partnership with porter magnet school
St. Mark the Evangelist has been in partnership with neighboring Porter Elementary School since shortly after our new parish came into being in 1996. The Porter/St. Mark match-up was the first business partnership with a city school between a church and a school and is likely the longest lasting partnership among city schools.
A parish member is our liaison with Porter. She/he coordinates volunteer efforts and seeks ways that both partners can support each other. The Porter Partnership is a way for our parish members to assist the neighborhood city school in many ways: tutoring in reading, volunteering in Library Media Center and the keyboarding lab, judging for Science Fairs and classroom contests, providing food baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas, helping at school events, providing resources for the Social Worker and Nurse as well as emergency items like socks and underwear, We also open our Undercroft to Porter for enrichment programs, social events, and as an alternative gathering site for emergency drills.
At the end of each school year, representatives from St. Mark’s attend Porter’s Fifth Grade Moving Up Ceremony, presenting each student with a certificate of achievement along with a coupon for a Byrne Dairy Cookiewich Sandwich.
Through the efforts of St. Mark’s women’s group, The Mustangs, Porter Elementary is provided backpacks and school supplies at the beginning of the school year for those in need.