
News (Continued)
St. John's Episcopal Church Celebrates 150 Years (continued)
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Miller, 75, has spent most of her life at St. John's and was baptized there in the early 1950s. Her wedding and her children’s and grandchildren's baptisms were also held at St. John's.
The positive community of the church can be felt on a personal level, said parish member Americus Vicari. Vicari, 102, is the oldest member of St. John's and has spent 25 years worshiping there.
"My wife and son passed within three months of each other, said Vicari. "They both had their services there. It's been a church that's been special to me.”
The church has also supported local and international causes, said Kim Blake, St. John's celebration chair. St. John's feeds 100 local families weekly through a food pantry partnership with the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries organization. Through that same partnership, they distributed almost 167,000 meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Every third Sunday, members of the parish cook and serve food at the New London Community
Meal Center.
Knitters in the church deliver handmade prayer shawls to chemotherapy patients at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, and church members have had a ministry at the York Women's Prison in East Lyme.
St. John's has aided refugees for around 50 years and has welcomed 150 refugees to East Lyme. Two members created the Haiti Dress mission, which created 162 dresses out of pillowcases for young girls in Haiti to wear to school.
Community service has always been part of St. John's history, Miller said. St. John's first chapel was a wooden, $1,000 building with green paint and white trim. Niantic Public Library operated out of the chapel for 20 years before it had its own building. The annual Niantic Art Show, which happens every Fourth of July weekend, started on St. John's Green in 1964. During this time, the church's Twin Haven Project built 40 low-income housing units for seniors in East Lyme in 1972.
The newest version of the church, located on 400 Main St., was built in 1970.
The celebration will host 100 members of the church who will receive a 22-page written history of St. John's. State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, is a member of the parish and will be speaking at the event, along with the newly elected Episcopal Church of Connecticut Bishop Jeffrey Mello.
"It's fulfilling to have everyone together," said Blake. "We really wanted to plan this celebration to be special for such a big event.”
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