ECM update for September and October 2021

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ECM decided to change our meeting days from Sundays at 5:30 p.m. to Wednesdays at 6:15 p.m. The choice to meet on Sundays was meant to facilitate the participation of more members—both on Zoom and in person. But, with the beginning of the semester and the complete return of students to in person classes, the decision was made to return to our original date and time. Aly—our president sends out reminders via Groupme and email.

In September 2021, we had a Spaghetti dinner for the St. Thomas’s family as a thank you for all the support we have received form the parish. We made whole wheat pasta, vegetarian sauce and served garlic bread. This went over very well, especially with Sunday school group. People seemed pleased with our efforts—and we served every last bite!

Blue Hen Bounty (BHB) food pantry has not stopped serving the community during the pandemic, over Winter break and into the Fall 2021 semester. We have seen a predictable uptick in patronage which has severely depleted our pantry. In response, we emailed Blue Hen Vets and asked them for help—they responded generously as always, and we asked the St. Thomas’s Family for help as well. Donations have been coming in and we are grateful. Please keep us in mind when you shop. In our Fellowship Hall, there is a neat whiteboard in the classroom which has our wish list items on it. When you make purchases, please leave them in the classroom and we will sort and put them away.

We began the exploratory process of determining ECM’s eligibility for the last disbursements of the CARES Act grant courtesy of New Castle County. Unfortunately, we are not eligible because of the funding criteria. Please do keep us in mind if anyone hears about another grant opportunity for BHB. Shout out to Cana and Amy for always alerting us to opportunities.

We asked Cana to distribute a sign-up sheet for ECM dinners. We ask parishioners to make dinner for us and join us in fellowship on Wednesdays. We are roughly seven in number and there are no known food allergies. We have fond memories of freshly baked challah, white bean chili, Stouffer’s lasagna with garlic bread, curry chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and more! Please come and join us! In lieu of parishioner meals, we have been ordering pizza and French fries, which we eat in the kitchen—to give the Girl Scouts some privacy.

In response to an inquiry from a parishioner, we had another discussion about the violent assault that took place recently connected to our campus. As a result, the students decided to reach out to one of the organizers of the protests and verify if we can be supportive during this distressing time. More to come.

We are in the process of working on our budget and will receive support from Amy and Teresa at our next ECM meeting—where they will be sharing a meal with us!

We have begun the process of re-decorating the bulletin boards in the classroom. Please stay posted for our new boards soon!

We are working on our ECM sweatshirts.

Please do remember that Shannon has transitioned from president of ECM to Coordinator of BHB, Aly Hall is our new ECM president, our new ECM treasurer is Claire Wadman with Noah Farnsworth as backup.

With regards,   

Denise Burgher

ECM Convening Graduate Advisor