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, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

A Boost for the Village Harvest, April 2023

Clients at the Village Harvest increased from 81 in March to 104 in April. Ongoing, the church is now advertising with local social service and Caroline County Schools to increase visits. 104 represents the largest number since Jan, 2022 where there were 115. It was additionally above last year’s April figure of 70.

Food in pounds were 1,365 representing the largest amount of food available since last Dec.

The food is divided into produce, grocery items and meat. The graph compared April 2023, 2022 and 2021 and then 2019. (There was no distribution in 2020 due to the pandemic.) Produce recovered in April, 2023 up to 51% of the total after slipping to 35% and 27% in 2022 and 2021, respectively. It now exceeds in percentage 2019, the last normal year prior to the pandemic.

Despite the improvement year to date after 4 months, we are 12% below 2022 in clients and 20% under in available food.

ECW Donations, 2022

The ECW met in Early October to decide the distribution of their earnings from the Village Dinners. $2,550 was distributed almost evenly between domestic and international charities. It was slightly lower than $3,000 a year ago. However, some funds were held back for other ministries, such as the altar guild and fellowship.

  Domestic  
 
Donation Amount Description
St. Peter’s Discretionary Fund   300 Fund to help local residents pay utility bills, rent, etc
Village Harvest Food Distribution   250 St Peter’s Food Distribution
Healthy Harvest Food Bank   250 Source for food for St. Peter’s Food distribuion
St. Andrew’s School in Richmond   250 School in Richmond, VA providing quality education for children in low income families
Micah Ecumenical Ministries (in honor of the Rev Thomas Hughes)   250 Churches in Fredericksburg established Micah our churches care for the whole person through ministries that address basic needs, health care, housing, income and the social/spiritual.
Total Domestic   1,300
International
Donation Amount Description
Five Talents   250 Transforming lives around the world through Christian economic development
Heifer International   250 Ending hunger and poverty around the world, by providing livestock and training to families
Episcopal Relief and Development   250 Working with partners around the world to alleviate hunger, create economic opportunities, respond to disasters, promote health, and strengthen communities.
Victoria All Age School in Jamaica   250 School visited in 2022 with support for Increased access to technology for the students.
Rev Luis Garcia   250 Priest in the Dominican Republic, to support his ministry in the several churches that he serves.
Total International   1,250  
     
Total 2022 Donations   2,550  

Honoring Women’s leadership on International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day/ https://www.internationalwomensday.com “Celebrating women’s achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, is key.” “Collective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity is what makes International Women’s Day impactful.”

Let’s call out the achievements of women at St. Peter’s:

At St. Peter’s our key ministries are led by women. Andrea Pogue (Village Dinner, Village Harvest, Shred It, Sacred Ground, Jamaica mission), Cookie Davis (Buildings and Grounds, Sacred Ground as well as her work with historic Port Royal), Susan Linne von Berg (Village Dinner), Elizabeth Heimbach (ECW). BJ Anderson (Altar – Communion Bread), Jan Saylor (the above and anything creative), Denise Gregory (music) and Mary Peterman(music,art). One other lady to cite – Eunice Key who has moved to SC but who worked in most of the above ministries and named the Village Harvest and is in the collage. Diligent, hard working with abundant initiative to go along with it. Without them there would be a big gap.