Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2018

67 www.HurricaneMagazines.com | www.HurricaneFlorenceMagazine.com | www.HugoMagazine.com feature Sunday collection to help out.” Wood explained that the support has come in many other ways besides the obvious monetary donations: “Some of our staff offices are temporarily located at other churches, and our day school is currently at Sullivan’s Island Baptist Church. We are somewhat nomadic right now.” Wood believes the outpouring of support for St. Andrew’s is reflective of how much the community has long-appreciated his congregation’s own tradition of serving others. For many years, the church has been deeply involved in outreach, providing a free health-care clinic, tutoring, a food pantry, assistance to water missions and support for a family in the Congo, among numerous other aid projects. So when it came time for others to extend a helping hand to St. Andrew’s, Eddie Schroeder of East Cooper Baptist Church said, “We just wanted to treat them the same as we’d like to be treated.” Schroeder added that his church has partnered with St. Andrew’s for different community events in the past and that the congregation “…has always been near and dear to us. So we did everything we could to move around our own office space to make the staff from St. Andrew’s feel at home.” In fact, he said, the visitors “became like family, and it was bittersweet to see them leave.” The Rev. Iris Brown, pastor of Ebenezer Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church, explained, “I reached out to St. Andrew’s because I believe this is something God wants us to do – to connect with each other. And I wanted my own church members to know that we have to demonstrate unconditional love to those in distress.” Ebenezer’s congregation was happy to open its doors to St. Andrew’s for staff meetings, but Brown believed the gesture also established a bridge across cultural and socio- economic differences. “As a pastor, I wanted to demonstrate that we must lead by serving,” she said. Steve Day, executive director of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, believes the action of one faith group helping another exemplifies the true sense of community that is felt across religious boundaries. Nancy Sapakoff, administrative assistant to Wood, agreed, adding that there were so many offers of help from other faith communities that it wasn’t necessary to take everyone up on their offers. Illustration provided by St. Andrew’s Church. Photo by Mary Coy. Finlay Forrester of St. Andrew’s Day School gives a smile and two thumbs up.