The purpose of the St. Francis Project is to bring the hope, healing, compassion, forgiveness and joy of the kingdom of God to a world broken by despair, suffering, anger and need.
The St. Francis Outreach Project was started by Trinity Episcopal Church in 2008. It was a commitment to raise and give back $1,000,000 to our communities over a ten year period. The monies were given out through grants, whose criteria were based on the Prayer of St. Francis. Trinity’s ten-year commitment ended in 2019 and three local churches joined with Trinity to extend this ministry another three years. These churches are First Presbyterian Church of Florence, First United Methodist Church of Florence and St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. The goal each year is $50,000 with a single grant cycle, whose due date has been moved to June 30th. Guidelines and applications are available on this website. Due to the pandemic, for 2021 we have only $30,000 to give away and we are asking requests to be $2,000 or less.
Through these grants, the St. Francis Project has helped to fund addiction ministries and non-profits, provided professional counseling for rape and abuse victims, developed Florence based medical services for AID’s patients, provided Hospice services for those who cannot pay, given daycare and summer scholarships at the YMCA, developed an emergency fund for homeless children in the Florence City Schools, provided anger management counseling at the Florence City jail, fed and clothed those in need. It has sent a Fourth Grade class on a field trip to the McWane Center in Birmingham, sent troubled youth to their first professional baseball game, bought desks for a sixth-grade teacher in Waterloo and provided training for school resource officers to recognize child abuse. It built the new playground at the Salvation Army and helped to activate the alarm system in their new housing unit. Since its first grant cycle in 2009, Funds have been distributed to 101 different agencies, ministries and individuals in the Shoals area.
The fund is supported by fundraisers and financial gifts throughout the year and administrated by a 12 member board of directors, representative of our four churches. If you would like to make a donation to this ministry, please make checks payable to The St. Francis Project and mail to P.O. Box M, Florence, AL 35631. All gifts are tax-deductible.