We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

ECW

Photos, ECM work day Sat. May 11,2024 – 3 projects

Notes

1. We had 8 men working on a glorious Sat morning, somewhat cool. (Thanks to Ken Pogue, ECM chair, and Larry Saylor, Junior Warden for organizing it). The ECW provided lunch

2. 3 projects. 1 project was completely finished (C), One is a work in progress to be completed next week (A). A third one needs external review.(B)

A. New water pipe from the parish house to the church to be installed by a plumber on Monday, May 13. We need to dig trenches to find the main line from the parish house and prepare the connection for the plumber. The line going into the church needs to be reviewed. Finally, refill the trenches and make sure firm.
DONE! Awaiting the plumber on Monday. (Photos before and after).


B. Handicapped ramp needs painting. Scraping needs to be done. Concern was wood damage. PARTIALLY DONE. Some scraping done but much remains. It is very time consuming! We need a third party to review and advise on the stability of the ramp and whether the ramp can be repaired and life extended. (Photos before and after).

C. Segment on the fence in the rear graveyard was bent. DONE! (Photos before and after).

Photo Gallery of the day


(full size gallery)

ECW Planning Meeting, April 9, 2024

B.J. Anderson, Laura Carey, Jen Devitt, Elizabeth Heimbach, Andrea Pogue, and Jan Devitt met at Horne’s today (April 9). At the meeting Elizabeth announced that Andrea has agreed to be the Chair of the St. Peter’s ECW! What great news! Here are the things we discussed:

Upcoming events

  • The reception before the concert, April 19: Linda Upshaw will be in touch with everyone to organize the food and drink for the reception.
  • The reception for the bishop, May 19: we hope that Andrea will be able to contact a reggae band. We also hope that everyone will bring dishes as they usually do for Sunday Social Hour. Andrea will prepare ham and cabbage, Elizabeth will bring a sheet cake, and fruit, Laura will make a donation.

    • Fund raising ideas

  • Bingo
  • Flocking: Jan explained that setting up flocks of flamingos on neighbors’ yards can be a fundraiser when the neighbors can pay not to be flocked or to have the flocks removed.
  • Andrea is planning a small yard sale on May 4 in Port Royal when Historic Port Royal is celebrating 100 years of the Port Royal school.
  • Shred-it event, June 12
  • Thanksgiving sit-down as well as grab-and-go dinner, November 13

    • ECW Spring Planning, April 9, 2024

    From Elizabeth Heimbach–The flowers are blooming, and the grass is turning green; it is time to look ahead! I hope everyone can come for lunch at 11:30 on Tuesday, April 9 at Horne’s.

    We always have fun when we are together, and we will have time to brainstorm about fundraising ideas and future events including the Portland Guitar Duo Concert, the bishop’s visit, a holiday dinner and a reception. Please come with ideas! Hope to see you there!

    Please Email Elizabeth if you plan to attend.

    2023 Highlights at St. Peter’s

    This is a topical summary. We have another page that is a chronological listing of 2023 events with table of contents with links to the events.

    The highlights can be grouped as follows:

    A. New ministry
    God’s Garden
    Chancellors Village
    Advent Worskhop

    B. New expressions in ministry
    Stewardship tree
    Lent -Stations of the Cross in the graveyard and more services

    C. Expanded and revised ministries
    Mission trip to Jamaica
    Anniversary Village Harvest Food Ministry
    Sacred Ground revised
    ECM (Episcopal Church Men) end of year expanded donations and use of an art auction.
    Community – Prayer service, Outside Christmas pageant, Work with community organizations
    Key parishioner volunteering
    ECW (Episcopal Church Women) projects

    D. Music provided new delights
    Easter, the summer and Christmas
    Blue grass concert

    E. Losses connected with two historic trees and two heating systems.

    1. New ministry – God’s Garden

    A new ministry debuted Sept 17, 2023. God’s Garden for 5 to 9 year olds began with 4 children and two experienced teachers, Elizabeth Heimbach, the originator of the class and Jan Saylor.

    One of the first activities was to “God’s Garden” which explored what it meant to be a saint, today (Oct. 1, 2023) for St. Francis Day on Oct. 4. As an example they told the story of St. Francis taming the Wolf of Gubbio. Then, they made Pet blessings with treats to give out in church to make pets happy on St. Francis Day, Oct. 4.

