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Village Harvest
Sunday’s Thoughts, June 2, 2024
A lovely collect this Sunday was a good start – “On this day of rest and gladness, we praise you, God of creation, for the dignity of work and the joy of play, for the challenge of witness and the invitation to delight at your table. Renew our hearts through your sabbath rest, that we might be refreshed to continue in your work of restoring the world to wholeness. Amen”
It is all about energy – work, play, witness, renewal and restoration.
This sense of energy carried through to the blessing-
“May the light of God illumine the heart of our souls.
May the flame of Christ kindle us to love.
May the fire of the Spirit free us to live.
This day, and forever more.”
We had the Rev. Shirley Smith Graham to talk to the congregation about the transition, planning and next steps. Johnny and the Vestry are handling this.
The sermon use the clay pots metaphor to illustrate Paul’s reading from Corinthians – “We have this treasure in clay jars.” In one case light can shine through and another it cannot. This was acted out by three children helpers. It provided examples of how St. Peter’s lets light shine through – the Village Harvest distributing food, the Jamaica project providing educational materials, the work with other organizations in the area including the schools, Sacred Ground providing scholarships.
We had another one coming up this month in June. Some of the best ministries are home grown and we have Shred-It that is a combination of fellowship, ecological goodness and outreach. On June 12, 1:30pm bring your documents to the church to be securely shred. Enjoy the fellowship with neighbors. Make a monetary contribution to St. Peter’s outreach for keeping your documents safe, secure and out of the landfill.
“Only God could give this small church the power to accomplish these things. God’s power works in us so that God’s glory can shine out through us.”
A nod to the transition – We are going to get broken in this life and suffer “big and and little deaths”. But these can be beneficial ” Change cracks us open so that new light and life can flow in and then back out into the world. Churches in transition are in the process of dying to what has been so that they can be open to the new life that will be, new life and light that they can then pour out into the world.”
Paul had the last word in the sermon – “Paul was right. We do have this treasure of God’s light in clay jars. So may we welcome the breaking, the spilling, the hardships, and the changes that life brings to each one of us and to our church. For through us, Jesus is already coming again in glory every time we get broken apart and his light shines and pours out through our brokenness into the world”
A Very Productive Village Harvest, May 15, 2024
Below are some of the foods and workers on Tuesday, May 14 unboxing, sorting and bagging the distribution. Thanks to Cookie and Johnny for obtaining the food from the Healthy Harvest Food Bank as well as working with the food, assisted by Elizabeth, Andrea, Lin, Dave, and Catherine and Ben.
May was an explosion in both food provided and clients receiving! (A nice 188th birthday present for St. Peter’s, consecrated on this day in 1836.)The weather was drizzly but thankfully that didn’t affect the turnout. May featured the largest number of clients, 119 since Nov. 2020 when it was 135. (A year ago the number was 93). Elizabeth reports that “The 119 includes the people Catherine and Jan and Lin pick up for. This may have been more than usual, and we also seemed to have more people from Essex and from Port Royal itself than before.”
The pounds available in May was 1,400 the largest since Dec. 2022 at 1,468 (A year ago in May, 2023 1,143)
Year to date we have served 487 people compared to 415 last year representing a 17.3% increase. The client total also exceeds both 2022, 447 and 2021, 465. However, it would be under the pre-pandemic years of 2019, 593, and 2018, 501 (with one month cancelled). Still, it represents an important improvement over the last few years.
Update on Snacks for Caroline County Public Schools
Based on information discussed at the February CERVE meeting regarding the need for snacks at the elementary schools in Caroline County, St Peter’s Vestry made a donation, along with many other churches, to raise $1268 to be spent on snacks for the three schools. Teachers at these schools have been individually providing snacks for their classrooms since many of the children cannot afford to bring a daily snack to school.
One of the CERVE members coordinated with personnel at the three county elementary schools, getting input about what snacks would be wanted. She then purchased juice boxes, fruit cups, apple sought and other healthy snacks and delivered snacks to the three schools. With the donations received, the schools will receive snacks through the rest of this school year. Needless to say, everyone is extremely grateful for this direct help for our Caroline County children.
Village Harvest, April 2024 – “Low numbers, however they got a lot of nice stuff.”
April, 2024 brought 77 people to the Village Harvest. it was the 3rd lowest total over the year and is below March’s 90. 77 is also below the 6th-month average of 98. Our range over the 6 months has extended from 77 to 112 in December 2023. A year ago in April, the total was 104.
Food sources were also lower at 1,242 pounds in April compared to 1,322 pounds last month. Like the client totals food was the 3rd lowest in a year. However, unlike with clients, April’s total was above the 12-month average. 1,242 pounds was above the 6th month average of 1,217. A year ago in April 2023 pounds were higher at 1,365.
The composition of food in April, 2024 was closer to other Aprils (except for April 2023) at 38% produce, 45%, and 17% meat. (Last year, April 2023, produce was significantly higher at 51% ). Generally, grocery has been higher than produce by 10 percentage points at this time of the year
Pounds per person is a measure that tries to relate client and food trends. How much food did the typical client receive? Despite the totals being lower in both clients and pounds this month, pounds per person were at a 12-month high at 16.1. The 6 months average is 13 as was a year ago in April, 2023. Pounds per person was at the highest level since July 2023 at 16.75. As Elizabeth remarked “Low numbers, however they got a lot of nice stuff.”
Newsletter, April, 2024
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Village Harvest, March 20, 2024
First quarter review follows:
| CLIENTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| Jan | 91 | 60 | 115 | 116 |
| Feb | 110 | 77 | 90 | 84 |
| Mar | 90 | 81 | 91 | 95 |
| Total | 291 | 218 | 296 | 295 |
| POUNDS | ||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| Jan | 1,110 | 1,137 | 1,081 | 1,147 |
| Feb | 1,014 | 806 | 1,635 | 1,304 |
| Mar | 1,321 | 970 | 1,480 | 1,891 |
| Total | 3,445 | 2,913 | 4,196 | 4,342 |
| Pounds | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.2 | 14.7 |
| Per Client |
The first quarter, 2024 recovered from 2023 levels in both clients and food. 2024 clients levels are comparable to clients in 2022 and 2021 at just 300 for the quarter. 2023 significant descrease could be considered as an aberration. Food is up from 2,913 pounds to 3,445 in 2024. Overall clients are up by 33% and food 18% from first quarter 2023 to the same period in 2024.
Village Harvest – Feb., 2024 – a positive month
We served 110 at the Feb. 21, 2024 Village Harvest. After a slowdown to 91 last month, we were back at the plateau of 110-112 from achieved fron Nov and Dec. last year. This was 10 people above the earlier period Aug to Oct. which served between 90 and 100.
Totals for the first two months show some consistency from 2021-2024. The total is between 200 and 205 except for 2023 which was substantially lower at 137. We are not sure what happened but weather was not an issue.
Souper Bowl Sunday – Food and card donations
1. Prayer at Announcements
We collected food cans from parishioners today plus cards addressed to the recipients to provide additional connections to our Village Harvest food distribution, happening Wed Feb. 21, 3pm-5pm.
2. Results. We collected 41 cans of food and 33 cards donated plus $75 in monetary donations.
The goal was thirty cans and thirty cards for those who come to the distribution so we exceeded our goal. It was also above last year with 25 cans Thanks to all!
It 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.