To support its long history of community outreach, St. Luke’s ~ San Lucas Episcopal Church, Vancouver, the oldest Episcopal parish in the Washington Territory, is sponsoring a Holiday Craft and Gift Sale at the church hall, November 22, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sunday November 23 from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm. The church is located one block from the I5 exit for Fourth Plain Blvd. West.
The crafts to be sold are being created and donated to the church by its members. Gift items are also donations from the congregation. The Craft items include wood, fabric, metal, ceramic, paper, photographic items and more. The gift items include costume jewelry, “regifted” items, decorative accessories, antiques and more.
Unique to a Craft Show, a group from the congregation will be hosting a coffee, tea and dessert café. Proceeds from the café will be used to continue the parish’s current practice of purchasing and distributing daily bus passes to the homeless and needy.
St. Luke’s history of community outreach goes back for more than a century and a half. To quote from the parish archives in 1876: “At a recent meeting of the Parish Guild, ladies resolved to do their share toward ‘maintenance’ of Good Samaritan Hospital and Orphanage.”
The Rector, Rev. Edward Rankin and Dr. Samuel Beall, at the Vancouver Clinic and a member of the congregation, were the inspiration for Vancouver’s first free clinic which opened in May of 1990. This kind of community involvement continues. Currently, in addition to daily bus passes, each week food bags and clothing are made available to those in need. For the most part such items are donations from the parishioners. All proceeds from the sale will be used to support these efforts.
