Wardens Corner

News from Senior Warden,

John Priscantelli

Meet the Parish

PROFILE

The Brundige Family

Welcome to Jesse and Gabrielle, and their family:

Celine (4 years old)

Orson (2 years old)

Callan (1 year old)

Gabby and I (and our baby daughter Celine, who is now 4 years old) moved to Chappaqua in July 2020. In hindsight, ending up in Chappaqua was anything but inevitable – I originally grew up in Long Island, went to college in Virginia, and moved back to Manhattan in 2007 right after school. Gabby was born in Paris, lived in London during childhood, then Chicago for high school, and eventually landed in college also in Virginia. I met Gabby in 2012 while she was living in Miami – we dated long distance for a time. By 2018 we were married and living in Brooklyn, with a baby on the way.

During the initial few months of pandemic lockdowns, we decided to short-term rent a house near the beach and soon fell in love with the experience of both living in an actual house (versus a cramped apartment) and also being close to and amongst nature – where you could easily take a walk outside your house and feel immersed in natural spaces. By May 2020, like every other married millennial couple in Brooklyn, we became glued to Zillow in search of a house to buy in the suburbs. But because of our experience at the rental house, we were not focused on towns like Larchmont or Rye that pre-pandemic we assumed we might end up in. Instead, our search quickly became focused more north and west, in and around Chappaqua, where there are larger lots and easy access to hiking and nature (plus more of an overall natural atmosphere). We’ve been here for three and half years now and have never looked back – oh, and we added two new members to the family since then: Orson (3 years old in February) and Cal (1 year old), who was baptized at St. Mary's.

After Cal was born in late 2022, we started to focus on identifying a local church in the area to join – we both grew up attending church regularly and valued the sense of community that church fosters, as well as positive impact derived from taking time out of one’s Sunday to pause, pray and say thanks to God. We had made friends locally with two families – the Langs and the Dunns – who informed us in early 2023 that they had started attending the St. Mary’s church right in town. We attended our first service in spring of 2023 and were immediately impressed by Father Chris and his sermons, as well as by the congregation – everyone was so warm and made us feel like a part of the community from the very first visit. There was no need to church hunt any further! Gabby and I felt at home right away and began attending services almost every Sunday. We have been thrilled with the experience of being a part of St. Mary’s – after just one short year, the church has become such an important part of our family and our weekly routine.

Going forward, our aim is to get more actively involved in church outside of just Sunday services – we are very intrigued by the fellowship that St. Mary’s participates in with organizations such as Midnight Run and others and are eager to contribute toward those efforts. 

Midnight Run 2023

Midnight Run 10/27/23

I have been involved with Midnight Run for the past few years, but this was the first time I had the chance to experience the full scope of this mission. What a special night! It was beautiful to see how all of the moving parts came together—starting with Sean, Eric, and Denise coordinating the evening to the army of volunteers donating clothing, food, and toiletries. The Romeos cooked chili for the event, and our church family made sandwiches, organized donations, and loaded all the supplies into the van.

I then rode into NYC with Sean, Eric, Christian, Cindy, Britt, and Joe. The weather and company could not have been better; however, the real highlight was getting to meet and chat with the people in need who approached us for clothes and food. They were so appreciative of our small gesture of kindness. We received countless “thank yous” and

“God bless yous”. One unhoused person asked if we could go down the street to offer food to someone who could not walk to the van. Several asked when we would be back and wished us safe travels. It was indeed a night that I will not forget.

– Tirza Santill

World Vision

Outreach Liaison:Penney Klingman

(pjklingman@aol.com)

Following a presentation in church by representatives of World Vision (www.worldvision.org) in 2006, the Outreach Committee, in coordination with the Sunday school, funded the annual sponsorship of a Cambodian girl, five-year old Sopha Sak. At that time, over 30 families in our parish also chose to sponsor a child through World Vision. 

The $30 monthly sponsorship fee provides basic necessities that help sponsored children reach their full potential, including access to safe water, better nutrition, health care, educational opportunities and economic development opportunities for their family, community and other families in need. 

From 2006 until 2014, our Sunday school children sent letters and small gifts to Sopha, and she in turn wrote back to the Sunday school. In addition to the sponsorship fee, St. Mary’s provided additional funds which enabled Sopha to get a bicycle, clothes, mosquito nets for her family and rice for the village granary. 

In 2014 when Sopha was offered an educational opportunity and no longer needed our support, the Sunday school made the decision to sponsor another child, 9 year old Kimhieng Phlay. When Kimhieng and her family moved away from their community in 2016, we began sponsoring Kimyin Choeng.

In 2010, I was able to travel to Rwanda with World Vision to meet the children being sponsored by my family and saw firsthand how sponsorship makes a real and lasting difference the lives of these children and their communities. I would be glad to speak with anyone who would like to learn more about sponsoring a child through World Vision.