Outreach Ministry

St. Mark's provides both monetary and volunteer support to many outreach ministries. Over 10% of our general budget is dedicated to benevolence giving.  Programs supported include the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod of the ELCA, Lutheran Community Services, SPEAR program, Pacific Lutheran University, Lutheran Campus Ministry at Eastern Washington University, Lutherhaven, Holden Village and St. Mark's Feeds People programs (see below). 

In addition St. Mark's responds to specific needs with special offerings including ELCA disaster relief, World Hunger, poor box contribution, support for youth mission projects and support for St. Mark's Feeds People programs.  

"St. Mark's Feed's People" was launched in January 2009 with a mission of addressing hunger in our community. We continue this mission by providing support (both in volunteer hours, monetary donations and food/supplies) to:


      Bite2Go Student Weekend Food Program - Click here to make a donation


      Crosswalk for Teens - The fourth Thursday of every month we provide food to the homeless downtown
                                        youth through Volunteers of America’s Crosswalk program. Signup sheets are
                                        passed around on Sunday morning. They are happy to get anything from home
                                        baked cookies, gallons of milk, sandwich fixings, to fruit. Feel free to bring items
                                        even if you haven’t signed up. 


     SPEAR neighborhood program - SPEAR (Supporting People through Education, Arts, and Recreation), this
                                                          program supports some of the youth in the East Central neighborhood
                                                          of Spokane. Click here to see a short (five minute) YouTube documentary
                                                          about SPEAR, which St. Mark's is extremely involved in  on many levels.


     Mozambique School Lunch - The Mozambique School Lunch Initiative is a non-profit organization that                                                             invests in community-owned school lunch programs to improve child nutrition                                                       and stimulate agricultural development. It was started by two St. Mark's                                                               church members, Cara Myers and Dr. Paul Myers. Click here to read their
                                                   latest newsletter and learn more about this worthwhile program.



     Second Harvest Food Bank


     Dining With Dignity (Shalom Ministries)


Our goal is a congregational participation rate of 80% in one of the following ways:

  • Donations of money, non-perishable food or household and hygiene items
  • Commitment of volunteer hours to help prepare and serve meals
  • Youth commitment of volunteer hours to food programs to fulfill high school graduation requirement of community service
  • Youth commitment to food drive for Second Harvest