St. Mark’s feeding hungry by being ‘the church’

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 12/30/14

“Be The Church,” Mother Susan Wrathall of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church said. “I see this distinction between going to and being the church. As Christians, we go to church, we worship, but to …

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St. Mark’s feeding hungry by being ‘the church’

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“Be The Church,” Mother Susan Wrathall of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church said. “I see this distinction between going to and being the church. As Christians, we go to church, we worship, but to live as a Christian community, we have to be the church, and be the embodiment of God’s work in the community. We are the church.”

Three years ago St. Mark’s initiated a community breakfast to help feed the less fortunate of Warwick. The idea came after Mother Susan read Sara Miles’ book, “Take this Bread,” the memoir of an Atheist turned Christian. The call to action resonated with Mother Susan and she, with the help of her vestry, began reaching out to the community to try and “be the church.”

After six months of low attendance at the breakfasts, instead of giving up, St. Mark’s vestry brainstormed ways to increase attendance and awareness.

Since then, St. Mark’s has been running a monthly lunch and pantry on the last Saturday of the month for the less fortunate members of the community. Their most recent lunch was Dec. 27.

Chris Kudla, coordinator of the community lunches, said, “We were having maybe 10 guests at our events and once we switched to lunches, that number went up to nearly 50 people. Through word of mouth and outreach, in the last six months we have seen that number double. Now we are averaging between 80 and 100 guests per lunch. I see new faces at every one.”

This month saw an increase in attendance because, as Kudla explains, with the costs of having to heat homes, more families have less that can go to food. Many in attendance are also elderly. Mother Susan also said that they tried to offer a bigger pantry this month because with schools being out for two weeks, children are missing out on their free lunches from the school.

The lunch is completely volunteer-driven; many volunteers are parishioners. St. Timothy’s also sends several volunteers and some community volunteers have come forward.

Kudla said, “We have a signup sheet for volunteers. We worry about getting enough people, but every month it fills up fast. Once people experience helping out, they always want to come back.”

Last week the lunch was themed red and green with Italian fare of pasta, meatballs, garlic bread and green bean casserole on the menu. All the food for the lunch is made and served by the parishioners. When guests arrive, they are seated at long community tables and younger volunteers waitress, taking orders and serving guests.

“We want our guests to be treated, so we decided not to do a buffet style, but have our lunches be similar to a dining experience. Just as much as it helps our guests, it helps our younger parishioners understand how to be the church.”

Alida Gerdais, a 16-year-old LaSalle student and parishioner of St. Mark’s, said, “It brings me joy to feed people who need the nourishment and to see them happy. Interacting with everyone makes me really happy and it gives me a tiny glimpse of the real world.”

Anneliese Sjogren, 18 and a Pilgrim senior, coordinated one of the lunches for her senior project.

She said, “I had helped before and done every one of the different jobs, but then I was in charge. It went really well and it meant a lot to see my hard work actually help people other than just myself. I really enjoyed all of it. Everyone is always really friendly and appreciative; that’s why I keep coming back to help all the time.”

Kudla said, “The kids here talk and engage with the guests and they get excited to be able to help. They come to really understand the problem. They’re hungry; they aren’t homeless. When people walk through our doors, you can see that they are hungry. We mostly have the working poor, the food insecure at our lunches.”

Guests are not only served lunch, but are welcome to browse the pantry. Canned goods, baked goods, and numerous other food stores are piled upon shelf after shelf and rise high on the tables, but those items quickly fly off the shelves and into grocery bags. Each family can also take two grocery bags full of goods from the pantry home with them. Unique to St. Mark’s is that guests can choose what they want to bring home with them, choosing from the wide variety.

“The lunch is always fun and we have so many people participate,” Kudla said. “It’s like having a big dinner at your house; it’s a lot of work but it isn’t overly hard. The challenge for us is keeping the pantry stocked so that we have enough food for everyone to take home groceries at the end of the lunch.”

Most of the food in St. Mark’s pantry comes from donations. Parishioners bring in goods every week as part of the offering. Hoxie and Randall Holden Elementary and Pilgrim High School have held food drives for St. Mark’s as well.

Several businesses throughout Warwick have also partnered with the church. MetLife donated 1,000 food items, Bob’s, Michael’s, Stop & Shop, and Citizen’s Bank have set up collection bins that then go to St Mark’s. Shaw’s also donates their day-old baked goods for the lunch.

“It brings me incredible joy to see so many businesses want to partner with us, to help those in our community that are less fortunate. I can’t even begin to guess how much we have received since we have started. Altogether, every month we help 65 households. That usually ends up being 125 adults and 20 children between our lunches and pantry,” Mother Susan said.

St. Mark’s has also just received a $3,000 Episcopal Charities Grant to buy goods for their pantry.

Although the lunches have been great for the community, St. Mark’s has been trying to do more to help their less fortunate lunch guests. Year-round St. Mark’s has an aspiring social work intern from Rhode Island College that tries to help the guests.

Mother Susan said, “These people are under or unemployed. Either people don’t qualify for help or they have no clue how to access the programs they need. We purposefully have our lunch at the end of the month because that’s when money and program funds are at their lowest, when funds are the most limited. Our lunches are like a Band-Aid; they only work for so long. We have an intern that our guests can meet with to try and help them escape the systemic issue of poverty and food insecurity.”

Kudla said, “Originally we had no idea what the impact would be, but to see this program blossom is so rewarding. Personally, I see it as a huge accomplishment to be a part of something that bares such an impact as these community lunches. They really have become self-sustaining as well. We have a support system cemented in place now.”

St. Mark’s is always looking for donations. Although they would continue doing the lunch once a month, if St. Mark’s received enough donations they would like to open the pantry twice a month and reach out to the less fortunate.

Mother Susan said, “We are invested as a church to helping our community. I think that’s what keeps new members interested because we are doing something as a church. This has become so much more than a lunch. I have people come up to me and ask me to pray for them or their families.’ We want to meet people wherever they are and offer whatever we can. It is amazing to see our ministry being the church.”

If you would like to donate to St. Mark’s, donations can be dropped off during office hours at the 11 West Shore Rd. location or a check can be written out to the church.

Comments

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  • Newsworthy

    Pastor Sue can fund the pantry on her own. Check out the link, she's a millionaire due to her pension with

    the Westerly School Department. There are many organizations that can use the donations from Bob's and Citizens Bank, etc.

    http://ri-pensions.findthedata.com/l/25191/Susan-L-Wrathall

    Monday, April 13, 2015 Report this

  • Newsworthy

    http://www.ri-pensions.findthedata.com/l/25191/Susan-L-Wrathall

    Monday, April 13, 2015 Report this

  • Newsworthy

    Susan L Wrathall

    Westerly School Dept. Pension

    Susan L Wrathall retired from the Westerly School Dept. on July 01, 2003 and has been granted a total of $1.93 Million in pension payments. Wrathall's 2010 gross pension equaled $48,111, which is 7.1% greater than the average pension of a Westerly School Dept. employee ($44,902), and 60% greater than the pension of an average Rhode Island retiree ($30,087).

    Monday, April 13, 2015 Report this