Community Outreach and Reconciliation
Ministry leader, Sharon McElfish, shares her experience participating in two outreach ministries that speak to St. Anne’s journey in building community relationships and reconciliation: ACT (Anne Arundel Connecting Together) and the Stanton Community Center Homework Club.
ACT (Anne Arundel Connecting Together)
At a St. Philip's Vestry meeting, the members decided to volunteer at the Stanton Community Center Homework Club. As our relationship developed with St. Philip’s, they invited me to join them in attending an ACT meeting where congregations sit in church-labeled pews. I joined them, and now St. Anne's is a member of ACT, where we have built ACTions from removing lead from drinking water in AACPS to our current goal of attainable, affordable housing for our workforce in Anne Arundel County.
STANTON COMMUNITY CENTER HOMEWORK CLUB
Twenty St. Anne's parishioners plus community members meet Mondays -Thursdays from 3:00-4:00 with our preK-5th grade children. We read books from our well stocked library and learn basic math skills. Our focus is on building long-term relationships with the children, their parents, and the staff. Our outreach ministry was created many years ago by Deede Rivers and George Belt of the Stanton Community Center, to help students K-12 with their homework.
Through our journey, we continue to connect with former students. One currently works part-time at The Stanton Center while taking online college classes. We met her as a 3rd grader. Another student, we met as a pre-kindergartener and helped her to apply for aid to enter Morgan State. She remains in a close relationship with us.
It is not uncommon to pass a teen on the street and hear, "Do you remember me?"