Cathedral of All Souls

Each year, All Souls awards over $50,000 in grants to local non-profit organizations through a grant application process. The grant application process opens toward the end of June or beginning of July, with grants being awarded in late October. All funded groups are invited to a Community Breakfast in November to spotlight programs and share their information.

This committee works with Children First/Communities in Schools of Buncombe County in their mission to empower and advocate for children and families in our county.

The mission of Common Threads is to make sleeping bags, drawstring backpacks and other items, as needs are identified, to improve the lives of the homeless in Asheville. Skill required is the ability to tie your own shoes. All are welcome to our meetings on the 2nd and 5th Thursdays of each month in Zabriskie Hall. Visitors and the curious are always welcome.

The mission and function of our volunteers is to instill in Pre-K children a respect and love of books at an early age and to give each child individual attention by having a reader per child. Early Reading Connection reaches children in the Head Start Program at W. Estes Elementary School. We also purchase two books for each child in the class to take home during each school year. Since we are the sole provider of books for the Head Start classroom, we contribute a number of new books with the funding we receive from All Souls and our volunteers.

The Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) is a national organization connecting all who seek a deliberate response to injustice and violence and want to pray, study and take action for justice and peace in our communities, our church, and the world. We are called to do justice, dismantle violence, and strive to be peacemakers. The Asheville chapter regularly meets at All Souls and organizes a semi-annual food drive (our Blue Bag Food Drive) for local non-profit organizations.

Loving Food Resources (LFR) is a volunteer-driven food pantry for people living with HIV/AIDS or who are in home hospice care with any condition.

Founded in 1990, LFR’s first home was at All Souls in the balcony of Zabriskie Hall. Deacon Joan Marshall was one of the founding individuals. Several parishioners played supportive roles during the early days and, even now, All Souls contributes food donations, awards Food Booth Outreach grants, and provides a regular team of volunteers and board members at LFR.

This self-select food pantry is designed like a small grocery store so that clients “shop” for their food and personal care needs rather than picking up a pre-packed box of food. LFR is open on Saturdays only from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., but volunteers are needed for roles beyond assisting during shopping hours. Participating as committee members in planning for the nonprofit’s future is a continuous need, as well as assistance in office chores and materials production.

Koinonia is a biblical word referring to human communion, to mutual human participation and engagement. All Souls has been engaged for over a year in a season of discernment and listening, and after our process of listening to community groups, engaging with issues in our area, and carefully discerning our path forward as a congregation, you the All Souls community and the Holy Spirit have revealed the work to which we are called: racial and economic equity.

This endeavor will stretch across a wide range of areas, including housing, jobs, education, early childhood development, children’s advocacy, domestic violence, and beyond. There will be short-term issues which we are ready to confront now, and there will be some longer-term endeavors which will span years and perhaps even generations as we prepare to unwind some of the systemic issues of the past. To this end, we have hired The Rev. Naomi Tutu as our Cathedral Missioner for Racial and Economic Reconciliation, a position which she will begin on Sunday, November 4, 2018.

Missioner: The Rev. Naomi Tutu

Steering Group Chair: Jason Chambers

Visit the Koinonia Website

Room in the Inn (RITI) is an outgrowth of Homeward Bound WNC, which partners with over 35 local faith communities to provide shelter for up to 12 women each night. Each week, a different congregation opens its facilities to welcome the women as guests, offering meals and a warm safe place for them as they work hard to move forward to permanent housing.

RITI is celebrated 4 times a year at All Souls in partnership with the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It takes coordination of overnight hosts, cooks, lunch folks, setup/take down, drivers – an average 278 hours by 54 people per week.

Coordinators: Pat Douglas, Malcolm Douglas, Amanda Maxwell