St. George the Great Martyr Orthodox Church
A parish of the Orthodox Church in America
Works and constant needs of our parish

Please sign-up for the different works our parish needs. There is a list in the hall on which you will find six types of help needed each Sunday: greeter, altar server, church vacuuming, meal cooking, kitchen cleaning, and housekeeping. As you can imagine, our parish requires much more than these six general tasks on the sign-up list (beside the priestly work which is Fr. Silviu's responsability). Such as preparing the choir folders, directing the choir, singing, unlocking and locking the church and hall for different functions, baking the prosphoro, preparing the candles, ordering the things needed, managing the money, picking up the PO Box and sorting the mail, paying the bills, gardening, Sunday school teaching, website maintenance, calendar maintenance, Sunday bulletin, social media maintenance, service on the parish council, etc. And many more yet! But these other tasks are more specialized—so to say—and they are best done by people dedicated specifically to them. Let’s not have the same people also do the general tasks. We certainly cannot leave it to a handful of people to do most things in the parish, to the point that one works from 9:00am to 2:00pm on Sunday after Sunday with very rare breaks. We all must take responsibility for our parish, our heavenly home. Without exception and without excuse.

So please sign-up for a few tasks a month! With the exception of serving in the altar, no other task should take more than 20 minutes of your time per Sunday. So let’s say that I am asking each one of you personally to give the church 3 tasks a month, 60 minutes of your time per month, in easy work. At most. I trust that it is not too much. The sign-up list is in the hall, as always. Thank you!

The description of these needs

Greeter (9:45-10:00am):

  • Be in the narthix/pronaos between 9:45-10:00, greet people, welcome the guests, invite them to stay for the potluck and to ask questions of anyone, ask if they have already received a copy of the bulletin and, if they have not, give them a copy. 

Altar servers (9:50-12:00): 

  • Help Fr. Silviu in the sanctuary during the Divine Liturgy. A server has to be in the sanctuary by 9:45 in order to prepare some things in advance. 
  • Detailed instructions are posted in the sanctuary. If you have any questions about one of them, ask other servers or Fr. Silviu. 

Church vacuuming (anytime after the Divine Liturgy):

  • Vacuum the naos and the narthix/pronaos. But not the sanctuary! The vacuum is in the AC closet, by the thermostat just to the right of the side door. 

Meal cooking:

  • Prepare a main dish and maybe a desert for the potluck.
  • Set up and serve what you have prepared, on the food table. 
  • If you have served spices, sauces, etc. with the food, put them away at the end
  • Take away the food which remains and your pots/containers, everything which you have brought in. The only food which you may leave  in the fridge in the kitchen is food which does not spoil quickly and could be served the following Sunday.
  • Please be mindful that at times we have 50 people at the potluck. If a second person has signed up for the meal, please coordinate with that person so that you don’t bring the same type of food and you bring enough. 

Kitchen cleaning (after the meal):

  • Wash dishes and utensils 
  • Check food table to make sure everything is taken away (including sauces, spices, etc.) and wipe it of anything that might have spilled
  • Check coffee pots and, if they had been used, wash them
  • Check electric tea kettle and, if it has been used, wash it
  • Wipe tablecloths
  • Leave kitchen counters clean and without things on them

Housekeeping (after the meal): 

  • Toilet paper refill (the key is on bulletin board)
  • Paper towels refill (the key on bulletin board)
  • Hand soap refill
  • Make sure toilets are all flushed and faucets are not left running
  • The drink cooler restocked with water and/or soda
  • Small and large trash bins emptied, trash taken to large bins outside

Mailing Address
St. George the Great Martyr Orthodox Church
PO Box 667
Pharr, TX 78577
Location
704 W Sam Houston
Pharr, TX 78577
Email and Phone