Late April and early May have found St Markans out and about in our neighborhood. On April 24, we hosted Dining out for Life at the Murdoch Perk during Breakfast and Lunch. Lydia and Marylen and Jeff were there when they opened. Jack came shortly thereafter and stayed all morning. Kathi and Sue were also there and so was Louis who took fabulous pics. The Perk gets a pretty steady flow of customers throughout the day, which is nice. St Markans and friends and colleagues of many of us swelled the numbers so that the restaurant was positively CROWDED. Everyone was receptive to our invitation to take the donation envelope and the red ribbon sticker and it was a great day. I don't know how much the Murdoch Perk and its customers contributed to St Louis Effort for AIDS, but we had a great time and had lots of envelopes to turn in.
Then on Saturday May 3, 20 St Markans, called forth by our deacon the Rev. Marylen Stansbery, worked alongside students, parents and teachers at the Busch AAA School, raking leaves and aerating lawns and planting flowers. Ms Shipps, our liaison, gave us a tour of the school. It is full of fascinating examples of student work on the walls and is clean and well cared for. SLPS has fewer resources for caring for the grounds so in consultation with the school
Marylen chose this as our first project in our partnership with Busch. Our youth confirmands were there, with members of their families and others. James Lattimer, a former St Mark's member, now living in another city, happened to hear about this project on a visit to St Mark's and came back to help out because he had been a student at Busch when the building opened.
There will be a return visit to seed and fertilize.
