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St Stephens Community Food Program

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St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church is located in Petersburg, VA.  With the onset of the pandemic the church received many requests from struggling members of the community. The demand has been so great that it overwhelmed the church’s fund that enables us to assist members of the community with help for food, emergency housing assistance and utility bills. This account was quickly used up. We want to continue to address the critical needs of the community we serve. This is the reason we are asking for donations.  

Over the years St. Stephen’s established several feeding programs. We have partnered with the Chesterfield Food Bank and Down Town Churches United in order to extend our food ministry. During the month of August 2020 we have distributed a total of 2,596 meals to school age children. The distribution to school age children is distributed weekly.  We also distribute non-perishable food to any one in need "Twice Monthly" on the 3rd and 4th Thursday of the month and in August 2020 we distributed a total of  490 meals to 49  of our neighbors.  We provide help with emergency housing  to our community and help with monthly utility payments.    

St. Stephen’s was organized in 1867 and has the distinction of being the oldest Black congregation of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Southern Virginia. St. Stephen’s was instrumental in the founding of the Bishop Payne Divinity School for Negro students. The school trained Black men to become priests in the Episcopal Church and trained Black women to become Christian educators.

To assist in supporting St. Stephen’s vision of fostering educational opportunities for the congregation and surrounding communities, in the past we provided an educational program focusing on the spread of the HIV virus. The program was developed and sustained with a partnership between Virginia Department of Health and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

Organizer

Joan Campbell
Organizer
Chester, VA

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