Meet the Composter: St. Thomas Episcopal Church

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

St. Thomas Episcopal Church just celebrated it’s 325th anniversary, and has a commitment to being a role model in the community. This includes taking care of our environment. Parishioner Amy Roak has been a driving force in implementing sustainable practices at the church. From May through November, the church conducts Barn Sales entitled “Second Saturday Sales”, where volunteers sort through donated items and set up an indoor and outdoor vintage market where members of the wider community can find deals on all kinds of housewares, clothing, tools, rare books and other second-hand goods. 100% of the proceeds go to local, regional, and global community outreach. Amy and her partner Phil run The Garden of Eatin’, a grill at the barn sales that serves burgers, breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and other homemade foods. Amy quickly saw the need to compost the food scraps and convert the paper goods that the grill was using to compostables, and she brought Back to Earth Compost Crew onboard in May of 2022. Composting aligns with the church’s mission of environmental stewardship. The broader Episcopal Church adopted the Genesis Covenant in 2019, which calls on all episcopal churches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their facilities and operations by 50% within ten years. Amy says, “BTECC is helping us to reach that goal.” She has a long-term view of sustainability at the parish, and before implementing new procedures like labeling waste stations with images of items that can be placed into the Recycling, Compost, and Landfill bins, she thought about how changes would affect the grounds crew as well as parishioners, and asked for their input in the process. “I wanted to implement changes that would be effective, have longevity, and be easy to use. I didn’t want to create more work for our dedicated and hardworking staff and volunteers. I did a lot of research and we worked creatively to craft thoughtful and consistent messaging around sustainability.” The changes that Amy has helped enact on the church’s campus have encouraged people to stop and think about where their waste goes, and the effect that it has not only on our environment, but on each other. There are plans to expand sustainability practices into the preschool on campus, additional church buildings, and the church itself. If you are interested in learning more about St Thomas’ Whitemarsh, the Barn Sales, the solar initiative or about the composting practices with Back to Earth Composting Crew, feel free to reach out to Amy Roak at amyroak@verizon.net and check out St Thomas’ Whitemarsh on Facebook and Instagram. stthomaswhitemarsh.org will give you an overview of green practices and vibrant campus happenings as well. Better yet, come and experience a Second Saturday Sale first-hand on June 8th, July 13th, August 10th, September 14th, October,12th, or November 9th. Donations of gently used items are always welcome and can be dropped of at the barn at any time other than sale day! 

Back to Earth Compost Crew is happy to have St. Thomas Episcopal Church in our composting community!