    2. Expanded ministry in Jamaica

    Even before the mission began, we hosted Annette Steele, principal of Victoria Primary School who enjoyed a full day at St. Peter’s on Sun, Aug. 13. She addressed the church at announcements about our joint mission to help the students in her elementary school get ready for school in Sept, both in 2021 and 2023. She explained how much it meant to the students and her community.

    After the service, she enjoyed St. Peter’s hospitality at a luncheon and met our parishioners and guests.

    The group of 3 on the mission team distributed our donations in Jamaica on Aug. 26

    We not only brought the usual school supplies but added 6 tablets. Separately, 7 used computers were donated to a school that had never had a computer.  

    There were different ways of distributing the items.  There were contests for tablets and food baskets won by answering questions. Certificates given out based on merit overall and in areas like math. A number of students won $1,000 Jamaican dollars for math competency. Teachers were not forgotten – 2 footballs were given out to the coach!

    3. Village Harvest ended its 9th year and began its 10th year in August, 2023 and ended the year serving the most people since 2019.

    For the year, we recovered from a slow 1st quarter, 2023 and ended the year serving 1,063 people compared to 1,051 in 2022. It was the best yearly total since 2019.

    Unfortunately, the same trend overall wasn’t present with food. Food increased from 2021 to 2022 (14,303 to 15,302 pounds) but dipped to 13,859 pounds in 2023. The first quarter was the problem. We had 2,913 pounds in that quarter compared over 4,000 for 2022 and 2021.

    As a result, pounds provided per individual dropped from 14.56 in 2022 to 13.04. In 2021, it was in the same range at 14.32. Overall, pounds per individual are substantially higher since 2019 than in earlier periods.

    The 2023 collection on Giving Tuesday, Nov 28 of $1,205 was the highest Giving Tuesday figure since 2019 and provides over 5 months of support for purchasing food for 2024

    4. Sacred Ground revised their scholarship program

    Representatives from Sacred Ground met with Jessica Thompson, Executive Director of the Germanna Educational Foundation, for lunch at Castiglias in Fredericksburg on Oct. 10, 2023.  The goal was to determine how we could move forward with a new focus on our scholarships for students.

    Sacred Ground voted unanimously by email in early December to fund the recommendation forwarded by Jessica Thompson at Germanna for scholarships for students entering the trades. Each student is “in financial need and from underserved populations.” The $2,700 would be split equally to pay for their training.

    Each student owes approximately $1,500 for the classes to complete the training. We will pay for the additional expense for each student through additional scholarship funds

    They also toured Patawomeck Village in November. The goal of the visit was to understand their history and culture as well as our role

    Earlier, the Sacred Ground group had the pleasure of meeting with Alanna Gray (beside Catherine), and her mother and grandmother (opposite Alanna) at Cuppa Cheer in February

    Read more

    ECW takes dinner to “The House” at Mary Washington

    (full size gallery)

    The House is a combined ministry of the Episcopal/Lutheran churches focusing on campus, Young Adult, and Intergenerational Ministry centered around The University of March Washington and Germanna. The Rev. Ethan Lowery is the missioner who is supported and sponsored by by Trinity Episcopal, St. George’s Episcopal and Christ Lutheran.

    St. Peter’s ECW signed up to provide dinner to one of their regular weekly meetings on Tuesday between 5pm. They have a dinner business meeting and program. We had 8-10 students for the dinner. (The students were in the midst of “crunch time” with exams next week).

    Thanks to Elizabeth, Catherine, Linda, Alice and Robin who cooked the food and Jim Heimbach and Andrea who supported St. Peter’s at the event. St. Peter’s provided both regular and gluten free chile, corn bread and brownies as well as a vegetable tray.

    Joining us was the Rev. Rosemary Beales who is a specialist in Godly Play and presented the story of Abraham with all the objects in a tray of sand. (Catherine took Godly Play under Rosemary prior to St. Peter’s implemented it several years ago. Rosemary works with Godly Play at St. George’s.)

    We learned the House is conducting one of their main fund raising events this Sun Dec. 10 which is a crafts fair with items donated. Customer will not pay a price set by the House but one they believe is fair.