We are pleased to report that St. John’s this year has received payments, totaling $6,225, on several Capital Campaign pledges made in 2022 that were scheduled to be paid out in 2023. Additional pledges made in 2022 that are anticipated to be paid out in 2023 will total $3,375.
Later this month, we will send out letters to parishioners who have not yet made gifts or pledges to the Capital Campaign, or those who might like to make another gift, with the reminder that our goal is to successfully close out the Campaign in 2023. We are delighted to report the wonderful news that one parishioner didn’t wait for us to send out such a letter, and recently promised a new, generous pledge payment for this calendar year!
The remaining financial needs are principally around three projects: (1) electrical upgrades and electric power and water connections to the new pavilion, (2) lighting at the new parking area and the church’s accessible entrance ramp, and (3) Pomeroy Graveyard fence repair and embankment stabilization.
Concerning our beautiful new prayer circle, a layer of small pea stone will soon be added on top of the existing larger gravel to make it easier to walk around the area and to make the ground more aesthetically pleasing. Then, some enriched topsoil will be added to the existing soil, and several parishioners will donate ferns from their home gardens and plant them around the perimeter of the prayer circle to form a fern garden. Jamie Purinton, the talented landscape architect who has guided the design of many projects at St. John’s will advise on the pea stone placement and fern garden design. It is wonderful that the prayer circle project was largely funded by a St. John’s parishioner as part of the Capital Campaign. This site will be a beautiful, contemplative place, nestled as it is in a grove of trees, where one will hear the joyful noise of nature all around.
Another new site for hearing the joyful noise of nature at St. John’s is the recently established Rheinstrom Garden, which was depicted being planted by Stacia Montenegro, owner of Garden Tenders, and her team in the June 2023 issue of the Voice. Designed by Jamie Purinton, the plantings in the Rheinstrom Garden, so named in recognition of the generous donations to St. John’s from the Rheinstrom Hill Community Foundation, are filling in the beds nicely with loving care provided by parishioners taking turns watering the beds.
A flowering specimen of Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) on August 5, 2023, adds dramatic color and provides ecosystem services in this verdant bed of the Rheinstrom Garden alongside the accessible walkway to the church’s front entrance. – Photo by B. Boom
The native plant species featured in the Rheinstrom Garden are attractive not just to people, but also to a diverse array of animals. Take for example the Hairy Beardtongue, a native perennial herb that is visited by diverse pollinators such as Ruby-throated hummingbirds and a bevy of long-tongued bee species that seek sweet nectar from the plants’ tubular flowers, as well as leaf foragers, such as the larvae of several species of Checkerspot butterflies. The butterflies’ larvae, in turn, attract song birds that are looking for a juicy meal, and so the cycle of life continues to cycle. As the joyful noise of nature emanating from the Rheinstrom Garden increases with time, along with that fostered by the prayer circle plantings and from our church’s already verdant landscape, people will gain greater appreciation for the value of caring for Creation at St. John’s and beyond.
But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. Job 12:7-10 (NRSV).
We wish to thank all who have contributed to the wellbeing of St. John in the Wilderness for many years, and to those who have been moved more recently to contribute to the current Capital Campaign. The letters we will be sending out in the near future will explain the various ways that donations may be made to help in the celebrating and sustaining of people, place, and peace at our wonderful, historic church on a hill in the Taconic Mountains of Copake Falls, New York.
-Brian Boom and Lucy Eldridge, Co-Chairs