The primary goal of the A.R.T. is to continue to deepen and widen our engagement with stakeholders and parishioners through prayer, conversation and mutual learning which will aid in the incorporation of anti-racist, multicultural principles throughout all parts of Trinity Church. This is in service of supporting the work of so many ministries and the Task Force on Reparations that are working towards becoming a beloved community as well. What is unique about the ART is that our ministry was created to focus inward, to examine how Trinity functions as an institution. In current vernacular, we try to identify institutional racism and transform it at Trinity, but this cannot be accomplished in isolation; our work relies on partnerships as well as the ART focusing on internalized racism, interpersonal racism and systemic racism.  

Catie’s Closet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides clothes, toiletries, and other basic essentials to students living in poverty within their schools. Free “stores” managed by volunteers, are set up in schools, giving children direct access to everything they need to attend class confidently. 

Volunteer responsibilities are to: manage a clean and organized space; visit the closet once a week to tidy up, put away reorders and check in with school staff directly accessing the closet (counselors, school nurse); maintain email communication with school staff and Catie’s Closet; manage special orders for items that are not usually stocked in the closet (sneakers, baby clothes, special sizes). Special orders are placed by school staff members for current students or entire families of current students experiencing displacement. 

Bread & Blessings is a ministry that gathers weekly around food and fellowship. The ministry serves our neighbors confronting food and housing insecurity by preparing bag lunches for two community partners, Boston Warm and On the Rise. The Boston Warm day shelter at Emmanuel Church provides respite, rest, and recreation for people in search of jobs and housing. On the Rise is a Cambridge-based shelter serving women and transgender/non-binary individuals.

Bread & Blessings meets each Friday morning at 9 am in the Trinity kitchen, requires no pre-registration, and lasts less than an hour. It is a perfect introduction for anyone exploring ministries of outreach & justice for the first time, and its friendly fellowship offers a welcoming space for newcomers to meet members of the community.

Through a unique mentoring model, Partakers supports the education and advancement of incarcerated women and men and Returning Citizens. Within this transformative experience Partakers also bridges the divide that separates people impacted by incarceration with those outside of the carceral system. Through its College Behind Bars Mentoring Program, Partakers provides vital mentoring support to incarcerated students. Partakers Mentors not only help to enhance skills critical to completing academic and degree programs, but also provide life-changing support networks while building long-term vital and trusting personal relationships.  

The Partakers Empowerment Program (PEP) is a Mentor-centered reentry program that supports formerly incarcerated and soon-to-be-released individuals as they return to their communities. PEP participants will be paired with Mentors who provide the critical support and personal connection essential to navigating the challenges of reentry. Several Trinity parishioners currently participate in an existing Partakers program (“College Behind Bars”), and you can join them in this transformative ministry! A minimal time commitment of 2 hours per week for 14 weeks over Zoom is required. Click here to Contact Ministry leader Pam Warren for details via the form.

Creation Justice affirms that God in Christ loves, redeems, and sustains the whole of Creation, not only human beings.  In 2021 the Episcopal bishops of Massachusetts declared a climate emergency and called on all “as faithful individuals and as a church” to pray, learn, act, and advocate in behalf of God’s beloved world.  We celebrate the glories of nature even as we mourn and repent and resist the greed and degradation that threaten “this fragile earth, our island home,” and especially, our most vulnerable sisters and brothers worldwide.  This ministry seeks allies at Trinity, among Boston faith and secular groups, as well as other congregations with us on the Episcopal Path to Creation Justice. We work faithfully throughout the Church Year, with particular focus at Advent, Lent, and the September Season of Creation.   cf.  https://www.episcopalcreationpath.org/.  

The delegate to Episcopal City Mission serves as a channel of communication between the ministry of the Episcopal City Mission (ECM) and Trinity Church,  ensures the clergy and the staff are informed of the work of ECM through printed and spoken announcements, encourages parish participation in ECM’s annual meeting, and encourages parish support of and engagement with ECM’s social/economic justice mission (hands-on as well as financial).  

The Habitat for Humanity/Trinity Builders Ministry has been in existence at Trinity since at least 2002. It was named Trinity Builders because in addition to Habitat for Humanity workdays, an earlier iteration of the ministry also participated in non-Habitat work, e.g., helping to paint the inside of the repaired home of a parishioner after substantial fire damage, working with other church groups on community restoration projects, etc. The current incarnation of this ministry was resurrected in 2016 after a hiatus of several years and has worked only with Habitat for Humanity.  Trinity partners with Habitat for Humanity We seek to continue the Trinity tradition of aiding members of the broader Boston community who are striving to provide a home and safe shelter for their families. In addition to the blessing of helping our brothers and sisters siblings in the community build their homes, it is also the opportunity for Trinity parishioners to fellowship with one another and build friendships and community. 

Each Sunday, the Trinity community gathers around God’s table to be nourished by the sacrament of the eucharist. Through the ministry of Table to Table, Trinity parishioners venture from God’s table to the tables of our non-profit community partners, where they prepare and serve meals to our neighbors confronting food and housing insecurity. The calendar of service opportunities can be found here. 

Our Table to Table ministry partners include

• Victory Programs’ Boston Living Center: A welcoming community where people impacted by HIV/AIDS, chronic health conditions, food insecurity, and social isolation can find nourishment, support, and pathways to better health and well-being. The BLC combines nutrition, peer support, wellness programming, and trusted care navigation under one roof.
• Rosie’s Place: The first dedicated women’s shelter founded in the United States, Rosie’s Place is a multi-service community center that offers women emergency shelter and meals, and so much more: a food pantry, ESOL classes, legal assistance, wellness care, one-on-one support, housing and job search services, and community outreach.
• Pine Street Inn: The largest homeless services provider in New England, Pine Street Inn provides a broad spectrum of essential services to support chronically homeless individuals in moving from the trauma of long-term homelessness to the stability and hope of supportive housing.
• Women’s Lunch Place: Through its day shelter, open six days a week, Women’s Lunch Place provides a safe and welcoming community for women in need. Guests are offered two hot meals a day, a take away meal, advocacy, housing assistance, medical care, hot showers, and laundry.

The mission of Trinity Neighbors is to live into the biblical calling to extend hospitality and provide welcome to the stranger. Our work focuses specifically on immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers and those who have fled their homeland for fear of danger and persecution. Recognizing our privilege of living in the wealthiest, most resourced country on earth, we are compelled to share from our abundance to help the stranger to find safety and abundant life as our neighbors. Our ministry partners closely with community non-profits who specialize in this work, including the International Institute for New England, one of the oldest and largest social service organizations for new Americans in the region.