St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Port Royal, VA
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.
1. Donations. Donations -collected $2,355 as of June 28. $1,499 is earmarked for the school principal to purchase notebooks, computers (keyboards, mouse and monitors), shipping, customs, checking suitcases on the plane for supplies).
2. The rest of the funds were available for supplies which Andrea purchased on June 30. We are done! Pencil cases, 280. Rulers, 350 Pens, 100 Toothbrushes, 50 Sharpeners, 156 Erasers, 200 Drawstring backpacks, 220
Thank you for your donations.
The team leaves, Wed. Aug 23 for Jamaica ahead of the school distribution on Sat. Aug 26, 2023. Today, there were prayers for safe travel and a successful mission trip.
Thank you to everyone who donated school supplies for each of the 300+ students at the Victoria School in Linstead, Jamaica, These donations included 3,000+ items including drawstring backpacks, sharpeners, pencils, pens, toothpaste, toothbrushes, erasers, crayons, pencil cases, rulers, Also 6 tablets were contributed. Finally, St Peter’s was able to donate seven used computers to the school, along with keyboards and monitors to use with each computer. We collected $2,355 at the end of June for the computers and remaining school supplies
Annette Steele, principal of Victoria Primary School, 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.
Then, she came to the youth pool party to sample many flavors of ice cream. The rest of the mission team this year – Andrea and Ken Pogue and Laure Carey were also there. The team depart on Wed Aug. 23 in preparation for the school distribution on Sat. Aug. 26 for over 300 students.
Addressing the church, having lunch with two of our guests and then a conversation with the Rev. Catherine Hicks.
Filling up on ice cream at the youth pool party in the afternoon! Image at right shows Annette and to her right St. Peter’s mission team members, Laura Carey, Andrea Pogue and Ken Pogue.
Thanks for all who have supported this mission and those who journey to Jamaica to help with the school distribution.
In 2021, St. Peter’s fundraising contributed $3,000 for the school project. Here is the presentation from that trip.
A mission trip was organized to setup the school distribution. The supplies were sent ahead of the distribution.
In 2023 we are refreshing the supplies as well as moving to supply additional items, like computers. This year only Andrea, Ken and Laura will be going to deliver the supplies.
Background
Victoria Primary School, formerly Victoria All-Age is located in North West St. Catherine about two (2) miles from the major town of Linstead in the farming community of Victoria. Victoria, along with the adjoining community of Banbury, where most of the children are from, has a populace of over 20,000.
Approximately 10 % of the adult population is dependent on farming for a living, some of the produce from this activity is sold at the Linstead Market and the remainder kept for domestic use. Another 30% depends on vending as their main means of livelihood, 40% is employed while the remaining 20% is unemployed.
The current parent population is very young with the average age being about 25 years. Most of them have attained secondary level of education but have not moved on to tertiary learning but instead have acquired a skill in order to become employable.
The school was originally a shift school, an elementary. It was built to house about 200 children. At the time of the 2021 mission trip school population it was 330
At the beginning of each school year, some parents often have financial challenges in purchasing items to send their children back to school. Some of these include the purchasing of school bags, writing books, pencils and uniforms etc. There are times when past students will assist in purchasing some of these items.
About 25 gathered from 2 St. Peter’s churches as a fund raiser for the home that is being built in Jamaica for a family member at St. Peter’s. It was a beautiful, warm night with the sky moving to a full moon on Nov. 8
The fellowship included “What’s in the sock game” where people guessed what was in up to 20 socks. (At least 2 identified all!). Andrea Pogue’s Nov. 5 birthday was celebrated. Dinner included multiple sets of chili with bread and a dessert table that included pecan pie, peanut butter pie and cupcakes. The evening shifted into singing with Larry Saylor leading the group from a distributed song book. Well planned! There was time left for roasting marshmallows.
At the Saylors (full size gallery)