Fund administered by St. John’s grants $100,000 for Health Right construction

Trustees Rev. Chris Thompson, Priscilla Lawson, Dwight Foley, Carter Blundon. Photo courtesy Augusta Kosowicz.

Trustees of the Edmund Caskie Harrison Fund have pledged a donation of $100,000 for a group therapy room that will be part of the new addition to WV Health Right’s building on Washington St. E. This marks the largest bequest the trustees have ever approved during the fund’s 104-year history and will be paid in increments over five years.

Health Right began at St. John’s as an adjunct to Manna Meal, providing free medical services to Manna Meal guests, before relocating to its own building. Once that building’s new addition is completed, it will include a memorial that states, “Funding for the Group Therapy Room provided by the Edmund Caskie Harrison Trust of St. John’s Episcopal Church.”

Edmund “Jack” Harrison, a prominent Charleston attorney, was killed at war in 1918 at the age of 35. The following year, his brother and sister established the fund named in his honor. The trust’s stated purpose is “for the relief of sickness and the promotion of health in individual cases of need in the City of Charleston and the County of Kanawha.” While the fund is administered by the parish, recipients need not be St. John’s parishioners.

Trustees of the fund currently include the Rev. Chris Thompson as interim rector, Mary Fitzgerald as senior warden, and parishioners Carter Blundon, Dwight Foley and Priscilla Lawson. In approving the grant, they said it was felt that it would benefit many people and create a memorial for the trust while leaving a balance in the fund for individual requests that may be received in the future.