A Creation Care Initiative
Beginning in the Fall of 2021, a small group of clergy and parishioners from St. Philip’s (Jill Bullard and Sue Guptill) and St. Titus (Stephanie Yancey, Sarah Woodard, and Lew Myers) began discerning ways to embrace the call to care for God’s creation, and to do it while considering racial equity.
We are aware that people of color often live in urban areas with few green spaces and without space for lawns or gardens. After much prayer and exploration of possibilities, we agreed that offering resources to the children who attend elementary schools close to our two parishes would be our best place to begin.
We were able to make connections with the right official at Durham Public Schools (who turned out to be St. Philipian Linda Turgurian), where we learned that DPS is enthusiastic about Outdoor Learning, and welcomes help and resources to promote it. With Linda’s help, we first became engaged with staff at Fayetteville Street Elementary School, where the principal (Ebony Bailey) and art teacher (Nancy Lambert) already had a real vision for developing Outdoor Learning at the school.
We added more members with gardening expertise (Alexa McKerrow, Milo Pyne and Mary Beth Berkley), while the school engaged the volunteer group Creekside Cares, and together we began work on repairing large planting boxes at the school and getting them ready to plant and made plans for adaptation of more space in the Fall of 2022. In August we will be helping get a sensory garden established and helping maintain the pollinator bed and working with Audubon to get bird houses and bird baths in place. In September the children will be participating directly in planting, tending the beds and observing nature at their school. While this continues, we hope to also engage with other schools to assist them with putting their own vision into place.
In the long term, we also want to make St. Philip’s in the Trees a different kind of Outdoor Learning option.
Want to help? There are opportunities! You don’t have to be an expert at anything, although we welcome expertise, too. This is a great chance to work in partnership with another parish, the school system, and other community groups. For more information contact Sue Guptill.