Announcement from Andrea Pogue in church, Oct. 8, 2023
Outreach
Newsletter, October, 2023
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ECW Planning and Donation meeting, Sept. 25, 2023
The September meeting of the St. Peter’s ECW was held at the Heimbachs’ house because tree work at the church made parking limited. There were about 11 in attendance. Typically the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) at St. Peter’s give half of their earnings away by the 4th quarter of each year for outreach.
After everyone enjoyed tea and snacks, we welcomed our new member, Jean Devitt. Then, Elizabeth reported that the ECW account currently totaled $2280.89, and the group agreed to donate $100 to CERVE, (the Caroline Emergency Relief through Volunteer Efforts), $250 to Catherine’s Discretionary Fund, $500 to Village Harvest, and $500 to Social Services for their Christmas program. Since an anonymous member had given an additional $70, the ECW account will have $1000 after these donations are made.
Nancy Long has agreed to do some research to find out about the cost of repairing the brass altar vases which were a gift to St. Peter’s from the ECW, while Alice said that she would try to find out the possible value of the large bas-relief currently stored upstairs in the rectory.
The group also discussed plans for the coming months including a visit to Chancellor’s Village, and a tour of the Potowomack Center. In addition, we talked about providing refreshments for the Epiphany and Presentation Services when the St. Peter’s Choir will join the choir of St. Asaph’s. We also agreed to prepare dinner for the Episcopalian students at Mary Washington, and, perhaps, to supply snacks for them during exam week in early December.
Finally, several people had ideas for events for which we could sell tickets to raise money. Jan suggested a Mother’s Day brunch, Catherine suggested a croquet match, and several people talked about the possibility of an event like a concert that could include a barbecue.
Kickball in Port Royal, Tues Sept 26
Tuesday, September 26 5:30-7PM at St Peter’s Caroline County Kickball in conjunction with the Caroline County Public Schools and in celebration of National Family Day is on!
The Heimbach field will be the kickball field, and St Peter’s will be contributing snacks and water for the event by Sun, Set. 24 . If you would like to help, please donate granola bars, small boxes of raisins, and other healthy snacks, and water for those coming out to play. Last year’s event was a big success!
Here is what was collected on Sept 10:
Jamaica Mission – School Supplies distribution, Aug 26, 2023
Photo Gallery
The sun came up after a drizzle on Sat., Aug 26, 2023 which fit the mood of the day. Light did shine on the Victoria Primary School – parents, teachers and students as well as the mission team from St. Peter’s Episcopal. From Mark 15:15 – “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news[a] to the whole creation.”
The distribution provided bags, notebooks, pencils and other school supplies for all the students at Victoria Primary school. 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!
Thanks to the St. Peter’s mission team Laura Carey, Ken and Andrea Pogue. Thanks especially to Andrea for organizing the mission in the difficult covid summer of 2021 and continuing it in 2023. Plans are underway for 2025!
Collage -From left to right, top to bottom – Leaders of the mission including Andrea Pogue (St. Peter’s) middle and Annette Steele (Victoria School principal), Laura Carey gives a certificate of merit to a deserving elementary school student, Footballs provided for the staff, Tablet given to student for answering questions, View on the way to Victoria School, Proud parents of a student, Two days before the event organizing the supplies, Parent who won a bag full groceries.
Jamaica Mission – School Supplies setup, Aug 24, 2023
The Jamaica team, Andrea and Ken Pogue and Laura Carey arrived in Jamaica on Wed, Aug 23. Thursday Aug. 24 was a work day preparing for Sat’s distribution of school supplies. See the gallery, above.
The supplies included drawstring backpacks, sharpeners, pencils, pens, toothpaste, toothbrushes, erasers, crayons, pencil cases, and rulers. Also six tablets were contributed as sell as seven used computers to the school.
The work involved sorting pencil case holders by colors for boys or girls and then placing supplies in them, organizing school books, packing backpacks and readying certificates noting achievement. It was a full day but now they are ready.
St. Peter’s donates to Maui wildfire recovery
The church collected $2,000 to purchase supplies for relief efforts from the wildfires. The $2,000 we sent will help Episcopalians to continue to go about the island handing out badly needed supplies to those displaced by the wildfires through their organization, A Cup of Cold Water.
A Cup of Cold Water (ACCW) is a community Care-Van outreach program on the Island of Maui, formed by a group of 4 committed Episcopalian churches from Good Shepherd, Holy Innocents, St. John’s and Trinity By-the-Sea. The program is a food and clothing distribution service for the poor and needy in the community, and uses the care-van to deliver essential food, hygiene and clothing items throughout the island.
Village Harvest, Aug. 16, 2023
Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, the day before the Harvest is a work day. 3 main tasks:
This month for Wed’s distribution we had:
- meat and fish (whole chickens, salmon or pork chops),
- fresh vegetables ( lettuce, eggplant, corn)
- canned goods (corn, string beans, pears, beef stew).
- cooked chicken in packs
Back to Jamaica
The Jamaica mission trip participants depart on Aug. 23. Traveling are Ken Pogue, Andrea Pogue, and Laura Carey. The school supply distribution is Sat. Aug 26.
Top left to right – Ken Pogue, Andrea Pogue, Laura Carey
Special thanks to Andrea for arranging the original connection between Victoria Primary School and St. Peter’s in 2021 and for her work this year in planning the school supplies distribution on Sat. Aug. 26. Computer equipment which is needed at the school was added for this distribution.
Ways to help those in need in Hawaii
Ways to help those in need in Hawaii
->Group Donation
We at St Peter’s can come together as a group to do our part to help with immediate relief efforts in Hawaii. If you would like to donate through St Peter’s, as this part of the Body of Christ, make out a check to St Peter’s and put Hawaii in the memo line. The St Peter’s collection will go to The Diocese of Hawaii to The Bishop’s Pastoral Fund with a note that this is from our church, St Peter’s, here in The Diocese of Virginia. The Diocese of Hawaii will put this money to work through A Cup of Cold Water, the homeless assistance ministry run by the four Episcopal Churches on the island of Maui.
If you would prefer to donate individually online to The Bishop’s Pastoral Fund, click this link. online donations
->Individual Donations
If you would like to donate online through Episcopal Relief and Development, click on this link, https://support.episcopalrelief.org and put US Disaster Fund in the memo line. This group is also working with The Diocese of Hawaii.
Charity Navigator, a website that rates charities in an effort to help people use their donations wisely, has a curated list of charities which are accepting donations to help the people of Hawaii. Go to this link, https://www.charitynavigator.org . Click on Hawaii Wildfires to find their list and ways to contribute to various groups online.
Jamaica Project Update – Supplies left to purchase As of June 16
Donate school supplies for the children at the Victoria School in Jamaica. Two ways to do it:
Here are the current items left as of June 16 which are left to purchase.
Checks are due by the end of June. Checks are needed in two areas. (We do not have the costs yet). 1. Cost of the monitors, keyboards and mice for 7 computers. The computers are being donated. The school does not have any computers, currently. 2. Cost of shipping- the school supplies and computers.
Thank you for your donation.
Souper Bowl collections
Today, Feb. 12, 2023, we collected soup from parishioners today plus cards addressed to the recipients to provide additional connections to our Village Harvest food distribution, happening next Wed Feb. 15, 3pm-5pm. We collected about 25 cans and numerous cards. If was not just the donation that was important but also the symbolic bringing of the donation to the altar which we did today. This practice goes back to at least Exodus in the Old Testament when Moses encourages bringing donations forward to the Lord.