Tea Room & Gift Shop

2025 Dates

 All are welcomed, and reservations are not required.

Please note, overflow parking will be available at Summerville Baptist on S. Laurel Street, and we will use our new church bus to shuttle. 

The St. Paul’s Team Tea Room & Gift Shop  will run the following dates in 2025:

March 17 – 21  AND March 24 – 28

11:30am – 2pm

When it’s springtime in Summerville, it’s time for the light-filled Doar Hall to be transformed into a beautiful dining experience with smiles and friendly service.  Tables with fresh flowers and linens welcome visitors to enjoy an array of tasty dishes and homemade desserts.  The dining room can seat 220 people at one time.  We are open from 11:30 to 2:00 Monday-Friday for two weeks, with the dates varying yearly. A take-out option is also available to enjoy on our grounds or at home or work.

The tea room offers specialties that its loyal patrons anticipate each year, including tomato pie, she-crab soup, okra soup, fresh salads and sandwiches, and a variety of homemade desserts. The gift shop will showcase the work of local artisans, native plants and estate items.

Check out the 2025 menu here

 

What is the St. Paul’s Tea Room and Gift Shop?

In 2004 a group of people on the Outreach Ministry team was looking for ways to greatly increase the funds available to help those in need. The idea of a tea room, like others in the Charleston area, was well received and a group of women began talking to others at churches who were also offering tea rooms. With their years of tea room experience, and the determination of those great ladies on the Outreach Ministry team, we opened our doors to the community in the spring of 2005.  We cleared $22,432 from that humble beginning and tripled that amount in  2022.

We have opened each year since, with a Tea-Room-To-Go twice in the Covid-year of 2021, and consider the event a ministry where we offer hospitality, fine food, a pleasant atmosphere and high quality gift shop items.  All profits are used to support St. Paul’s outreach and mission projects, locally, regionally and world-wide. The Lord has truly blessed every effort and it brings our parish members together in fellowship serving others.  

For questions about the Tea Room, contact Vicki Harlan at 843-214-1699 or via email at Vwharlan53@gmail.com.

Our gift shop is a key component of this annual event.  It is always full of exquisite and unique handmade items supplied by our very talented and dedicated workroom ladies, and parishioners also add their own creations.   Additionally we have quality attic treasures, specialty items, jewelry, and plants.  You will surely find a perfect item to give as a gift or to keep as something special for yourself!

The Tea Room and Gift Shop has become a yearly tradition with locals as well as many who come from all areas of our state and region.  It will be our pleasure to welcome you to our next Tea Room and Gift Shop.

Ways We Give

Doors to Freedom – Organization involved to help stop sex trafficking and help victims 
MAF (Mission Aviators Fund)-Volunteer pilots and staff who fly worldwide to deliver many needed items for biblical studies, nutritional and medical supplies as well as volunteer priests, water supplies.
Water Missions International- Supplies materials for building cisterns and establishing clean water in areas which have never had clean water or helping in natural disasters where clean water availability has been disrupted.  This helps reduce disease and they serve as a Christian organization.
ARDF (Anglican Relief and Development Fund) works to meet needs for evangelism, emergency supplies and workers in times of natural disasters as well as humanitarian aid in war hit areas like Ukraine.
Keys to Change (Formerly Dorchester County Community Outreach) supports those who are homeless and in need of housing, food, work placement and Christian counseling. This includes Home of Hope as well as Hope’s House.
Habitat for Humanity- Works to help provide affordable housing through home construction, client support, and financial counseling through community support
Lowcountry Pregnancy Center- Works with women to identify and support life and healthy pregnancy as well as provide helping both fathers and mothers with counseling and supplies so that clients have more support in their new roles as parents
Anglicans for Life- Supports the preservation of in utero life instead of abortion and support for those making those pregnancy decisions.  They also help with adoption support/funding.
Children’s Advocacy Center(prev known as Children in Crisis)– Helps children who are in abusive and family crises so that they may have safe havens for living, counseling for parents and children, supplies for emergency removal from an abusive home/situation as well as followup with multiple organizations.
St. Alban’s Chapel is the only college ministry in the local Anglican Diocese and is directed by Dr. Rob Sturdy who provides opportunities for cadets to be involved in Christian faith development, counseling, safe haven for cadets needing an area for personal retreat.  This ministry has grown tremendously in both numbers and depth.
Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy- Provides support to first responders, victims and emergency personnel dealing with trauma, and victims of crime, as well as post-trauma counseling for those involved to help with coping after events.
Hebron –  Located in Santee as well as the mountains of NC, assists those with addiction problems to identify needs, and provides a supportive setting for learning God’s Grace in time of need as well as returning to be able to be drug or alcohol-free in the community.
Rivers Camp (CHAD)-Rivers and his family have spent years in CHAD spreading God’s Gospel, providing bible studies as well as education to reach those in Africa who are mostly surrounded by Muslims. He is the brother of Father Wade Camp at Edisto.
H.E.L.P. of Summerville – Works to provide emergency funding/counseling and support for those in financial crisis to be able to afford housing, electricity/food.
St. Paul’s Diaper Ministry-Ministry to provide diapers for infants and adults as many cannot afford this basic need. Currently serves through Food Pantry and Food Distribution times.
SAMS (Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders) -Supports those who are serving to spread the Gospel mostly in foreign countries where Christianity is a minority or does not exist. Their support comes from both local and national levels.
Wycliff Bible Translators-  Leckrone Family have worked for years in other countries to translate the Bible into native languages all over the world so that people may understand God’s Word and how they may come to believe.
Lamb Institute-Honduran ministry began with Suzy McCall, a Lowcountry native, who has reached hundreds of children with education, medical care, counseling, and Christian development as well as being an adoptive mother to many orphans.
Kenya -St. Peter’s Church-a church community that St. Paul’s had helped complete the roof and is in the process of adding doors and windows.  This building serves as a center for religious as well as community gatherings in a safe place.
Kenya Rectory- Funds were given last year to help provide an actual house/building so that the rector may have a place to stay when serving the local churches.
Onboarding of Father Fred Ochieng Onyango-  Provided funds to help with the onboarding and establishing of Father Fred’s ministry as well as his family’s transition to the Lowcountry.  Two other local diocese partners have been involved from Georgetown and Beaufort.
Kenyan Mission Trip July 2023– Funding given for transportation assistance to Father Fred and Father Tripp to lead the July mission team to Kenya
Kenyan Bishop Support for February Men’s Conference- Assistance for travel for Bishop Charles and his wife so he can be present and participate in the Men’s Conference.
Missionary Support- Specific to initial funding for Jeff and Kristen Jacobs missionary needs in Egypt. 
Hearts of the Congo– Mission group who have been working with displaced people in war-torn Congo to obtain water and land for sustainable food production, and refurbishment of the school while being taught the love of Christ in their lives through Gospel to families, orphans, and displaced children.
Jerusalem Fund for Lowcountry Diocese- Giving financial support to churches who have lost their properties and getting re-established in new settings.  This was a 2022 project and has since been moved to Diocese level.