ECW WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE

While our parish is going through some very challenging and exciting times, The Board of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church Women (most times referred to as ECW), wants to make sure we are here for you. If you are a woman in our parish, you are a member of the ECW!

Many have asked what ECW is and what it does. We have attached a fun video to watch which gives you a sense of what we do. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6v75yeljcr2al9f/ECWvfinal.mp4?dl=0

We like to create social events, support spiritual growth and education, and raise funds through:

  • The Echo Shop
  • Bake Sales – Pi Day pies
  • Summerwinds Garden Party
  • United Thank Offerings (UTO) boxes for lent, to name a few….

Where do the funds we collect go?

Through the tremendous effort and dedication of the volunteers in The Echo Shop, we are fortunate to be able to distribute almost all of the proceeds to charities within our county. The agencies supported are not only vetted by us, but must have a church member as an advocate, in order to receive funds. Santa Maria Urban Ministries, The Canterbury Foundation and Next Door are just a few of the charities we support. Contact us if you are interested in more information.

What else do we support?

  • Saint Andrew’s Youth group and Children’s Programs, their ministries and scholarships
  • The Episcopal Church Periodical Club – supporting literacy around the world
  • The United Thank Offering – a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church, as part of the Diocesan ECW.
  • Camp Saint Andrew’s
  • Scholarships for Women’s Retreats, events, and more….

We are happy to report that even with all the challenges this year, through the dedication of The Echo Shop volunteers, so far, we have been able to give $10,000.00 to Santa Maria Urban Ministry and $10,000.00 to Our Daily Bread to support the feeding programs at both of these agencies!

What else do we do?

We provide helping hands and support the children, youth and camp

programs. We help with our time, talents and participate in many church ministries and activities such as the Altar Guild, Women’s Group, Stephen’s Ministry, Eighties Ladies, BookClub, Sacred Threads, Prayer Shawl ministry, Vestry, and more. We lend helping hands to other ministries that may need us, as well as set-up, clean-up and decorate for dinners, brunches and bar-b-ques. In other words, we are always there to lend a helping hand.

The ECW builds community through our Summerwinds Garden Party, and the Spring Luncheon, held the end of May, where we vote on our new board and budget for the year.

This year with the challenges and opportunities that COVID has brought we have added Zoom board meetings on the second Monday of every month and Zoom ECW Friday Happy Hours from 4 to 5 pm, open to everyone, to stay connected and to catch up and chat.