In mid-March, St. Elisabeth’s Episcopal Church sent out an appeal for help to clean up the interior and exterior of their 4.5 acre facility on Saturday, March 31. When that day came, approximately 60 people from eight different churches lent a hand to accomplish some much-needed work that the mission has not been able to accomplish by itself. This number also includes five priests and three deacons of the diocese. People worked both inside and out to help the church look its best for Holy Week.
The generosity of time, labor and resources turned the work day into an entire week of accomplishing various aspects of the cleanup. The River Oaks community organization called Neighbors Helping Neighbors came at the beginning of the week to begin mowing and weed-eating along the parking lot. A member of Trinity brought a tractor and brush hog on Friday to pull down a softball backstop that had been overgrown for nearly twenty years. All Saints Fort Worth showed abundant generosity in both labor and resources to support the cleanup and renewal effort that has started at St. Elisabeth’s Church. Representatives from St. Albans in the Theater repaired the swing set, bringing it to a safe and fully usable condition. Members of ECPC helped to mow the entire property two times. Representatives from St. Martins-in-the-Field helped to trim, edge, sweep, and pick up the yard waste around the grounds. The work even continued to the following day when youth from All Saints helped to clean up the columbarium garden on the side of the church. Other crews also accomplished an impressive amount of labor. The yard waste produced by all of these labors was enough to entirely fill two trucks sent by River Oaks for pickup.
The cleanup efforts at St. Elisabeth’s were part of an ongoing concerted effort to bring new life and new directions to the church. This work is being encouraged by the diocese as well as The Episcopal Church’s Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministry, which allocated a significant portion of its budget to help revitalize Latino Ministry in the Diocese of Fort Worth. In addition to having a significant Latino membership, St. Elisabeth’s is also reaching out in its neighborhood, which has become increasingly Latino.
The people and staff of St. Elisabeth’s give their heartfelt thanks for the generosity shown by all who gave resources and time, and worked with us during the entire week.