About seven years ago, a vestry group from St. Anne’s (a parish of the Episcopal Church in Annapolis) began meeting at the Stanton Center to pray for the city. Several members of the vestry outreach committee had become increasingly involved in and committed to the encouragement and support of family life in the city, specifically the Greater Clay Street community, which begins just about a block away from Church Circle. The Stanton Center on West Washington Street serves the neighborhood with such programs as Annapolis Youth Services Bureau, the neighborhood health clinic and city recreational programs. One could call Church Circle the heart and Clay Street the soul of Annapolis.

As the vestry group, which included Deede Rivers, Virginia and Rusty Porter, and Sally Garrett, began making its presence felt, it was just a matter of time before a real relationship began to develop between St. Anne’s and the Clay Street community. Commitment to community can take many forms; for most of us, too busy in our workaday and family lives, it comes only in the form of a check, which certainly helps; but for a small band of citizens, commitment comes additionally in the form of relationships built up over time. This can only be achieved by showing up in person.

Joined by St. Anne’s rector Rev. John Price and the Greater Clay Street Development Corporation, led by longtime community volunteers Bertina Nick, Sally Beans and George Belt, Stanton Center Director Kirby McKinney and Community Action’s Head Start Director, Renee Foote, and her coordinator of Extended Day Care, Hiroko Kolb, the Clay Street-St. Anne’s meetings carefully looked for a project. “We had it in our heart to do something with children,” said Sally Garrett. There was consensus that the children needed something concrete to do, in a positive environment, when school was out. What emerged was a need for a Summer Day Camp for the children in the neighborhood area.