Outreach & Community Service

The Annual Christmas Fundraising Bazaar

One of Emmanuel’s most cherished outreach traditions since 1993, the annual Christmas Fundraising Bazaar is a community event that brings together parishioners, neighbors, and local visitors to celebrate the holiday season with a purpose. Held every November in our Parish Hall, the Bazaar is far more than a festive community marketplace—it is a vital engine for local mission, with 100% of event proceeds awarded directly to local non-profit organizations serving Kent County and northern Queen Anne’s County. 

The festivities kick off on Friday evening with our popular Preview Party (21+), where guests enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and early shopping access ($25 admission). The celebration continues Saturday with free admission for the public, featuring a wide array of specialty tables run by dedicated parish volunteers:

  • Gourmet Goodies & Baked Goods: Home-baked holiday treats, jams, jellies, and artisan chutneys (including our famous Green Tomato Chutney and Peach Ginger Jam).

  • Handcrafted Treasures & Gifts: Tables featuring In Stitches needlework, jewelry, fine botanicals, holiday décor, new giftable items, unique "Memories & More," and elaborate Silent Auction items.

  • Community Luncheon: Delicious homemade lunch available for purchase during Saturday's shopping hours.

Through the generosity of our volunteers, donations from the congregation, shoppers, and supporters, the Bazaar awards thousands of dollars each year through local outreach grants. Grant recipients are selected through an annual summer application process, awarding $3,000 to $5,000 each to between three and five non-profit organizations that support people in need in our community—regardless of creed, faith, or denomination.

Recent grant beneficiaries include Rebuilding Together Eastern Shore, The Samaritan Group, Sumner Hall, and Christ United Methodist Church Community Table.

Whether you bake, craft, donate, decorate, volunteer at a table, or shop with us in November, all are welcome to share in this joyful ministry. Non-profit organizations interested in applying for a Christmas Bazaar Grant can access guidelines and application forms on our website starting every August.

The 2026 Christmas Bazaar grant recipients are:‍ ‍

1) Kent County Local Management Board - requested $1000 for their Brighter Day Project, which supports families facing a wide range of challenges that are not covered by other programs. 

2) Kent Association of Riding Therapy - requested money for new riding helmets. We propose awarding them $2000.  

The first two are for specific amounts. For the other three ( → ), we plan to split the remaining funds equally between them.  Historically, that has been between $3000 and $5000. 

Links are provided if you would like to support the charities,

Local Laundry

Local Laundry is Emmanuel’s local participation in a “no strings” giving program to the community, based on a larger national program. On the fourth Thursday at 5pm volunteers spend two hours at a local laundromat just chatting with community members while providing quarters for washing and drying their laundry. This offering is not based on any need, except the “need” that we at Emmanuel feel to engage with the community. While the recipients are the benefactors, our volunteers are heart warmed as we see the smiles of deep appreciation on their faces.  Joy always is in the giving.

Donations to this ministry are always welcome! Please click on the GIVE box on the top right of the website (with white letters in a black box).

First Fruits Neighborhood Ministry

The First Fruits Neighborhood Ministry was created to help our neighbors with a few days of groceries, designed to fill gaps that food pantries and existing services left behind.

We currently prepare two basic types of bags for our neighbors,

Bags for our neighbors with access to a kitchen. - a fuller selection of pantry staples and fresh items for individuals and families with access to basic cooking tools.

Bags for our neighbors without access to a kitchen. - portable, easy-to-prepare items for neighbors with less stable housing or cooking equipment.

Volunteers meet weekly on Fridays from 10:00 to 12:00 to hand out bags for those who need, and they attempt to strengthen our bonds with the community as a whole.

If anyone is in need of food, they are also encouraged to pick up a bag of groceries during regular Parish Office hours, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

This program is made possible by a grant awarded to Emmanuel Episcopal Church by the Diocese of Easton Fund for Church Initiatives, and generous contributions from our parishioners.

National Music Festival

Providing lunch for visiting artists

Emmanuel, along with friends from the wider community, volunteer their time and skills to prepare and serve hot lunches free of charge to the mentors and students of the annual National Music Festival, held each summer in Chestertown for 2 weeks. Lunches are served Monday to Friday to over 100 apprentices and 30 faculty and mentors. We also provide take away bags with sandwiches, fruits and cookies if desired. The Festival celebrates our vital contribution by hosting a musical fundraising event at the church to help defray the cost of the lunches.

The practice began about 10 years ago when a member of Emmanuel’s parish learned that Washington College students working for the summer to help earn money for tuition did not have access to the school cafeteria and were not paid until the end of their first two weeks. Our parish stepped up and fed about 20 students for 2 weeks the first summer. Several years later, the Festival began housing music students on campus who learned about the free lunches and joined the other students in our parish hall. The program has now grown to its current capacity with the Festival website advertising to applicants that the church provides lunch to participants.

3) Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne's - requested funds to help purchase new Chromebooks with increased RAM, to better complete their STAR Renaissance testing that they do for all of their students.

4) Kent County Chapter of the Delmarva Pride Center - requested funds to help with their 2027 Chestertown Pride Festival at Wilmer Park. The festival in 2026 was a success, and they want to build on that.  

5) Sandy's Garden - requested funds to help replace the high tunnel that was destroyed in the ice storms last winter, which will enable them to grow cold weather crops in order to donate fresh produce to local food pantries in the winter.