And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:40
The Sacred Heart Social Justice Committee meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 11:00 am, from September through May. We invite you to join us for our meetings to get involved with one or more of our activities. You may also contact us through the church office. We can always use more helping hands! Our current activities include:
Little Free Library – Sacred Heart sponsors a Little Free Library that is located at Smithville Park at 8340 River Rd SE in Southport. It is adjacent to the playground at the park. If you’d like to donate new or used children’s books (ages 0-8), please look for the bin located in the church’s common area.
Monthly Hospice Lunch – Each month, we provide lunch for patients and their families at the Lower Cape Fear Lifecare’s SECU Hospice House of Brunswick in Bolivia. The families are so appreciative! If you’d like to help, we provide sandwiches, fruit and dessert each month for 12 people. Contact Lee Maxwell through the church office.
Annual Blood Drive – Each year in May, the Social Justice Committee holds a blood drive – our last drive was on Friday, May 10, 2024. If you’d like to help with the set up or administration of the next event – please contact Jenna Spell through the church office.
Backpack Drive for Matthew’s Ministry – Each year, Sacred Heart parishioners fill 300+ backpacks with food items requested from Matthew’s Ministry, which provides Brunswick County students who are children of the “working poor” (school social workers usually identify these children) with a backpack full of food each Friday. If you’d like to help, please contact Shirleyan McHale through the church office. 
FOOD ITEMS FOR THE BACKPACK * NO GLASS ITEMS *
Diocese of Raleigh Toiletries Drive for the hard-working migrant workers that produce our food here in North Carolina, who attend the Diocese’s Migrant Worker Encounter event, usually held in August. We collect the toiletries during the month of July. Look for detailed information in the church bulletin during the summer.
The Social Justice Committee also looks for ways to help the poor – examples are:
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- Support for WARM (Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry)
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- SOIICF Hunger Walk
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- Protection of the environment (i.e. supplying reusable grocery bags to parishioners, or partnering with other churches on safe electronics disposal, etc.)
Do you have other ideas to help those in our community? Please join us at our monthly meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.
SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: PURPOSE AND STRATEGIES
The Social Justice Committee provides education on Catholic Social Teaching and based on those teachings, organizes activities to address long-term problems in our community. It does this by:
Organizing educational programs and initiatives, e.g., Seminars on Laudato Si, Care for God’s Creation, immigration reform; Fact Sheet on Poverty, Hunger and Homelessness in Brunswick County; recycling program at Sacred Heart.
Developing programs and activities to address issues in our community, e.g., Resource Fair, support for the Food Pantry, Adopt-a-Backpack program to support of Matthew’s Ministry; support for home repair, WARM; sheltering the homeless for one week in winter – with Street Reach and SOIICF churches. Advocacy, e.g., for reducing homelessness in Brunswick County.
Many, many thanks for the generous support!
Committee and a few other volunteers assembling Breakfast-Lunch bags for those in Winter Sheltering program last year.
2019 Southport Day of Service (a Trinity UMC event for 18 years, was expanded to include all member churches of the Southport Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship (SOIICF)
The Social Justice Committee piloted Sacred Heart’s involvement in the Service Day on Saturday April 6, 2019.
Leaders of the various projects were:
Bob Trzeciak, Knights of Columbus. and Pat Naughton, Hibernian men’s group, – the clean-up on Dosher Cut-off, Hwy 211 with the collection of debris from the roadside.
Tom Parnell, The Men’s Prayer Group and Scriptures, – the outdoor planting work for the church with plants and pots ready to go.
Ruthann Donaldson & Shelly Keenan – Ladies Guild – the church plantings, closet clean-up and special plantings for the new statue. The powder blue SHCC Tee shirts were a hit!
The Social Justice Committee meets in at Sacred Heart on the third Wednesday of the month in a designated classroom. Questions about how you can join or help our ministry… Please call the church office at 910-457-6173 for more information.