Portsmouth roots run deep at MLK Community Center

St. Mary’s Church is one of center’s biggest benefactors

By Jim McGaw
Posted 9/19/18

PORTSMOUTH — Jennifer Pedrick handed over one big check to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport recently.

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Portsmouth roots run deep at MLK Community Center

St. Mary’s Church is one of center’s biggest benefactors

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Jennifer Pedrick handed over one big check to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport recently.

It was so big, in fact, that the rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth needed help from parishioner Judy Hall to get it through the main door.

The oversized check, for $1,775, will be used to defray the costs of meals served to children attending the center’s preschool and after-school programs. The church raised the money through a “Buy a Child a Lunch" campaign by taking up a collection at the end of each service in August to support children enrolled in the center’s preschool and after-school programs.

It was hardly the first time the church has come to the center’s aid. In fact, according to Marilyn Warren, executive director, no single organization has done more for the community center than St. Mary’s. 

“This is amazing to think that people would give money for the children’s lunches,” said Ms. Warren.

The center’s administration also has strong ties to Portsmouth as both Ms. Warren and Heather Hole Strout, assistant executive director, live in town.

Ms. Strout said St. Mary’s parishioners are generous with more than just their pursestrings.

“So many of their parishioners come and regularly volunteer here at the center,” she said. “When I came to speak last year (at St. Mary’s) and I looked out at the congregation, I recognized so many faces from being here. It’s more than just giving; they’re giving of their time here.”

The relationship between the center and St. Mary’s began over 10 years ago, when a parishioner served on the MLK board and her husband led drives at Sunday church services.

Rector Pedrick said the connection is emblematic of St. Mary’s wider goal of increasing its community outreach.

“We are trying in every way we possible can to create partnerships,” she said. “This one was already established and it’s probably our primary outreach, but we also try to connect with the Aquidneck Land Trust. The Newport County Community Chorus is coming to use our space. We have this beautiful property and generous and gifted people.”

The church’s new mission is “Christian worship, well-being and service” and that means more than simply placing a few bucks in the collection plate, said Rector Pedrick.

“I would like to see people out in the community serving, to follow their dollars — to take their legs and their hearts with their dollars are,” she said.

MLK center’s preschool has 28 children, and there are another 50 in both the after-school program and summer camp. St. Mary’s contributions help ensure the center continues to serve more than 70 meals to children and teachers daily at its Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland Boulevard location.

“It’s a really diverse group of kids,” said Ms. Warren. “It’s a great preschool. They have breakfast, lunch and a snack here.”

About half of the kids receive subsidies from the R.I. Department of Human Services and the other half do not for a variety of reasons,” she said. “(St. Mary’s contribution) is going to subsidize the kids who we get reimbursed for, but it will pay for the lunches for the kids who we do not get any kind of subsidy for. Even though our programs are very affordable, many of our families don’t make a whole heck of a lot of money, so it’s a stretch for a lot of people.”

The cost of a meal, which is reduced in price by B&M Catering, the company that prepares and serves meals to most of the small preschools on Aquidneck Island, is about $2 per child daily, Ms. Hall said.

‘Dignity and respect’

One of the MLK center’s philosophies is “dignity and respect,” said Ms. Warren. “Our food pantry serves 3,000 people and is a client-choice pantry, which means that people go in and choose the food they like; they’re not told what they can take or extended a bag of food,” she said.

That philosophy carries over to the center’s “Santa’s Workshop,” in which members of St. Mary’s also get involved. In this program, low-income families choose donated Christmas gifts for their children and also receive wrapping paper and bows, “rather than just be handed a bag,” Ms. Warren said.

“The parents come in and if they are receiving holiday food, they also go and literally shop for their own children. Depending on what we get for donations, that’s the amount of stuff they get and they’re the ones giving the gifts to their children,” she said.

While the church continues its outreach to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, the center is doing the same for Portsmouth in general. 

In addition to its food pantry that serves about 3,000 people, the organization is piloting a mobile food pantry to reach lower-income families that can’t make it to the center.

“We’ve done seven of them so far,” said Ms. Warren, adding that the center is currently looking for an ideal one-stop location in Portsmouth.

For more information about the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, visit www.mlkccenter.org.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church

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