Our Food Pantry clients will enjoy turkey and the fixings this Thanksgiving thanks to the efforts of our Food Pantry workers on Thursday.

Donnie Lewis, who manages our Food Pantry, rallied her Food Pantry volunteers and assistance from Dexter House, to hand out approximately 80 turkeys and meal accompaniments to Food Pantry clients.

It was a joy to see this annual tradition return after the long pandemic hiatus!

Loved ones,

Sometimes life gets busy and things are put aside for a bit. For those who have not yet pledged for 2024, we’re reaching out with hearts full of hope and a simple ask: support our church, support our community.

In the past year, we’ve seen incredible moments of kindness, connection, and growth within our church family. But to keep this flame alive, we need your support.

Your pledge of financial support, will help us extend our arms further into the Cecil County community helping the hungry and homeless, supporting our programs for senior ministry, our Recovery ministry, teaching our children, and maintaining the warm embrace of our sacred space.

Let’s weave a tapestry of love, compassion, and faith together. Your support means the world to us.

To donate, please the pledge button on this website or drop your pledge envelope in the offering plate on Sunday.

Thank you for being the heartbeat of our community.

Warm regards,

Fr. John and the Vestry of St. Mary Anne’s

 

One of our yearly outreach projects is the Giving Tree, which commits to providing Christmas gifts for local children who would otherwise do without. This year our Giving Tree project sponsors children in need from North East Elementary School.

A Christmas tree, decorated with names, will be in the Parish Hall on Sunday, November 26th, after the 8 and 10AM services. Deadline for gift return is Sunday, December 17th.

Linda Hunt is the Giving Tree Coordinator, and can answer any of your questions.

 

The Vestry met on Wednesday evening, and here are the highlights:

• John thanked Fr. Sam for taking the Sunday Services during his recent trip to visit family in Connecticut. In addition, our Sunday attendance is steady with a slight growth in numbers. We would like to see more people at Coffee Hours and more signups for Coffee hosting. Hosts can combine forces and work as teams, too! Plans are underway for special services on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
• Senior Warden: No report, all is in order.
• Junior Warden: The back gate is repaired, recoated, and mounted. Mr. Hamilton is doing fine work. The next gate repair is on the sidewalk gate at Church Point Road.
• Treasurer: Our finances are in order. We are watching our budget closely and following our 2023 plan. Pledges for 2023 are coming in at 96%. Our 2024 Stewardship Campaign is winding down. We are happy to report 12 new pledge units but at this time, we are under our 2023 pledge amount. We are asking those who haven’t pledged, to consider helping us in 2024.

Vestry Liaison Reports:

• Food Pantry: Offering 80 turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have a growing number of individuals and families now being served weekly. We are grateful have Outreach funds in place to serve those in need.
• Mission Committee: Busy planning 2024 budget and looking for more opportunities to help more people.
• Choir/Music: Plans are in place for the choir to perform in Advent and at our 7PM Christmas Eve Service.
• Coffee House: Last performance of 2023 is this Saturday at 7:30PM. We can use a few good people to help with set-up and take-down.
• ECW: The elections for new officers was held at their November meeting: Dru Torregrossa, President; Phyllis Doyle, Vice-President; Nancy Leizear, Recording Secretary; Andrea Pugh, Treasurer, and Directors are Kathy Mullen, Judy Coudon, and Wendy Gilbert. A budget is now in place for 2024 and by-laws updated. Christmas Cookie Walk is Dec. 2. Bakers are needed for this popular fund-raising event.

New Business: John Stemen is our new Food Pantry Community Resource person. He is traveling around the County talking with local schools and community organizations, accessing needs and determining how we can help.

As always, complete Vestry Minutes are available for all parishioners to read. Copies of the minutes can be found in our Parish Office Library. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 13 at 6:30 in the Parish Center.

 

Our  Annual Christmas Cookie Walk  returns on Saturday, December 2 from 9 to Noon in our Parish Hall.

We intend to have a huge and delicious assortment of homemade Christmas cookies to purchase by the pound ($8.50).

What exactly is a Cookie Walk? We bake dozens of beautiful and assorted homemade Christmas cookies and sell them for $8.50 a pound. When customers arrive, they receive their own cookie box and a pair of gloves–and then they proceed to choose their own cookie selection.