RIO GRANDE — Episcopal Partners in Ministry of Cape May County will celebrate the beginning of another school year with the Blessing of Backpacks Sunday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. followed an ice cream social at The Branches in Rio Grande.
Students of all ages (preschool through adult) are invited to bring their backpacks to The Branches for a special dedication to mark the beginning of a new school year. Parents, teachers, aides, principals, administrators, school nurses, counselors, secretaries, cooks, librarians, janitors, and bus drivers are all invited to join in the event which will include a special blessing, affirming each in their vocation. Following the blessing, ice cream sundaes will be served. There is no charge for this event and all are welcome to attend.
In conjunction with this event, Episcopal Partners in Ministry of Cape May County is collecting school supplies and backpacks for area children. More than 50 backpacks filled with supplies will be dedicated at the event. Representatives from Ocean Academy, David C. Douglass Veterans Memorial School and Carl T. Mitnick School in Lower Township and Families Matter, LLC will be on hand to receive the filled backpacks which will go to students they have identified.
“This event felt like a natural expansion of ministries that are already taking place between our two churches, ” noted the Rev. Debra K. Bullock, vicar at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Villas and assistant to the rector at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Stone Harbor. “St. Mary’s This ‘n’ That Thrift Shop in Rio Grande]and St. Barnabas’ Cares Food Pantry in the Villas assist many families in the area with essential needs, especially affordable clothing and food assistance. Collecting back to school supplies just made sense.”
Items still needed include new backpacks; 2-pocket portfolio folders; glue sticks; heavy-duty, plastic pencil cases with zippers; 24-count boxes of crayons; 10- or 12-count boxes of markers; erasers; colored pencils and pencil sharpeners. Items can be dropped off at St. Mary’s, 9425 Third Avenue, Stone Harbor, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon; St. Barnabas, 13 W. Bates Avenue, Villas, Monday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Wednesday 1 to 4 p.m. and Thursday 9 a.m. to noon, and The Branches, in the Village Shoppes at the intersection of 2nd Street and Vermont Avenue, Rio Grande. Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. noon.
The Branches is part of Episcopal Partners in Ministry of Cape May County, a partnership of St. Mary’s and St. Barnabas. For more information, contact the Rev. Debra Bullock at St. Barnabas by the Bay Episcopal Church, 464-2158 or the Rev. John Sosnowski, rector, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church at 425-8645.
Cape May – Last week I witnessed a woman helping a man who seemed to be having difficulty getting up in the water. the next thing I saw was she also was injured. My Uber ride was there to take me to the…
