Christians in Action

Our Mission:
Believing that we cannot proclaim a gospel we do not live, we dedicate our activities to promoting the welfare of those in need of comfort, shelter and food and, through education and action, to working for justice and peace.
 
CIA Prayer:
Dear Lord, you are the light that brings us together. We thank you for the gifts that you have given each of us to do your work. Help us to remember our blessings and to recognize the needs of your people. Grant that our minds and hearts are open to your will and give us the wisdom to know how we can serve you. In the spirit of St. Clare, may we respond with charity and love. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
 
Meetings:
CIA members (below) invite you to join us as we meet the second Tuesday of each month, from 7-8 p.m. Contact Gordon at 832-580-8006 for information.


General Information:
CIA is accepting calls for emergency outreach assistance and is working with Interfaith Caring Ministries to assist those in need. If you know of anyone in local zip codes 77058, 77059, 77062, 77565, 77573, 77586 and 77598 who needs short-term, critical help with rent or utilities, please have them leave a message at 713-530-7452, from Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon. Volunteers will return calls and offer help as available.

Please complete and submit one of these forms.

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CIA members and other parishioners continue to feed the local homeless in partnership with local charity The Mercy Tree. Volunteers bring prepared food from a specific menu to TMT workers, who then box lunches for recipients. In addition, on a second day each month, CIA uses donations to purchase boxed lunches for TMT clients. For information on St. Clare’s participation, contact Nancy at 281-286-4548.
 
Projects/Events: October-December
CIA will sponsor a Desserts for Donations fundraiser at the Knights of Columbus BBQ dinner on Oct.11. Donations will help fund Bay Area Meals on Wheels, a non-profit, volunteer group that delivers nutritionally balanced meals to frail shut ins in the Clear Lake area. We hope to see you in the Family Life Center, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Please remember to bring cash or check for CIA fundraisers. 
 
Two parish-wide Thanksgiving Projects that help feed the poor will begin with CIA volunteers handing out grocery lists and signing up senior sponsors in the Narthex after all masses Oct. 25-26. Parishioners will be able to adopt local senior citizens in need in the Thanksgiving Adopt-a-Senior Project. Recipients are frail, shut-in clients of Interfaith Caring Ministries. Food for this project should be boxed, marked with the recipient’s name and number, and brought to the circle driveway in front of the Narthex on Sunday, Nov. 16, between 2-4 pm. Volunteers will be available to unload your vehicle. If you have questions, please call Marla at 281-755-5115. Donations for the second project, the Thanksgiving Food Drive, will be shared by the Galveston County Food Bank and Clear Lake Food Pantry. Food lists for that project will be distributed to parishioners after masses on Oct. 18-19 and posted on the CIA Bulletin Board in the hallway to the Conference Center. Donations should be turned in at the large, marked plastic bin and the Food Basket in that hallway before 11 a.m. mass on Nov. 16. Food will be sorted and boxed Nov. 15-16. Questions? Contact Kathy at 713-725-7888. Your generous donations go to feed the local hungry. Thanks for your participation.
 
The Spirit of Christmas Project helps you share Christmas blessings with the underprivileged from two organizations, Casa Juan Diego and Hope Active. Local Catholic shelter CJD helps with basic care—food, housing and medical care. You can make Christmas special by giving gifts many of us consider ordinary. Jeans, underwear, t-shirts and sweatshirts can make all the difference to poor families served by Casa Juan Diego. Hope Active helps at-risk students in Clear Lake Independent School District. Parishioners may choose to fully adopt the wishes of a single child or select specific single gifts to purchase from the “Angel Tree.” CIA members will be in the Narthex on weekends with information on how you can participate. Gifts are due Dec. 7 and will be delivered to both organizations. If you prefer to purchase online and ship directly to the organization, that option is available for CJD. For more information, please read the CIA column in the weekend Bulletin beginning 11/16/25 or visit the CIA Bulletin Board in the Conference Center hallway. Questions? Contact Alma at 832-620-3467 (CJD) or Darlene at 281-744-9351 (Hope Active.) (A very early) Merry Christmas to you all!
 
Participating in the Card Collection Project is another way to share your Christmas cheer. From Nov. 16 through Dec. 7, CIA will collect donations of new, unused Christmas cards for the use of the Seafarer's Center of Galveston, St Dominic Village in Houston and Parsons House in La Porte. Please put donations in the drawers marked “greeting cards” in the wooden CIA collection cabinet in the hallway to the Conference Center or, closer to December, in the decorated box atop that cabinet. Thanks for your generosity.
 
Recent Efforts:
Thanks for making the School Supplies Drive a success. You gave 76 boxes of school supplies to help children in need. Your gifts helped ensure that children from underprivileged families who attend Our Lady of Fatima (Texas City), and Our Lady of Lourdes (Hitchcock) Catholic schools had a good start to their education year. Thanks for your participation.
 
In August, CIA sponsored a Desserts for Donations fundraiser at a Knights of Columbus BBQ dinner. Donations went to the Christian Renewal Center in Dickinson for their renovation efforts. Thanks for your support. 
 
Thank You So Much:
St Clare’s Christians In Action members gratefully thank all parishioners for your support of our outreach efforts in 2024. Your caring and generous response to these activities ensured that St. Clare parishioners assisted some of those most in need in our community. With your support, CIA was able to:

• Give critical, emergency financial assistance for rent and utilities to nearly 290 clients, for a total of almost $81,000, 
• Provide lunch (and needed personal supplies) for homeless clients of The Mercy Tree 20 times during the year,
• Surprise 100 senior Meals-on-Wheels clients with Valentine treat bags, 
• Donate nearly 250 boxes of toiletries and other needed supplies to clients of Casa Juan Diego in the Lenten Box Project,
• Support our hospitalized veterans with donations of 24 boxes of clothing and toiletries and $400 in gift cards,
• Offer solid support to underprivileged children at two schools, by giving 58 boxes of donations in the summer School Supplies Drive,
• Supply 130 boxes of food to the local hungry served by Galveston County Food Bank and CL Food Pantry in the Thanksgiving Food Drive,
• Support food needs of 44 local senior citizens in the Thanksgiving Adopt-a-Senior Project,
• Share Christmas blessings and gifts with numerous clients of Houston shelter Casa Juan Diego and many at-risk CCISD students in the Spirit of Christmas Project,
• Offer more than 3,600 free greeting cards year-round for the use of inmates at nearby Carol S. Young Prison,
• Support CIA’s emergency outreach fund and other worthy charities through donations of more than $4,600 at Desserts for Donations fundraisers, and 
• Provide ongoing food donations to the St. Bernadette and Clear Lake food pantries and recycle used eyeglasses and postage stamps to assist non-profit groups.

 
Ongoing Support:
Because parishioner contributions to CIA’s monthly envelope pay for nearly all of CIA’s financial emergency outreach assistance to the needy, we humbly request your continued support. To donate, please use your monthly envelope entitled CIA Aid to the Poor and Needy. It is collected the fourth weekend of each month. If you don’t have an envelope, just note “for CIA” at lower left on your check. Thank you for making a difference to those in need.
 
Link your Kroger Plus Card to KM540 and St. Clare’s Christians In Action will earn money to help clients who need emergency outreach assistance. Link your card only once, either at a store customer desk or by visiting www.Kroger.com.
 
 
If you have questions, please call Gordon at 832-580-8006.
 
 
 

updated 10.14.25/jwk