The Garden Market made a glorious return with 63 vendor booths and 5300+ visitors during our two-day event. These numbers indicate this was the largest Garden Market in our 25 year GM history! After this long and dark time, we certainly needed sunshine, laughter, friends and community, and a return to our cherished traditions. We celebrated spring, our beautiful creations, and the joy of being together. We are so thankful you joined us and supported our efforts with time, talent and treasure!

We are certainly thankful for the countless volunteers who planned and worked at the Garden Market. There are too many to list, as we would be sure to miss a few key helpers, but there is a leadership team who stepped up and helped plan and coordinate this huge event:

• Garden Market Co-chairs: Dawn Rodenbaugh and Karen Schaeffer
• Father John Schaeffer, Mike Pugh and George Balog our Wardens, and our Vestry
• Treasurer Responsibilities: Barb England and Judy Coudon
• Office Administrator, Valerie Manges
• Vendor Coordinator: Dawn Rodenbaugh
• Business Sponsorships: Karen Schaeffer and Linda Gibeck
• Maintenance, Set-up and Take-down: Rich & Wendy Gilbert
• Bake Table: Donna Boyd and Susan Zerr
• Greeters & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: Andrea Pugh
• ECW Plant Table: Sande Taylor and Pat Wagner
• Old Fool’s Tools: Larry Gibeck and Charlie Kornsey
• The Hot Dog Table: Sandi Lasako, Sharon Wells, and Debbie Schneider
• The Welcome Table: Phyllis Doyle
• The Green Team: Linda Hunt and George Kaplan
• The Silent Auction and 50/50: Linda Gibeck and Becky Flood Hall
• Traffic and Parking: Scott Zerr and Bob Jones (Dexter House)
• Church Tours: Dru Torregrossa and Chan Cosans
• Children’s Marigolds: Kathy Mullen
• Mother Goose: Kathy Lichtenstein
• American Gothic Photo Board: Ron & Joy Himmel
• Duck Races: Linda Gibeck and Jen Swoboda
• Music Coordination: Carol Weisel
• Audio: Joel Alarcon
• Security Coordination: Bill Weisel; Bob Jones and Dexter House members
• Publicity and Signage: Karen Schaeffer
• Town Liaisons: Melissa Cook Mackenzie and Stephanie Dean

We also want to thank the orchestra students of North East Middle School for their performance on Friday evening. And, Scott Wells, the “Chesapeake Troubadour” and  son of Marion Wells, for his gift of music on Saturday.

A special Mother’s Day Breakfast is planned after our 10AM Sunday Service. Greg Rodenbaugh and men from our 10AM Service will cook. The menu includes: waffles with toppings, omelets, hand-carved meat and other treats. Please invite your wife, mom, grandmother, aunt or any special woman in your life to worship this Sunday, and stay after the 10AM service to enjoy a delicious breakfast in our Parish Center. Parish men are encouraged to help make this a special breakfast. Their help with baked goods, meal prep, set-up and clean-up is encouraged and appreciated.

On behalf of the American Red Cross, thank you for your generous gift of $2,785.00* on April 11, 2022, which applies to the Ukraine Crisis 2022. Your support is truly making an impact in the lives of those we serve every day.

During their darkest hours, people know they can turn to the Red Cross for comfort and care. Our humanitarian mission of preventing and alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies depends on the compassion of our generous donors.

I am profoundly grateful for your commitment to the Red Cross mission. Thank you once again for standing with us to help turn heartbreak into hope.

Sincerely,

Gail J. McGovern

President and CEO, American Red Cross

*Treasurer’s note: We continue to receive parishioner donations to forward to the Red Cross.

Do you have a recent or soon-to-be graduate in your family? We will list our parish family’s high school, college or military graduates, along with any of their special student achievements, in our June 10th Enews.

Let us know: The student’s name, college, degree, field of study, honors and/or awards, plans for future, etc.

As a parish family, we want to celebrate your student’s achievement! Please submit information by June 7th to the church office.

We recently received notification that we are the recipient of a Facility Improvement Grant totaling $21,958.00!

Governor Larry Hogan announced nearly $10 million in grant awards through the new Community Safety Works program to more than 300 business districts and nonprofit organizations across Maryland, advancing a key plank of the governor’s Re-Fund The Police Initiative.

The grants were awarded in two categories: business district improvements and facility improvements that support projects and activities to make public and private spaces safer.

Karen Schaeffer, with the approval of the Vestry, wrote the grant request in January. Our grant proposal request was for additional LED lighting to discourage vandalism, and illumine church sidewalks for safer pedestrian traffic.

Our funding request specified the need for three new commercial light poles and LED fixtures, along with matching LED fixtures (dusk to dawn) for three existing poles. These pole lights will illuminate the bell tower sidewalk, and the two sidewalks adjacent to the gravel churchyard road. A residential light pole and LED fixture for the rectory sidewalk was also included in the request. Grant funding of $21,958.00 matches our estimate for the work by D&D Electrical Services. We anticipate lighting installation to commence this summer.

We thank Karen for her work on this complicated grant request. We also extend our gratitude to those who assisted her, including Father John, Dawn Rodenbaugh, Richard Starr, and Andrea & Mike Pugh.