St. Matthew’s and Stagville Descendants Council receive Diocesan Grant!

Last winter, Allan Parnell and Lisa+ applied for a diocesan grant to support St. Matthew’s and the Stagville Descendants Council as they Build Beloved Community. This week we learned we got the grant!

This grant was made possible from the sale of property at 200 West Morgan Street, the former Diocesan House, which made available $5 million to support mission strategies of the diocese. We made our request under the diocesan mission priority of Racial Reckoning, Justice and Healing.

There were two parts to our request: First, both St. Matthew’s and the Stagville Descendants Council (SDC) would honor those enslaved by the Cameron family.  St. Matthew’s would use funds to support a memorial to the enslaved workers who built St. Matthew’s, and the SDC would restore the Little River Cemetery where many of their ancestors are buried and continue to expand their efforts to educate the community about their enslaved ancestors and the lives of their descendants.  Second, using our histories as a starting point, both groups would come together quarterly to share a meal, address our shared histories, and hopefully build a foundation of trust and action to guide us towards Beloved Community.

We will receive $50,300 to be used towards these projects and dreams. Stay tuned as we begin to envision what this will look like.

Thanks be to God for all that is right and good and joyful in our work together!