News Articles

Ann Seligson called every member of a senior group known as the “Silver Bells” at least once a week throughout the pandemic, when seniors were isolated and often alone. The Silver Bells, formerly known as SPARK (Senior Program of Activities, Refreshment and Knowledge) originated at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Valley Stream but needed to shut down due to Covid.

Suffolk County is often known for being one of the wealthiest counties in the United States and for its burgeoning wine region. But tucked among the vineyards, horse farms, waterfront properties, famous residents, and historical sites, is Neighbors Being Human—a community ministry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Yaphank whose mission it is to “support to those facing food insecurity and homelessness and to ultimately help lift people out of poverty.”

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in the neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, hosted an all-day program of poetry and music earlier this month marking the coincidence of Lent and National Poetry Month. Part of the Red Door Series created by the Rev. Spencer Reece – an accomplished poet and St. Mark’s priest-in-charge – the event featured readings from 11 poets, discussions, a musical performance and a communal blend of poetry and liturgy.

Babylon Village in Long Island, New York, is widely known to be a safe and friendly neighborhood and beautiful place to live. Babylon is on the south coast of Suffolk County in Long Island, making it a popular summer destination, but the downtown area exhibits fine restaurants, a historic theatre, and trafficked bike paths that keep both locals and visitors busy year-round. Christ Episcopal Church has been nestled among the now multi-storied homes and quaint parks since the 1930s.

When Valerie Reid and Aimee Williams speak about the Tutoring Enrichment Program they manage at Grace and Resurrection Church in East Elmhurst, Queens, sheer joy radiates from their smiles. They are eager to share teaching techniques, success stories, and the abundant memories they’ve created with their deeply loved students.

A seniors club that began in Valley Stream and ceased meeting at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic has been revived at Trinity-St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hewlett with gatherings since September every Thursday at noon. Now called Silver Bells, the club, Senior Program of Activities, Refreshment and Knowledge, known as SPARK, originated at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Valley Stream, but shut down as the church closed due to Covid.

“This garden stands firm in its Episcopal heritage,” notes Rev. Christopher McNabb, the former Priest in Charge at St. Francis Church in Bellmore. “It is—quite literally—rooted firmly in a Gospel that does not exclude, but invites all people to a sacred space that will nourish them in both body and soul.”

“Middle school is a challenging time in the best of circumstances,” says Nadine Palumbo, high school teacher, parishioner at St. Mark’s in Islip, and founder of Camp Color—a three-day, in-person, humanities-based workshop for middle school students to foster creativity, conversation, and community. After a year of global lockdown and virtual learning, Nadine was hearing from her middle school teacher colleagues how their students seemed to yearn for interpersonal connection. Camp Color was created to provide these young learners with a chance to build friendships and approach learning in an experimental and non-competitive way.

For the last year and a half, Sharon Pemberton says she’s had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “I used to wake up at night saying ‘I’m going to get evicted if I don’t pay my rent’, I get so nervous,” she said with tears in her eyes.

St. Francis Episcopal Church in North Bellmore hosted its first produce pickup Aug. 1 in conjunction with its community garden. The Garden at St. Francis is in its 11th growing season, and provides fresh produce to local shoppers, donating remaining goods on a weekly basis.

Stephanie Campbell is using her green thumb to revive a decades-old garden — and also as a way to give back. Campbell is the garden coordinator of the St. Peter’s Victory Garden, a hidden, peaceful farm tucked behind St. Peter’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church at 500 S. Country Rd. in Bay Shore.

A teacher carefully leads her thirty preschoolers across the road from Loving Hands Montessori Preschool to St. Peter’s Organic Victory Garden just as the warmer months start approaching. Stephanie Campbell, the Garden Coordinator, greets them, eager to share her knowledge and love of nurturing the garden.

“I know my church and I know my people,” explains The Rev. Canon Juan A. Quevedo-Bosch, known to the parishioners of The Church of the Redeemer in Astoria simply as “Father Juan.”

Self-described chili master, knucklehead, and tail-lift expert, Dan Diviney rose to the frontlines of emergency response with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I moved my 40-quart pot and bean soaking vats into the kitchen at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Huntington and called up volunteer firefighters to start buying fifty-pound bags of dried beans.”

