Just a few years ago, St. Joseph’s Parish, in the town of Plattsburgh, was on the decline and seeing fewer parishioners, so it joined with other Catholic Churches in Morrisonville, Cadyville, and Peru to share resources. St. Joseph’s Pastor, Father Scott Seymour, says he knew in his heart the church would need to find a new way to serve its parishioners and the greater community, and it has.
St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center held a dedication ceremony last week celebrating that new mission, that 4 years later, is flourishing, offering services to people in need in the community and throughout Clinton County. Father Scott Seymour and St. Joseph’s Outreach Program Coordinator Starr Burke join us to talk about those new services, that include a greatly expanded food pantry operated in a partnership with JCEO, a clothing thrift shop, a soup kitchen that’s feeding hundreds of people free, hot meals every week, and veterans services that include volunteers delivering hundreds of food baskets to veterans and their families in their homes.
The former church rectory next door has been renovated by volunteers into transitional housing, to help people who lose their homes to fire, abuse victims, and even offering temporary housing for asylum seekers or their families who get turned away or separated at the Northern Border.
Learn more/Services available: www.sjoutreach.org www.facebook.com/sjoutreach