Holy Trinity Church deals with COVID

“When the pandemic began, The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church struggled to find the safest way to worship together.” said Father Ron Philips. “For a time we worshipped totally via Zoom. Now we offer blended services: both in-person and on Zoom.

“There is an upside. We’ve reached out by publishing a weekly newsletter. We established a strong presence on Facebook. And we’re continuing to refine our Zoom broadcast so it’s closer to an in-person experience. If anything, we’ve grown. We now have as many people on Zoom as we do in church. Some of our congregants who have moved away are joining us. We’ve had Sunday school children from as far away as Missouri.

“A real blessing is our loyal and willing volunteers. They are determined to continue our outreach programs: The People For People (free Sunday meals-on-wheels), The BackPack Program (food for elementary school children for the weekend) and The Help Center (providing assistance with rent, utilities, food and numerous other necessities as well as a GED tutoring programs).”

Costs rose significantly for each of these programs due to COVID.

“But again there is an upside. The Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming provided two grants totaling $20,000. The funds were distributed across all three programs.

“The Help Center was able to coordinate additional assistance from new CARES Act funds and from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).”

For a time the People For People program had to stop using the kitchen at Holy Trinity.

“But there was another upside,” said Philips. “Arrangements were made to purchase meals from the Senior Center since they could maintain a certified kitchen. Volunteers worked together to find a way to feed people.”

The Holy Trinity kitchen has since reopened.

The Help Center continued its services for a time on a “by appointment only” basis to maintain social distance and sanitation requirements. It has reopened with its normal hours, noon-three, Tuesday - Thursday.

The BackPack Program expanded its operations and continued to function within COVID restrictions.

“That’s an amazing bunch of volunteers,” said Philips.