Eastern Shore Episcopalian - Summer 2019

St. Mary the Virgin Church - Repurposed Mission!
St. Mary the Virgin Church in Pocomoke,
Maryland has a new, repurposed
mission! The congregation is filled with
excitement for the opening of our new
thrift store. Recently we were gifted an
abandoned synagogue located next door
to our church. After careful thought and
MANY prayers, the church decided the
best way to utilize the building in order
to help the community would be to open
a store. And did we have some work to
do!
In preparation for the opening, the
church sent out a call for volunteers.
A very enthusiastic group showed
up one Saturday in May to tackle the
building clean out project. The energy
was amazing. One volunteer, who is
not a parishioner, commented that he
could not believe the turnout in helpers.
And his church has at least 4 times the
congregation!
Best of all, God has given
St Mary’s this opportunity
to repurpose ourselves; to
repurpose our dedication to
our church, to our community,
and to Him.
by The Rev. Christine Mottl
Besides the clean out required, The Attic
also needed new brickwork, paint, and
flooring. We also have the finishing
touches to do such as outfitting the
dressing room and setting up the racks
and shelves. In addition, we will be
calling for volunteers again to help us go
through the abundance of donations we
have already received. What a blessing!
St. Mary’s vision for The Attic is to
provide low cost items for families to
stock their homes, such as clothing,
kitchenware, decorations and who knows
what else may be donated! We will accept
any gently used clothing and treasures
that still have a repurpose. The proceeds
will go directly to helping our fellow
neighbors in our community.
If one word could summarize St.
Mary’s mission, it would have to be
REPURPOSE. We are repurposing the
gift of a building from a synagogue
to a thrift store. We are repurposing
items given to us into new treasures for
families. We are repurposing our skills
into a project that is giving our church
new life and enthusiasm. Best of all, God
has given St. Mary’s this opportunity
to repurpose ourselves; to repurpose
our dedication to our church, to our
community, and to Him. We thank God
for this opportunity. And we invite you to
visit us at The Attic and see what God is
doing!
OPPOSITE TOP: Outside of
“The Attic” in Pocomoke.
OPPOSITE: Parishioners and
community members joined
together to rehabilitate
the synogogue for it’s new
dedication as a thrift store.
In order to decide on a name, members
of the church submitted their suggestions
during our Easter gathering. The
committee in charge pondered over
all the wonderful ideas and settled on
a combination to name our store “The
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Attic.”
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