Local Churches Unite Outreach Efforts for Saint Patrick’s Day 2015

It’s well known that Saint Patrick’s Day is a popular holiday in Oneonta, New York. Every year, green-wearing revelers flock to the city’s downtown bars, many beginning their day of corn beef and Guinness before noon. Following in the footsteps of Saint Patrick himself, Oneonta churches are celebrating the day by being missionaries to their own town, and even Ireland too.

Three is an important number for Saint Patrick’s Day. Patrick used a three-leaf clover to explain the Trinity to the Irish, and now three local churches are teaming up to reach Oneonta with God’s love on the annual day celebrating the 5th Century missionary. In a display of church unity, two student groups, BASIC from Community Gospel Church and Campus Ambassadors from Main Street Baptist Church, will team up with a third church, The RedemptionMovement, to share the good news of the Gospel.

Campus Ambassadors & BASIC to Share God’s Love and Hot Cocoa

Beginning in the early part of the evening, a team from CA will set up tables in front of their church at the corner of Main and Maple Streets. A team from BASIC will join them to give away hot cocoa, bottled water, and if needed, blankets. This church corner happens to be a busy OPT bus stop that’s a popular pick up spot for college students on the weekends.

CA students prepping some cocoa.

Last semester, CA leader Peter Eklund launched this cocoa outreach ministry and his group has been doing it regularly on Friday nights. Peter is encouraged by how well the act of kindness has been received, especially, “When people who we’ve served before come around the corner, see us, and shout, ‘You’re here!’ It’s become a great way to introduce ourselves and build relationships with the students.” With the large amount of students expected to be out on St. Patrick’s Day, Peter plans on keeping the tables open until the buses quit running after 2am.

The Redemption Movement to Offer Free Rides Home

St. Pat's Day 2013, Ride #1

For bargoers living off the bus route, or for those who might be too out of it to make it to the bus stop, another church, The Redemption Movement, will be giving free rides home to anybody who needs it or wants it. Pastor Kaler Carpenter has been using his car to shuttle Oneonta’s bargoers home as a church act of kindness for nearly two years now, giving 650 people rides home to date. Saint Patrick’s Day marks a special day for his church’s free ride outreach; it was on Saint Patrick’s Day 2013 when Kaler and his wife Laura first parked their car on Water Street to do the AoK. Two years later and the free ride service has become one of The Redemption Movement’s most well-known ministries, with plenty of “stories from the road” which Carpenter posts on the church blog.

For St. Patrick’s day, The Redemption Movement’s free ride car (affectionately referred to by students as "The Jesus Cab"), will be hitting the streets at 8pm (2 hours earlier than normal), and, as is their custom, they will provide rides until there’s no longer a need for one. To find The Redemption Movement’s car for a ride, keep your eyes peeled in front of Tino’sPizza and The Red Jug Pub on Main St. in order to spot Carpenter and a volunteer standing outside, holding signs promoting the free service. Or, be on the lookout for their car while you’re out and about and flag it down for a ride. You can also find the car’s current location and contact them for a ride using #OneontaRides on Twitter.

BASIC's van giving free rides, Fall 2013.

For the past two years Carpenter has labored to improve the free ride service, and he’s particularly excited about the potentially-high number of rides that could be given and people blessed on the busy holiday. “There will definitely be a need for the free ride service on Saint Patrick’s Day,” Carpenter says, “And it’s my hope that, by now, word has gotten out about who we are and what we do so that someone who really needs the ride will trust us enough to take us up on our offer.” 
*Update 3-17
Good News. We just got word that Campus Ambassadors gave the green light to lend a van and driver to assist with giving free rides tonight! This means we'll have two vehicles on the road getting people home safe!

St. James Youth Goes to Ireland

Susquehanna Deanery Youth

Yet another church, St. James Episcopal Church, is participating in Saint Patrick’s Day missionary efforts, only on a completely different level as they host a dinner at their parish hall in order to fundraise for a youth missions trip, to, of all places, Ireland.

The dinner will take place on the Sunday before Saint Patrick’s Day (March 15th) in the church’s Parish Hall at 305 Main Street. A traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal will be served consisting of corn beef and cabbage, along with live Irish music. The price of the meal will be $8 for adults, $5 for children 3-5, and free for children under three. The church plans on serving dinner from 4pm-to-7pm, with take-outs starting at 3:30.

With a total of 4 Oneonta churches participating in Saint Patrick’s Day missionary activities, this year’s St. Patrick’s Day promises to be a compassionate, safe, generous, and love-filled holiday for Oneonta. Bishop Patrick would be proud.

Would you like to help with any of these outreach activities to bless Oneonta on this big day? Is your Oneonta church doing any Saint Patrick’s Day activities that you would like to see added to this article? Feel free to contact us.