St. John's Community Activities

St. John's is active in the Ashfield Community and in many projects around the world

Local Activities

Mission Activities

The Mission Committee has donated monies from the Mission Fund to the following organizations:

Camp Bement, Five Talents International, Franklin County Home Care, Hilltown Community Development, Hilltown Churches Food Pantry, NELCWIT (New England Learning Center for Women in Transition), Overlook Home Care, Thresholds, and Hope for Humanity.

Camp Bement is a summer camp program run by the diocese for children throughout the diocese. Our parish encourages kids from our parish to attend and we often give financial assistance to them.

Franklin County Home Care is in Greenfield. It is an agency devoted to helping those in need of help and care at home, many elderly but others who are disabled somehow.

Five Talents International helps the poor in many countries through the Anglican Church to build small businesses. In 2007 they began funding microcredit programs in Tanzania, Dominican Republic and Sudan, as well as ongoing programs in India, Kenya, Philippines, Peru and Uganda. " If you plant, tend and harvest your own grain, you will be very careful how you use it. But, if someone gives it to you, you can finish it in a few days", said Santino Manut, the chairman of the Lietnhorn Village Bank in southern Sudan.

The Hilltown CDC manages a fuel assistance program for needy elderly people in Franklin County, helping them to pay their ever rising fuel costs.

Overlook (Home health care) is an agency which is trying to keep alive Greenfield's Visiting Nurse Program which did wonderful work in this area. 

NELCWIT is more than a safety net for women and children who have been victims of domestic violence, or violent crime. It offers shelter, counseling and advocacy, legal advice, support groups, education and crisis intervention to those in need.

Thresholds, based in Chicago, is a leader in providing treatment, support, education and housing to those challenged with mental illness and substance abuse. They offer a growing number of programs in treating "dual diagnosis" (both substance abuse and mental illness in the same individual). They have earned national recognition for being a "Best Practice" institution in Mental Health.

Hope for Humanity sponsors Episcopal missions in various parts of the world. Our donation goes to support a mission in Southern Sudan that will be starting a school. To see its progress, the link to a blog by Jim and Mary Higbee, Episcopal missionaries, is on the church website.