It’s that Time of Year to Walk the Cookie Walk!

Our Annual Christmas Cookie Walk  is this Saturday, December 7th from 9AM to Noon!

As in years past, we will sell our delicious homemade Christmas cookies by the pound ($9.00).

Please invite your family and friends to buy our delicious homemade cookies or candy by the pound! Our boxed treats make the perfect hostess gift, Christmas present, and late night snack treat! Proceeds benefit our parish’s Episcopal Church Women and their ministry endeavors.

Parking available on S. Main in front of the Parish Center until 11:30am. No later, please, due to the parade! Parking is also available across the street, compliments of our friends at North East Methodist Church. Also, our lot on Church Point Road is available.

At St. Mary Anne’s, we traditionally remember to “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 118), with our 10AM Thanksgiving Day Service.

Our beautiful liturgy and music sets the tone for this special holiday of Thanksgiving. Invite your family and friends to this meaningful service and make this your annual Thanksgiving tradition.

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 Bayview Elementary School.

Names will be available in the Parish Hall, Sunday November 24th. A Christmas tree, decorated with remaining names, will be in the Parish Hall on Sunday, December 1, after the 8 and 10AM services. Deadline for gift return is Sunday, December 15th.

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

Our Outreach Food Pantry has been busy this week not only with a food delivery but also their Annual Turkey Distribution.

On Thursday, Food Pantry volunteers distributed over 30 turkeys and the fixings to Food Pantry clients. They will have a second distribution before Christmas.

Thank you for making the holidays a little brighter for our neighbors this holiday season!

The Vestry met on Wednesday evening at 6:30. The following are brief highlights. The full meeting minutes are typically available a week before the next monthly meeting.

• The Vestry meeting opened with a service of Compline from the BCP, pg. 127.
• Fr. John reported on his recent trip with Karen to Italy. He requested the minutes reflect his thanks to the Church and Fr. Sam during their time away. More complete trip notes will be in the e-News of Friday 11/21/24 (see above).
• Senior Warden Mike Pugh reported on meetings he covered for Fr. John.
• Junior Warden George Balog stressed that plantings around the church foundation should be removed. After consultation with various experts, plantings around the foundation can cause water retention and eventual the structural integrity to weaken. Garden Committee members, Sande Taylor and Linda Gibeck will handle this project.
• The Treasurer’s Report by Barbara England was offered. Barbara said we are on track for 2024 but noted rising expenses for goods and services. We were also briefed on our 2025 Stewardship campaign and she will have further details in December.
• Vestry Liaison Reports- Food Pantry is extremely busy. They served 126 families in October. That’s 391 people! We thank Donne Lewis and her team. The Mission Committee is working on their 2025 budget and allocations of funds. The Coffee House has had a successful 2024 season and will now go “dark” (showbiz term) until January. ECW has the Cookie Walk planned for December 7.
• New Business- The Vestry Nominating Committee is working on interviewing candidates for the class of 2025.

The next Vestry Meeting will be Wednesday December 11, 2024 at 6:30pm in the Vestry House.