are still incarcerated) can serve out the remainder of their sentence and be united and live with their children who are under the age of 6.  (www.crainehouse.org )

Our priest, Walter Sherman, in cooperation with the Forest Manor Multi-Service Center, distributed more than $4000 from his discretionary fund, to those in need who came to our doors.

We collect used prescription bottles which are distributed by medical missionaries so that those served by the missionaries have something other than leaves and rags to transport their medications. 
(Matthew 25 Ministries:  www.m25m.org )

St. Alban's is committed to our environment and eschews the use of disposable cups and plates in favor of using china and silver for our parish events.

We also collect hotel samples which we offer to shelters for their clients.

St. Alban's has a special relationship with Indianapolis Public School #83.  Several of our members serve as tutors or mentors there weekly, and in cooperation with the Forest Manor Multi-Service Center, we work with families at IPS #83 to provide Christmas gifts and school supplies and uniforms at the beginning of the school year.

This year for Mardi Gras, our meal was a Brazilian feast and the surplus donations for the meal were offered to our companion Diocese of Brasilia in Brazil. 

Several different Twelve Step groups use our facilities weekly and we also host dinners and training meetings for District 23 of AA.  We host the longest meeting AA group for  gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in Indianapolis-- now meeting for more than 30 years.

Finally, our facilities are used by Freetown Village for several different aspects of their programming.  Freetown Village is a not-for-profit living history project to educate the public about African American lives and culture in Indiana.  Their children's choir rehearses here and they sponsor an eight-week summer camp which we host in our building.


 Spiritual Nurture