God has been very good to us at St. Jacob of Alaska Orthodox Christian Mission this summer!
Since our mission was founded in August of 2021 we had been using a portable folding Altar Table on loan from the Michigan Deanery. In late 2023 the mission started a special collection to build a permanent Altar Table of our own and contracted with an Orthodox professional woodworker of our diocese, Subdeacon Dionysius Delong of St. Ambrose Mission at the Mackinac Straits (Michigan). Subdeacon Dionysius was self-sacrificial in his terms, and what we paid him could not have come close to compensating him for the time and care he took on this work of excellent craftsmanship.
The Altar Table is 40” tall and the top is 36” square. We had planned for it to be made of pine—a wood we could afford—but Dionysus’s employer generously donated excellent marine-grade cedar. The complete Altar Table is a bit too large to fit through the doors of our chapel, so Dionysius traveled to Ishpeming to personally assemble and install it himself, and Father Jesse was able to immediately adorn it with a new Altar Cover. Everything was in place in time for the Feast of St. Jacob Netsvetov (July 26/August 8).
The mission continues to benefit from the generous monthly contributions of Share the Faith Ministries, an Orthodox organization that provides financial support for missionary priests and endeavors throughout the United States. These contributions are enabling us to extend our ministry, expand our library, improve our space, and save toward the future. You can find out more about Share the Faith at https://sharethefaith.net/.
In September Fr. Jesse and Matushka Juliana, together with two St. Jacob’s families, were able to visit their sister mission, St. Ambrose of Milan, at their new location in St. Ignace. They gathered with Priests Benjamin Naasko, Micah Chisholm, Dmitri Mihailov, Subdeacon Dionysius Delong, and many others for a Saturday morning Divine Liturgy.
Finally, in September of this year, with the blessing of the diocese, and thanks largely to the efforts of our parishioner James Bays, we were finally able to open Mother Olga Food Pantry. Our mission is uniquely situated in the perfect location for ministry to the needy. We are located on the first floor of the old Ishpeming Middle School, in the center of the city. Our front door awning area serves as a city bus stop. We share the building with apartments and a Head Start free preschool. So far the Lord has blessed our efforts, and we distributed free food to over forty people in our first three weeks, including sixteen families with twenty-two children, two elderly, and two homeless individuals. We have also expanded into distributing free feminine hygiene products. We obtain most of our food at a very significant discount from Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank, but we also solicit individual donations. 
Matushka Olga of Alaska is an excellent patron for this ministry. She is from the homeland of our Patron Saint and many in our area have Native heritage. St. Olga was known to care for the disadvantaged, especially disadvantaged and abused women and children—a situation all too familiar to many residing in less fortunate communities today. Everyone in need relates to a caring mother. May the prayers of Matushka Olga, St. Iakov Netsvetov, and our Holy Mother the Theotokos lead our community—and all of us—further into the saving Truth of Christ.
Share the Faith Ministries has the goal of spreading Orthodoxy to every corner of the United States as well as serving existing missions. Please click below to donate to help Fr. Jesse’s Mision. You can also visit his website and donate directly to their mission or their food pantry. 
Rev. Fr. Jesse Rimshas, Rector
