By Fiona Stokes, 16th Episcopal District
By Fiona Stokes, 16th Episcopal District
The Rev. Jermaine Mulley has been the pastor at St. Luke AME Church in St. Croix for just under two years. In his short time, he has focused on the spiritual health of his congregation along with their physical and social health.
As social distancing mandates began to fall into place and stay-at-home orders were sanctioned in the rise of the COVID-19 global pandemic in March, Pastor Mulley had already transitioned his services away from in-person gathering. He was the first pastor in the territory to do so as he prepared to move into virtual services to keep his membership safe. Mulley was very vocal about it and has since furthered his plans for an outreach program that he hopes will reinforce safety and well-being and cultivate a healthy lifestyle while preparing the church membership for the vision of being more present and active within the community.
Following the transition to the virtual church, the pastor said that it became more apparent that only providing spiritual food through the word of God for his congregation at the Estate Grove Place Church during the pandemic would not be the best he could do. He said that he should also provide them with nourishment for their bodies to boost their immune system against the coronavirus. “The goal was all-encompassing for me to help our congregation stay home, eat healthier, and adopt a change in their diets and hopefully allow them to become more resistant to the virus,” he said. “I began going to the farmer’s market early on Saturday mornings and picking out some food that I’d been distributing to the members weekly,” he added.
The Rev. Mulley’s care packages, called “Pandemic Provision, include a variety of locally-grown items that he purchases from the farmer’s market. He includes spinach, kale, collard greens, tomatoes, herbs, parsley, local eggs, pumpkin, mango, and any other fruits and vegetables that he can get. He noted, “It fosters a change and a shift to a healthier lifestyle… It may not be everything that they need right now, but it is a start.”
The Church’s steward and RAYAC leader, Sister Colleen Liburd-Azubuike, who is also a registered nurse, said, “The personal efforts and financial sacrifices of Pastor Mulley are to be commended and appreciated by the membership. We have a diverse congregation and there are some of our members who are elderly and some who have compromised immunes systems and underlying health issues,” she said. “According to the CDC, these are the ones who are hardest hit by the virus. It is great that he thought of this way to assist them in staying healthy,” she added.
According to Azubuike, “[For] the church membership and the community, on the whole, it is better to start sooner than later to incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into their diet, and many are opening up to that.” She also said, “The produce that they’ve received, some of our members are talking about small boxed gardens they have started in their homes to encourage the health change in their lifestyle.”
As the Rev. Mulley thinks about moving the program to its next phase of providing pandemic produce, he said he plans to develop some of the land owned by the church in the area and turn it into a community garden. He said the community and world learned lessons about food security during the pandemic. The most consistent way to control food supply is to grow it yourself. “Your body is your temple; and as we focus on stewardship, we have to practice taking care of our bodies,” he said. Continuing, “Our bodies should be filled with foods that are good for us and gives us energy. It is a start to prepare us for more growth with a collective responsibility of stewardship.”
