IHS (Interfaith Help Services) housed at St. Mary's is supported by seven local congregations: Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, First Baptist Church, Second Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, Our Savior Lutheran Church, and St. Mary's. These congregations provide financial support, food, board members, and volunteers. IHS attempts to assist Union County residents and some transients in crisis situations. Persons seeking assistance must make an application with proper identification. Careful files are kept and clients are an only allowed to receive assistance on a scheduled basis. Help is given on one utility bill up to $50.00, with the client first paying the balance. IHS will assist a client to secure an appointment with one of the participating dentists and will assist in partial payment. Food can be secured with a voucher from the Department of Human Services. IHS will work with clients who need prescription medications, and can assist with transportation to medical appointments and job interviews.
IHS now administers Entergy's Project Deserve in El Dorado. Through this project Entergy matches donations dollar for dollar to assist needy people in keeping their power on during difficult times.
Volunteers screen clients, assist them with groceries or with their utility bills and other needs, and maintain computerized records of those whom IHS has assisted.
The food pantry helps stave off hunger for those temporarily in a difficult place in their lives. Many organizations around El Dorado, including St. Mary's parishioners and E.Y.C., contribute regulary to keep the shelves stocked.
IHS was designated a Jubilee Center by the Episcopal Church. (Click on the certificate to see an enlargement.) For more information about Jubilee Ministry Centers in the Episcopal Church, go to: http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/jubilee/
The Interfaith Health Clinic
began its life in St. Mary's Library in 1995 after four years
of planning and strategizing by a committed group of people who
recognized the desperate need for medical care for the working
uninsured. Fr. Allen, St. Mary's rector at the time, had become
aware of this need when his own secretary, recently divorced and
with a small child and no health insurance, had a costly medical
emergency. Remembering the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tennessee,
he began talking to local clergy and health care professionals
about a similar agency for Union County. Finally a M.A.S.H.-type
unit was set up two nights a 
week in the Church Library staffed
with volunteer doctors, nurses, and various nonprofessionals,
until a medical specialist made his clinic available those same
two nights a week for a year. In 1997 the Clinic was approached
by a local foundation (changed with, among other things, providing
health care to those unable to afford it) with the possibility
of working together. This alliance made funding available for
clinic space and the hiring of staff (a physician, a nurse, a
clinic director). In addition to the assistance from the foundation,
local groups purchased furniture and equipment including the Hospital
Auxiliary and St. Anne's Guild of St. Mary's which purchased the
waiting room furniture. 
The Clinic has recently moved into
working to get its own patients and those of other physicians
into the Patient's Assistance Program. This is a program where
persons on limited incomes who must take medications for chronic
conditions can receive these medications at no cost from pharmaceutical
companies. The Clinic now has on staff a nurse practitioner, as
well as its own pharmacy and dental examination facility on site.