Mission and Fund-raising

St Catherine's has a strong tradition of helping others. We strive to follow Christ's example by sharing our gifts with those in the local community and the world whom it is so easy to forget or neglect: the poor, the widowed, the oppressed and the destitute.

In addition to ongoing support for the nominated charities listed below St Catherine's has also supported individuals and one off projects, such as a donation of prayer books to an Anglican diocese in Uganda.

Our main fund-raising event is the St. Catherine's Bazaar.

Schwäbische Tafel

Schwäbische Tafel is a local food bank operation which provides provisions for those on low-incomes. This ecumenical project provides services to over 2000 people in the immediate Stuttgart area by offering grocery items at nominal costs. St Catherine's designates specific Sundays for the collection of goods to be donated to Schwäbische Tafel.

The last collection for Schwäbische Tafel took place on Sunday 30th August at our Kindertag Service.
The children eagerly ran backwards and forwards bringing up food donations to be blessed at the altar and the adults eagerly dipped in their wallets. Along with boxes of food stuffs, over 500 Euro was collected for this valuable cause.

Romanian Orphans

For a few years now members of St Catherine's have taken part in Christmas shoebox programmes that bring joy, hope and news of God's love to children in desperate situations around the world. Shoe boxes are filled with small items such as toys, hats, mittens, stationery, toiletries, then wrapped in Christmas paper and collected at church. In 2007 and 2008 we supported a scheme to send Shoe Boxes to a Romanian Orphanage. In 2009 we will be holding a toy service on Sunday 6th December and children are invited to bring new or nearly-new toys to church. These will be brought to the altar, blessed and sent to the Romanian Orphanage and other good causes.

Indian Widows

The Indian Widow's Project is spearheaded by Vindhya Prakash, the wife of the former Chaplain of St Catherine’s. One hundred percent of the money raised for this project goes directly to support a group of Indian Widows in Andhva Pradeh, India. Widows in India frequently suffer isolation, ostracism and rejection due to the persistence of the belief that the wife is in some way responsible for the demise of her husband.

The Indian Widows project currently supports 20 women and their 13 children, helping provide funds to support their development of an area of land next to their church where they live and work, providing some independence and stability in their lives.

Café Strich Punkt

The Café Strich Punkt provides a safe place and counseling centre for young men facing problems of any kind. It especially offers support in coping with everyday life for male prostitutes, also known as "Stricher" in German, who live on the fringes of society to an even greater extent than female prostitutes. Their lives are marked by discrimination, contempt of the society at large, violence, neglect and often addiction problems. Between 300 and 600 young men engage in prostitution in Stuttgart. Most of them do it in order to earn enough to live on and/or support their drug addiction.

St Catherine's supports the Old Catholic Church and the AIDS-Hilfe organization in Stuttgart in their work caring for these young men in a spirit of Christian charity through both the Café Strich Punkt and through street work. Café Strich Punkt offers anonymous advice and support, a safe haven out of public view, free food and drink, cooking and washing facilities and accompaniment to welfare and other government and medical offices. The Café's purpose is to communicate to these young men that they are not alone, to promote tolerance of different lifestyles and most importantly to help them escape from prostitution. Intensive support is given on an individual basis regardless of race, religion, nationality or sexual identity.