The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club. Children at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church raised enough money this spring to purchase dozens of bicycles for people in rural African communities. Created around Lent, the project was led by the church’s children’s ministry as part of its annual giving efforts in collaboration with Episcopal Relief & Development’s “Gifts for Life” program.
Church leaders said the giving component of Lent was used to connect children’s interest in bicycles with the fundraiser’s goal of providing transportation to impoverished communities. “The season of Lent in church is a time for people to take stock and recenter ourselves on the basics of the Gospel, like giving, fasting and praying,” the Rev. Elizabeth Garnsey said.
Ash Wednesday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church:
6:45 – 8:00 AM Ashes to go at the New Canaan Train Station
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Imposition of Ashes and Private Confession
12:00 noon Holy Eucharist with Choir and Imposition of Ashes (also live streamed)
6:00 PM Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes
The number of households using the New Canaan Food Pantry has risen more than 60% amid the COVID-19 public health emergency, officials said Tuesday. Pre-COVID, the town saw about 40 households availing themselves of the pantry every two weeks, according to Human Services Director Bethany Zaro. This month, more than 65 households are using it, she told members of the Board of Selectmen. “Everything has increased—the money needed, the time,” she said during the Board’s regular meeting, held via videoconference. “People are so grateful for it and it’s definitely part of the town.
Though supportive of Waveny LifeCare Network and of expanding local housing options for seniors, a representative from one prominent Oenoke Ridge neighbor of a proposed housing complex said the organization is not yet ready to support the project. Though Waveny asked St. Mark’s Episcopal Church for a letter of support to include in its Aug. 28 application to the Planning & Zoning Commission, the church has “some significant concerns about the CCRC project and numerous unanswered questions,” Director of Operations Jill Sautkulis said in a letter to the town planner.
The letter, sent Aug. 22, is included in the public file for The Oenoke, a proposed 70-unit senior housing complex that would face Oenoke Ridge from part of a combined 3.5-acre parcel south of the May Fair field.
Police say they found a neglected rabbit abandoned near the town dump last week. Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section, said she picked up the one-year-old female bunny on Oct. 1 on Lincoln Drive.
The animal was “found hiding behind a resident’s garbage cans, thin and matted,” Halm said. On Sunday, Animal Control Officer Jillian Bosch brought the bunny to the Blessing of the Animals at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
