CHRISTMAS FOR WEST BROADWAY COMMUNITY MINISTRY
St. Chadians have been long-time supporters of West Broadway Community Ministry, having made a covenant with this Ministry in the 1990’s. In the past parishioners have donated their time in support of initiatives carried out by WBCM and for a number of years parishioners have also made regular donations of food (along with occasional appeals for warm clothing, etc.) in support of the folks of the West Broadway neighbourhood who access daily meals and the emergency food bank operating out of their Furby Street site.
“Christmas for West Broadway” is a project begun by a few St. Chad’s parishioners in 2020. Funds were raised to provide Christmas Oranges to the folks accessing WBCM for daily meals. We were advised that anywhere from 100 to 125 individuals were receiving a hot meal daily Monday to Thursday each week. Twenty-Four cases of Christmas oranges (approx. 500 oranges) were purchased and delivered on each of the three Monday mornings prior to Christmas Day for distribution to daily dinner guests.
This project was repeated in December 2021. Even though the price of the oranges had increased that year, parishioners donated more than was needed to fulfill our goal and we were able to provide WBCM with a sizable cheque to assist with their dinner program and emergency food bank during the winter months to follow.
In the Spring of 2022, we learned from West Broadway staff that, to the recipients of meals at WBCM, St. Chad’s had become known as “That church that gives us Christmas Oranges”. So, even though we knew St. Chadians would begin to worship at St. Andrew’s Woodhaven by the end of November last year, we offered this project up to St. Chad’s parishioners once more in early November. The cost of these oranges had risen again but we received enough funds in our shortened campaign to allow us to fulfill our goal of delivering a total of 72 boxes of Christmas oranges to WBCM in December and provide a cheque to WBCM for the additional funds collected.
Mission-In-Ministry would like to offer this charitable opportunity to parishioners this November with the hope that St. Andrew’s Woodhaven can become known to the folks of the West Broadway Community as:
THAT CHURCH THAT GIVES US CHRISTMAS ORANGES!