The Episcopal Church Women is an active fellowship ministry at St. Mary Anne’s. All the women of the parish are considered “members” of this fellowship group.
Meetings are held periodically during the year. Two yearly fellowship events are our summer evening pot-luck picnic (usually held at a parishioner’s home in mid-June) and a Christmas Social. During the Christmas Social, the ECW holds an Annual Drive for shoes and socks for our Heart & Sole Ministry. In December, the ECW spends a lot of time baking cookies for the Annual Christmas Walk, held on the 2nd Saturday in December. New this year, was a joint Mission Committee and ECW effort when they hosted a Queen Anne Tea with funds benefiting Our Little Roses Missionary Society of Honduras.
Another major fundraiser initiative is the ECW’s effort with both the Perennial Plant Table and the Hot Dog Sale at SMA’s Annual Garden Market. Funds generated from these two efforts benefit the ECW’s planned outreach efforts. Monies have been dispersed to the Diocese’s Children Home Foundation, The Bishop’s Guild, Outreach Food Pantry, an annual Vestry Pledge, and Parish Hall kitchen repairs and supplies.
Pastoral and hospitality ministries, in the form of funeral luncheons, is another component of this active women’s group, Hospitality, comfort and food are served to grieving parishioner’s, and their families, at the conclusion of a loved one’s funeral service. During funeral arrangements with the clergy, immediate family members must indicate their desire for a luncheon, and then plans can be made with the appropriate ECW representative.