THE DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA CLIMBS TO SECOND PLACE IN UNITED THANK OFFERINGS IN PROVINCE IV
2007 UNITED THANK OFFERING GRANT AWARDS ANNOUNCED
DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA RECEIVES A 2007 UNITED THANK OFFERING GRANT AWARD
With 20 dioceses in Province IV, the Diocese of North Carolina has climbed to second place in United Thank Offerings, very close to first place Upper South Carolina. The Diocese of North Carolina total United Thank Offerings for 2006 were $55,170.44.
Announced in May 2007, The United Thank Offering Committee had 202 grant requests for over $8 million. One hundred and four grants were awarded for $2,439,342.46. This included the total from 2006 Ingatherings plus the interest earned. In some cases, even though the criterion was met, there was no funding available.
Each spring, UTO Committee members review and research each grant from their respective provinces. Of the 104 grants awarded, Episcopal dioceses in the United States received 48%; overseas and regional grants received 52%.
The 2007 United Thank Offering grants responded to the call to "feed my sheep," both physically and spiritually. The two largest grants will build a hospital in Pakistan and a church in Homer, Alaska. Other grants will help rebuild the Grace Day Care Center in New Orleans, severely damaged by Katrina; purchase a mini-bus for St. George's, in Baghdad, Iraq, enabling children to safely attend school now being held at the church because of the war damage; and purchase a former convenience store for use as a food pantry in a rural area of West Texas. The smallest grant provides a small parish in Mississippi with Sunday school materials and patterns to make children's altar furnishings.
UTO is a spiritual and financial partner in the mission work of the Episcopal Church, encouraging daily thankful prayer and offerings. UTO grants focus on addressing compelling human needs and expanding the mission and ministry of the church.
In the Diocese of North Carolina, RAIN (Regional AIDS Interfaith Network) received a 2007 United Thank Offering grant award of $15,000. This grant will enable RAIN to expand the number of volunteers trained, number of CareTeams established, and pastoral care for those infected and affected with HIV/AIDS.
RAIN meets the spiritual, practical and emotional needs of persons with HIV/AIDS and sets the standard high for compassionate care. RAIN understands that the faith community plays an essential role in shaping the public's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and can be one of the most powerful contributors in combating HIV transmission and the eradication of stigma and discrimination.
RAIN has very strong ties with the Diocese of North Carolina and Episcopal congregations. Christ Church in Charlotte hosted the 2006 Annual Covenant Renewal Service, where Bishop Michael Curry served as the keynote speaker. Five Episcopal congregations in the diocese have active CareTeams with 30 volunteers.
RAIN engages the community to transform lives and promote respect and dignity for all people touched by the AIDS crisis through compassionate care, education and leadership development. RAIN has been serving Charlotte and surrounding counties since 1992.
United Thank Offering Grant Award an Immeasurable Gift!
La Casa de San Marcos / Saint Mark's House
The focus again, for two reasons, of this 2007 United Thank Offering article is La Casa de San Marcos/Saint Mark's House, in Wilson:
First, La Casa de San Marcos/Saint Mark's House received the largest United Thank Offering grant award in the Diocese of North Carolina in more than ten years.
Secondly, there is absolutely no way anyone could have imagined the chain of events that have taken place at Saint Mark's Church.
The grant award was to help build an interracial and multicultural community center adjacent to a church where an established Episcopal African American congregation had invited a Hispanic congregation to share its facilities. The history of Saint Mark's Church is rich with its ministry to African Americans in the Wilson community for more than 125 years. The first school for black children in Wilson County was established by Saint Mark's and operated for more than 40 years.
La Casa de San Marcos/Saint Mark's House began from a foundation made with hands and built on an eternal foundation blessed by our loving God. This venture in faith was immeasurably blessed with a $30,000 grant from the United Thank Offering and generous gifts from parishioners and friends. Wilson contractor Robert Cunningham contributed his time and talent-foregoing any personal profit. Since the groundbreaking, on the Day of Pentecost in May 2005, members and friends of Saint Mark's Church and La Guadalupana have gathered materials and supplies.
The new community center reaches out to residents (including more than 500 children) in a 12-block Black and Hispanic neighborhood. The Rev. Philip Byrum has expanded the Saint Mark's Church ministry to not only include regular services but has incorporated a ministry that has become a beacon of light in the neighborhood. Both congregations are committed to working together to keep a growing, worshiping community focused beyond themselves to seeking and serving Christ in their midst and in their troubled and distressed neighborhood. Saint Mark's has approximately 60 members and La Guadalupana has approximately 500 members.
The new facilities are providing for the distribution of more than 6,000 pounds of food items delivered to Saint Mark's from the Food Bank of North Carolina. Members from many faith communities in Wilson gather on the first Tuesday of each month to assist with the food distribution. Food is supplied to approximately 125 families with 400 to 500 family members. La Casa de San Marcos/Saint Mark's House also provides facilities for evening and summer programs as well as Bible School programs in English and Spanish. Spanish-speaking men gather four times each week for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. This summer, there is a 5-day-a-week feeding program for school-age children. A new reading program has been started, focusing on children 0-5 years. The reading program welcomes older children and their parents. The church will also focus on migrant workers who are guests in our area.
In the summer of 2006, the community center was ready for putting the finishing touches inside the facilities and preparing for landscaping and paving when the unimaginable happened. On August 13 Saint Mark's Church was severely damaged by fire set by an unknown arsonist. Demolition crews have removed the parish hall attached to the church. Saint Mark's Church has been cleaned. The challenge before the congregation now is a thoughtful and wise consideration of the restoration of their church building.
Lost in the fire were the vestments acquired by Rev. Byrum over the past 40 years, as well as books, Christian Education materials, altar linens and hangings, historical artifacts, oil paintings, tables, chairs and filing cabinets. The kitchen was a total loss. Located a mere 12 feet from the church, the new community center escaped the wrath of the fire. Within the church, the lovely hand-carved wooden Italian Madonna and Child, given in memory of Anne Byrum, remained unscathed.
There is a huge BLESSING in all of this! The community center/parish hall, begun because of a grant award by the United Thank Offering, has become, for now, the "church" and with great planning and dedication, the "church" is truly sacramentally inviting. Since August 13, the day of the fire, there have been 40 Baptisms, seven weddings, six Quince Anos, 12 First Communions, and five Requiems.
Loving gifts in many forms from throughout the Diocese of North Carolina and far beyond have come. Though a tragedy was felt, the two congregations have grown closer and each has grown closer to the communities beyond. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).
