Annual Mother’s Day Tea at the Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian Church of the Moriches hosted its annual Mother’s Day Tea on Saturday, May 14.

“This is our 25th tea, served on our best China and tea stands,” church elder and anniversary committee member Nancy Horton said.

Residents of the local community were invited to sit down for a meal in a cafeteria attached to the right side of the central room containing the altar.  Members of the church’s congregation, aided by a Girl Scouts squadron, collaborated to prepare food, drinks, and desserts for the guests.  The Mother’s Day Tea is one of the church’s ways of connecting with the community it has served for 275 years.

“We [want] to fill [our dining area] at least once, if not twice,” church member Dawn Viggiano said.

Attendees entered the church through a small, temporary gift shop behind the main dining area.  The shop’s offerings, which ranged from preserves to household decorations, were made by several of the church’s members.  For example, deacon Pat Smith crafted several pieces of jewelry that were on sale.

“[Church member Kerri Crawford] donates a lot of her handcrafted goods,” Smith said.

In addition to hosting the tea, the church held a raffle.  Attendees could buy a separate ticket in order to win a basket consisting of a bottle of wine, a $100 gift card, and some chocolates.  Church members Marilyn Runyan and Carol Santos were responsible for handling the raffling of the basket.  They also oversaw a separate raffle for a door prize.

“When people buy a ticket for the tea… they are [also] eligible for [the] door prize, a $25 [gift card] from [local florist] Hailstone’s, and a little basket of tea,” Santos said.

Once inside the cafeteria, guests were escorted to one of several tables decorated with tablecloths and cutlery.  While they waited for the tea to begin, more church members prepared food in the church’s kitchen.  Church member Dick Horton baked scones for the meal as other members prepared meals such as cucumber, ham, and chicken salad sandwiches.

Finished meals were carried from the kitchen to a small preparation area, where the meals were loaded onto metallic stands.  Desserts such as brownies were plucked from trays and added to the stands as well.  Church members Darby Arizmendi and Susan Trommer assembled the stands as fresh food arrived from the kitchen.

“If somebody comes in and says, ‘[We have] a table for four,’ we can grab a setup for four [diners],” Arizmendi said.

Waiters picked up the stands and carried them to their respective tables.  The lead server was Viggiano, who directed the distribution of food and tea bags to attendees.  Three volunteer Girl Scouts also acted as servers: Kaitlyn Corn, Leanna Young and Makayla Medina.  Church member Diana Waters worked alongside the Girl Scouts.

“We all worked together, as a team,” Waters said.

“They love doing this type of stuff,” Girl Scout troop leader Kim Mitchell said. “They love to do any kind of volunteering to help with the community.”

Near the conclusion of the tea, everybody involved shifted to cleaning up.  The church members in the kitchen worked together to clean and store away dirty dishes and used utensils.  One participant would scrub a dish clean and pass it to a partner to dry. Meanwhile, in the main cafeteria, servers collected unused tea bags and placed waste in large black garbage bags.

The church’s congregation hoped that this year’s Mother’s Day Tea would see a massive number of people due to the COVID-19 pandemic greatly diminishing the number of attendees at the previous year’s tea. They view the tea as a crucial means of bonding with the Center Moriches community. Church members desire to further cement that connection with local residents in the future.

“It was nice and busy this year,” Trommer said.

The Mother’s Day Tea is but one event in the church’s schedule for this year. The Presbyterian Church of the Moriches is currently celebrating its 275th anniversary and has multiple special festivities planned for the rest of the year. The most recent event connected to the church’s anniversary was a piano and organ concert hosted by concert pianist Michele Garzo this past April.