CAMANCHE — Church of the Visitation recently held a Parish Appreciation Dinner for volunteers and celebrated the 30th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood for the pastor, Father Richard Okumu. Parish volunteers were recognized and thanked for their service to the parish community. In addition several parish accomplishments were celebrated. They included:
• Meeting last year’s Diocesan Annual Appeal goal.
• Meeting and exceeding the goal of the Diocesan “Moving Forward in Faith and Hope” Capital Campaign goal.
• Payment of the mortgage that was used to pay for the construction of the new parish hall, gathering space, parish offices and classroom for religious education classes. Payment of the mortgage was celebrated with a ceremonial burning of it.
To celebrate Fr. Okumu’s anniversary, the parish collected approximately $2,000 which will be contributed to construction of a well in Uganda, his native country. “I’m drinking clean water here. The people there need clean water,” Fr. Okumu said. The total cost of a well, including installation and equipment is about $20,000, he added. Anyone else who would like to donate to this project could send money to Church of the Visitation, he said.
He is very grateful to the parish for its contribution on his behalf. He said when parishioners suggested they wanted to do something for him, he asked them to contribute money to the parish to go toward the well project.