As the sun warmed the Big Boy tomato plants in the garden behind the Islamic Center of Long Island, Habeeb Ahmed leaned over to inspect a rogue vine. He wiped his brow as he secured it to a stake and continued weeding, watering and checking plants for pests. This labor of love wasn’t simply to serve his own needs or put food on his own family’s table.

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Volunteers formed a human assembly line in the basement of a Williamsburg church on a recent morning, donning N95 and surgical face masks and sanitized latex gloves as they filled to-go containers with meals.

The North Brooklyn Angels launched a new initiative this week to help laid off restaurant workers and front line health care heroes. The “Neighbors Feeding Heroes” crowdfunding campaign began accepting donations on Wednesday morning with more than $650 raised so far.

Farm stands seem to be everywhere on the North Fork of Long Island. Just-picked, straight from the farm, fruit and vegetables are the draw for many visitors. But for many people living in the area, fresh nutritious vegetables are an unattainable luxury item.

Jacob proudly showed off the letters he had traced to Allison Saydee, who works with the pre-K group at Grace and Resurrection’s Saturday morning tutoring program. When he started, he couldn’t hold a pencil, so it used to be a frustrating exercise for him.

Long Island Congregations Associations and Neighborhoods (LI-CAN) is an organization made up of churches and congregations of various faiths and denominations on Long Island making common cause on issues that affect the fabric of our society.

On a beautiful autumn day in Brentwood, the pews of Christ Church were filled with parishioners and community partners for a joyful celebration of thanksgiving for their thrift store, their volunteers, and supportive members of the community.

One of the great joys and privileges of my work is witnessing the faithful, devoted people who give so much of themselves to care for others.

Amid the natural beauty along the Long Island Sound, campers have the opportunity to experience God in community and develop as leaders with guidance from the caring and faithful staff of Camp DeWolfe.

Grace Church in Riverhead is undergoing an exciting transformation and is being developed as a Diocesan Mission Center. At the heart of this redevelopment is an organization that has had a longstanding relationship with our Diocese, Rural and Migrant Ministry (RMM). RMM is an organization that is dedicated to advancing the rights of farmworkers, seasonal migrant workers and rural communities in NY State.

A 91-year-old Brooklyn woman is one of hundreds who line up for free meals each week in low income sections of the borough. Thomastine Johnson, affectionately known as Granny, makes her way to Maujer Street for a meal from the North Brooklyn Angels Food Truck around 1 p.m. every Wednesday. For some in the rapidly gentrifying areas of North Brooklyn, it's the only meal they'll eat all day.

• "Soup Kitchen on Wheels Named 'Angelmobile' Serves North Brooklyn's Poor," Rasha Guerrier, WABC-TV, June 9, 2018

In recent weeks, those taking note of the American flag truck on County Route 48 that marks the location of Treiber Farms in Southold have likely also seen, just yards away, the Rev. Roger Joslin working with volunteers to create a new garden. They’re involved in the Common Ground project, building a garden meant to provide locals in need with fresh fruits and vegetables they might not otherwise be able to enjoy.

Dozens of people joined together at the Garden at St Francis (St Francis Episcopal Church) in North Bellmore on Earth Day weekend for a Grow-to-Give forum. "The word 'intersectional' comes to mind," said the Rev. Mark Genszler, rector at St Francis. Many participants and speakers were church folks interested in parish gardens and growing food to give away, but many others - participants and speakers alike - were friends and neighbors from various places on the island, Queens to Greenport, holding no particular religious affiliation.

Last November I reported on the Refugees Welcome community dinner at Bushwick Abbey. The event, orchestrated in part by community-support organization The HUBB BK, was so successful that they held another one last Saturday.

On Saturday, March 10th, clergy and lay leaders came together to consider the ways they are recognizing and nurturing the strengths and assets found in their space - both inside and outside the church. During an extended morning plenary session, Chad Brinkman, Program Officer with Episcopal Relief & Development outlined the core teachings of the asset development framework and illustrated how it increases discipleship and creates the way for us to move beyond charity and towards social justice and equity.

Grace Episcopal Church in Riverhead, New York, had been a parish in decline for decades, according to its last priest-in-charge, the Rev. Mary Garde. Its deep roots on the East End of Long Island, dating to the mid-19th century, weren’t enough to stem the gradual erosion in membership that led, early this year, to the church’s closure.

