Immanuel Episcopal Church is a small congregation consisting of under 150 congregant families, with approximately 50 church attendees each Sunday. Their congregants are mostly age 50 – 90, and Immanuel Episcopal Church has a small Sunday School with 8-to-10 children who attend regularly. 

Their Creation Care programming is carried out by 5 church members, all over 65 years of age. Immanuel Episcopal Church became members of IPC in 2022, having already achieved Phase I (Monarch Waystation) of a two-phase project to create an acre sized, pollinator-friendly meadow. The congregation has had a functioning Monarch Waystation garden since our first planting day in May 2019.

In 2023, Immanuel Episcopal Church began solarizing sections of the meadow outside the fenced garden to prepare for planting plugs and seeds of native, deer-resistant perennials. This work is done in partnership Cub Scout Pack 485, and BSA Scout Troops 485 and 1485, all meeting weekly at Immanuel, to achieve Phase II. They have had 3 work days in 2023 with the Scouts. In March, Cub Scout Pack 485 laid black plastic to solarize (kill invasive plants) in an area 20’ x 100’, made milkweed seed balls to plant in the meadow in Dec. 2023, and planted seeds of butterfly weed and tithonia to take home to plant in each Scout's own garden. In May, 2023, two scouts events occurred: 2 scouts from BSA Troop 485 and their parents planted native inkberry bushes and a redbud tree around the church; 8 scouts and 3 scout leaders from BSA Troop 1485 solarized another 20’ x 100’ section of the meadow, transplanted several species of native plants in a cleared area of the meadow, and reinforced with wood chips the paths within the Monarch Waystation.

Immanuel Episcopal Church is looking forward to carrying forth their Creation Care efforts and being faithful stewards of the Chesapeake Bay!

You can learn more about Immanuel Episcopal Church here.