Amy B:
There’s a quote, “It takes a village to raise a child”.  In my case, St. George’s Church has been that village and raised me in my faith.  From my first visit to St. George’s, I’ve felt at home and my relationships with the congregation have grown since. 

From Christmas Pageants and Sunday School with Mrs. Boulton, Mr. Hull, Connie and Patti, I’ve learned Bible Stories.  From Youth Group involvement, I’ve learned fellowship.  From serving meals at the Other Place, I’ve learned compassion for my fellow man.  From Dr. Benedum and Mr. Brittenback, I’ve built spirituality through music.  From Carol, Kiah, Phil, and Paul, I’ve been shown the connections of my life to the Bible; I wouldn’t have seen or understood these without their guidance.  And from the Vergers, who have shown me respect, I have learned responsibility. 

There are so many aspects of faith that are tested in high school students.  It is because I grew up here that I can defend my faith when challenged in conversations with my peers.  I grew from a young girl into a young woman – your daughter – through your guidance, have learned to welcome others by your example.  I thank everyone here at St. George’s for helping to make me the person I have become.

Bryan Daly:
 As many of you may know, we moved around with the Air Force for 22+ years.  One of our first concerns when moving to an area would be finding a church home.  When we moved from Shreveport, LA to Dayton four years ago we asked friends in our church if they knew any churches in Dayton.  When no one did we performed our usual check – we looked on the internet for churches in Dayton.  We liked what we saw about St. Georges: a nice organ, a vital choir (singing music we like), and an active congregation.  If we hadn’t seen that information on the web site we would have been traveling worshippers for a while.

 Our normal modus operandi is to try many churches when we get to a new area, moving around from week to week, until we find one that we like above the others.  When we arrived at St. Georges we were welcomed so warmly and felt so at home we never tried another church in the Dayton area.  St. George’s, our church home, has come to mean a great deal to us from our time in the choir to its outreach in the Dayton area to its inreach supporting the church members.  I can think of no place I would rather support spiritually and financially.

 Benjamin Chigbo Udoh, MD:
On my arrival to the Dayton area, I was a little anxious about finding a ‘home church’ as I always do on arrival at every new location that I have found myself.  With the help of friends and family here, I was introduced to the St. George’s Episcopal Church.  The warmth of the reception was unprecedented and was progressive and profound. 

At a point in time I even adopted a ‘mother’ in the church, in Louise (New Jersean) and we both played ‘son and mother’ on Sundays, especially during the post worship coffee hour.(...shhhhh..do not tell my Mum). 

Later on, the rest of my family joined me from New Jersey and at that time, the entire package of love and acceptance was unraveled.  The personal touch to doing God’s work was made evident when the Rector Carol paid us a scheduled visit in our new home here.  I could still recall the resolve and seriousness with which she wrote and tone-marked our names—for ease of pronunciation, and her interest in the meanings of our Igbo names.  I could still vividly recall the prayers she said for us individually and collectively, reminiscent of our evening prayers. 

I must mention the unbeatable Children’s Program (Sunday School) by Mrs. King and the Youth Program by Reverend Paul—all planned and executed in the neatest of ways. 

Pardon me to express my appreciation to the people of St. George’s for their benevolence—we had made use of the beautiful undercroft church hall for social events.  The Parish Hall had given venue to the Igbo Union for their meetings.  I am sure that we all have had similar but possible varied uplifting experiences at various times since we joined the congregation at St. George's. 

Those and much more were the highlights of the series of pleasant experiences that contributed to our settling down at St. George’s.  Please join us in thanking the Church of St. George’s Episcopal for making it easy for us to find a place we could call our Church, our Home and a place we belong at as members of God's one big family. 

Phil, Kiah, Liam & Phillip Webster:
The choice of a church home is a big decision for most families, but for a clergy family, it is huge.   

Even before we had arrived at St. George’s we felt welcome.  As we moved into our home in Centerville, we were greeted by a large poster filled with warm wishes from a children’s Sunday school class.  Over the coming weeks parishioners stopped by to wish us well and to offer us a home cooked meal.  With two little boys and a house full of boxes it was a real blessing not to need to cook.  However, the most moving part of our incorporation into this community has been the embrace we have felt – particularly as it relates to our children.  Our children have a second home at St. George’s – a place where they are safe and where they belong.  On the evening of November 4, St. George’s hosted a stewardship dinner, and during that evening, our whole family was warmly embraced by a room full of smiling faces.  What better witness can a church offer to the love of Christ than to show kindness and friendship to its own members? 

As most of you know, for Kiah, this has been a literal homecoming – this is the church in which she grew up.  And now, for the rest of the Webster family, it is our hope and prayer that St. George’s may be the place in which countless precious memories are made for years to come.