Breakfast is served at 8:30, but by 8:15 about 15 people are gathered in a circle to pray. A few of the regular guests had asked the St. George’s volunteers if they could pray together before the meal. Soon several more guests joined in and began leading the prayers.

At the Episcopal Ministries of Long Island Thrift Store Workshop on Oct 7, over 50 attendees representing 27 parishes learned how to make their thrift stores a thriving ministry. Presenters from three parishes shared their experience about everything from merchandising to marketing to volunteer management. The attendees learned that the ministry truly thrives when there’s a welcoming space that offers more than bargains but also the blessings of a caring community.

Barely three months after the Angelmobile took flight, the number of piping hot lunches it delivered to hungry people throughout northern Brooklyn more than tripled. Beginning in the last week of June, this 40-foot mobile food truck started serving about 300 meals across three days a week. The truck is operated by the North Brooklyn Angels, nonprofit organization of community groups, churches and businesses focuses on fighting hunger, food insecurity and poverty.

Imagine for a moment, a 4-year-old boy leaping over tires and tree trunks, playing in the mud, running through rows of corn, tasting tomatoes just plucked from the garden and banging on overturned tin pots. That boy — plus about a dozen other children — lived those idyllic, rural moments this summer in suburban Long Island as part of a new summer camp initiated by The Garden at St. Francis Episcopal Church in North Bellmore.

On recent Monday night, Patricia Street sat down at a linen-clothed dining table decorated with fresh flowers, china and silverware. She scanned the menu. Moments later, she savored a bean appetizer, fettuccine Bolognese, garlic bread, tiramisu, fresh pineapple and watermelon. “I’ll tell you, the meals are fabulous,” said Street, 66, of West Babylon. “This place is a godsend. The people, they’re very nice. They treat you with dignity.”

The Angelmobile - a specially built RV fully equipped with a kitchen, food storage facilities, office space and outdoor awnings - is now open in North Brooklyn to provide aid to those in need. It can serve up to 800 meals per day and also provide critical services, including housing, substance abuse, employment and counseling. The North Brooklyn Neighbors Helping Neighbors Coalition is working with the support of EMLI to bring the street service to the communnity.

• "Already in action, Angelmobile gets ribbon-cutting ceremony," Andy Katz, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 21, 2017
• "Mobile soup kitchen to bring hot food to those in need," News 12 Brooklyn, June 28, 2017
• "North Brooklyn to welcome 'Angelmobile'," Paula Katinas, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 21, 2017

When Miriam first arrived at St. Michaels and All Angels Church in Seaford to visit the Mother and Child Ministry, she was worried about her baby’s rash. She knew the problem was the diapers but she couldn’t afford the diapers she needed. She heard about the ministry and hoped they could help.

• "Seaford Pantry Goes Beyond Food, Focuses on Mothers, Children," David Olson, Newsday, July 13, 2017

Nearly 60 diocesan clergy and lay leaders gathered on Saturday, March 11 for a day to learn more about issues currently facing families and children and how they can help.

On December 10, 2016, under the new leadership of Rev. Winfred Vergara, Holy Trinity church in Hicksville organized an introductory workshop on Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and a group of clergy and lay leaders spent the day learning and delving deeper into the art and skills of community building.

For six weeks this summer, 30 campers enjoyed fun activities at St. George’s Summer Day Camp in the Bed Stuy section of Brooklyn.

“It’s her only meal for the day,” says Father Gerardo Romo, about the brown bag lunch that he hands out to a particular woman each week at the East Hampton Long Island Rail Road station.

At 87 years old, her mind was sharp as a tack but she had suffered a stroke which took a toll on her physically. She had to give up her independence – and her bowling league - and now had to rely on others to go anywhere.

An ambitious parish project, with significant backing from Episcopal Ministries of Long Island, is launching in Greenpoint to feed the hungry, provide counseling on social services and bridge the gap between rich and poor neighbors in this gentrifying neighborhood.

When I met Mike, he had just been placed through foster care with a family in Suffolk County. Before coming to live with them, he had spent much of his childhood moving around and had experienced some tough times.