Episcopal Church Women

The Episcopal Church Women at St. Mark’s are active on many fronts. As part of their recent activities they:

Refurbished the remodeled youth room in the basement. This included purchasing a new couch, chairs, and tables.
Paid for the renovation and decorating of the women’s bathroom on the first floor and the two children’s bathrooms on the second floor.
Purchased a new refrigerator, a new freezer and a dish sanitizer in the kitchen along with new drinking glasses, large pots and a food cart.
Bought new shelving in the choir room, a hundred copies of Wonder, Love and Praise and a new music stand to be used in the Sanctuary.
Replaced the old tables in Langley Hall with 26 new white tables.
Renovated the basement for the ECW Rummage Sale in December. This included cleaning, painting, purchasing bookcases for books and a room divider, and paying half the cost of the remodeling of the bathroom in the basement.
Purchased a Rector’s Cloak for Fr. Charles to wear for winter funerals outside.
Gives $500 annually to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund. This year we also gave $250 to the Assistant Rector.
Purchased a children’s communion set in honor of Lettie Shawler for the Children’s Chapel.
Purchased the plaque honoring Jessie Barret outside the Children’s Chapel.
Paid for the Vacation Bible School swim parties.
Budget annually $1,000 to be used for Christian Education, Christmas Angels, and other in-house outreach. Some of this money has gone for Easter parade supplies, VBS supplies, Ice Cream Social supplies, and other little extras that don’t fit into the church’s budget.
Pay for the baked goods for the coffee time following the 10:00 service. This usually amounts to about $800 annually.
Bought new flags.

Outside the St. Mark’s parish ECW does a great deal of outreach. The Episcopal Church Home receives several gifts from us.

$1,200 was budgeted for the Women’s Board Scholarship Fund at ECH. This money enables residents to pay for incidentals at the home.
Conducts a Bingo at ECH in July.
Provide altar flowers for St. Luke’s Chapel one Sunday a year.
Provides a door prize for the ECH Style Show Luncheon in April, and St. Mark’s ECW holds its Christmas party at the Episcopal Church Home in December for St. Mark’s residents and current ECW members.

Every year ECW has several community agencies who receive funds from us. Some from years past include: Crusade for Children; Home of the Innocents; House of Ruth; St.John’s Center; and Prodigal Ministries. This year’s outreach recipients of $500 each are: St. George’s Center; Gilda’s Club; the Bishop’s Discretionary Fund for the Rwanda Clinic; and Crescent Hill Ministries. ECW sponsored Cortney Dale for one week of her Episcopal missionary work in Africa.

ECW also sent $500 to Trustees and Council in late July to help defray the funeral expenses of Claudia Faye Wadlington and Riley Jane Lawrence, the two young girls killed by a hit-and-run driver. Both were Episcopalians, and both were, by gender, young Episcopal Church Women.

Last, but certainly not least, ECW sponsors two annual United Thank Offering Ingatherings –one Fall, one Spring. Historically, St. Mark’s has been extremely generous in the amount of the offering collected in this parish. We are the largest donor in the diocese.

ECW is very busy and is doing a lot both here at St. Mark’s and in the community. However, none of this would be possible without the support of the people of St. Mark’s. Your support by your physical presence, your monetary support, your help with the

Holiday Bazaar, your verbal encouragement, and your prayers are critical to the success of the Episcopal Church Women at St. Mark’s. We thank you. Without you, ECW would not exist and would not flourish.

Anyone interested in joining ECW may come to any of the meetings which are held the second Tuesday of the month, September through May. We look forward to seeing you.