Two new Jubilee Centers announced

By Sharon Rasmussen, communications officer

In his introduction of Jubilee Ministries at the convention, Bishop Charles vonRosenberg said, “To be designated as a Jubilee Center is to be recognized as a special outreach ministry. Each Jubilee Center is engaged in mission and ministry with the poor and the oppressed, and each center must demonstrate four major aspects of Jubilee Ministry: advocacy, empowerment, evangelism and outreach.”

Diocesan Jubilee Officer the Rev. Wade Frye announced the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church had approved two new Jubilee Centers in the diocese: the Mountain Women’s Exchange in Jellico, which is sponsored by St. Clare-LaFollette, and the Child-Parent Resource Center in Duff, Tenn., sponsored by St. Francis-Norris.

The center in Jellico focuses on meeting the needs of lower income people who reside within a 50-mile radius. It offers tutoring classes, a computer lab, a children’s theater and feeding programs. The center in Duff focuses on education and jobs. It tutors young students, has a computer lab and offers a preschool center, summer programs and a drug and alcohol program.

In a later conversation, Frye explained that the Diocese of East Tennessee joined the worldwide Jubilee network just last year with its first five centers; the program was mandated by the General Convention in 1982.

In order for the Executive Council to designate a ministry as a Jubilee Center, he said, the ministry must have a strong link to the church and a parish sponsor. Frye said he visits a site and helps representatives complete a 5-page formal application, which the bishop reviews. Someone outside the diocese, such as a Jubilee officer from another diocese or a national Jubilee representative then visits. Then the Executive Council reviews the application and approves or denies it.

Frye said approval gains recognition of a ministry’s efforts by the national church, networking opportunities with the other 800-some Jubilee Centers worldwide and better access to grant money from United Thank Offering and Episcopal Relief and Development.

The new centers join five others in this diocese:

1. The Chattanooga Community Kitchen. In its 21st year of a ministry that receives both ecumenical and corporate support in Hamilton County, the Kitchen seeks to serve physical, social and spiritual needs of the homeless and less fortunate. It provides an average of 265 daily meals; medical services in conjunction with Hamilton County Health Dept.; a bread store; recycling center; and a shelter that offers housing for displaced women and men. St. Timothy-Signal Mountain sponsored the Kitchen’s application, and most Chattanooga-area Episcopal parishes support its ministries.

2. Esperanza del Barrio. This outreach of the Chattanooga-area Salvation Army has the support of many area Episcopal parishes. It was sponsored for Jubilee status by the diocese and the Episcopal Commission of Southeast Tennessee. Its focus is the area’s Hispanic community through provision of English-language and computer-skills instruction; assistance with immigration matters, food, shelter and jobs; and efforts to empower Hispanic people.

3. St. Elmo Reading and Tutoring Center. This ministry in Chattanooga began as an outreach of Thankful Memorial Church. It offers afternoon reading sessions to an average of 25 children per week.

4. St. James parish. The only area parish to be designated a Jubilee Center, St. James ministers to its Knoxville neighborhood through feeding ministries, aid to the homeless, and provision of firewood and clothing.

5. Volunteer Ministries. This downtown Knoxville center is an ecumenical effort sponsored in its application for Jubilee status by the diocese, and it receives support from many churches. The center’s primary goal is to meet the immediate needs of Knoxville’s homeless. It has a day shelter; serves meals; offers shower and laundry facilities; teaches classes; screens for health issues and offers dental services; provides counseling; and operates rent-subsidized men’s housing.