This past year several parishioners volunteered their time and culinary skills (think chopping mounds of vegetables for hearty soup and sandwich making skills) at Agape Table. On the days that we attended, over 400 guests were served bag lunches during their hours of operation between 7:00 am and 11:00 am.
We meet at the church and go together to Agape. Watch for the sign up sheet and instructions in the bulletin closer to our volunteer dates.
Mark your calendars for volunteer dates: March 27, April 24, May 23 and June 20
Here’s how our Stamps for Freedom Program works: Stamps collected from donations across Canada are combined to create charity boxes and are sold to stamp collectors and vendors. The revenue generated from the stamps allows CBS to purchase Bibles for the Canadian prison ministry.
10 lbs. of stamps = approx. 6 Bibles for distribution
Donate your used stamps today to help provide the Key to Freedom Bible to men and women in prison.
Instructions for Collecting: Keep the stamp on the envelope. Cut out the stamp leaving a 1/4-inch border around the entire stamp. Collection Box on the credenza at the rear of the Sanctuary.
Christmas Cheer Board
Stay tuned for next years White Gift Sunday and Hamper Week!
This past year, St. Andrew applied for 6 families of 4-5 persons. We received a response with five of six families residing in St. James and one in the West End. Our families included a total of twelve adults and fourteen children. The list of required items for the hampers was provided along with a request for a new toy/gift for each child 14 and under. With items also collected on White Gift Sunday, the sorting and packing and delivery of 5 of the 6 hampers occurred on Wednesday, December 20th. The sixth hamper was eventually taken to the Cheer Board after numerous attempts to contact the family were unsuccessful.
We would not have been able to help make a wonderful Christmas for these families without all the volunteers who came out to sort, pack, wrap and deliver.
Hantz-Michel Joseph is nine years old and living in the North East of Haiti. The Plan International Project Unit Manager from this area in Haiti writes that since July, violent unrest has paralyzed the country with barricades and burned vehicles blocking main roads making it near impossible to transport people, goods etc.
Hantz-Michel and his family are apparently doing well and none of these humanitarian efforts would be possible without the support of sponsors like our St. Andrew’s parishoners. When you head over to the hall for Coffee Hour, drop some spare change or bills in the mug dedicated to Hanz-Michel and your donationswill offset the $50.00 per month which is what we send to support Hanz-Michel and his community.
An official Lions Clubs International Eyeglass Recycling Centre provides recycled eyewear free of charge to people in developing countries. Lions have recognized the urgent need for corrective lenses and collect usable glasses in their communities to support the Lions Recycle For Sight Program.
Usable Glasses Give New Life Refractive errors can be easily corrected with eyeglasses, yet millions living in low- and middle-income countries lack access to basic eye care services. Your collected eyeglasses are taken to an official Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center for processing. There, the glasses are sorted to determine those that are usable or unusable, processed, and placed in inventory for distribution to optical missions around the world. Lions help to minimize landfill waste by supporting precious metal reclamation and scrap processing for damaged glasses that are unusable.
The Collection Box is located on the credenza at the rear of the Sanctuary. Glass cases should not be included.
SNA’s West End 24 Hour Safe Space for Youth (also known as WE24) operates out of 430 Langside Street (in Winnipeg, MB) and provides an overnight space for youth ages 13-26 to rest, relax, access food, resources, and basic needs, in a supportive, kind, and warm environment. We ran a campaign during the month of November to collect mittens, scarves, toques and socks. We also collected toiletries and a healthy snack. We were able to make up thirty cloth bags of the collected items. These bags were delivered to West 24 and would be distributed to their clients when necessary. Thank you to all who donated items.
Grow Hope campaign runs April to June and September to October. World of Gifts runs October to December. Our Grow Hope campaign raised $870.00. World of Gifts has a donor who will match up to $110,000.00
Our knitters were very busy over the year. One individual who always supports Rossbrook House made and delivered seven and a half dozen mittens. Four and a half dozen were given for use with West Broadway and other charities. We also received 52 pair of knitted children’s socks and more mittens from another one of our knitters. Items were kept aside to be used for the Christmas Cheer Board Hampers. All items left over were delivered to Rossbrook House. Thank to our knitters – keep up the good work.
We hope you will join us on May 5th for a Thelma Wynne Baby Shower.
In the meantime, we are collecting: New or nearly new sleepers, outfits, and onesies, Diapers size 1, Ivory Soap, Hats, bibs, socks and booties, Receiving blankets, Sweaters and Small toys. There is a bin at the back of the church for your donations.
Stay tuned for more details about May 5th!
We are thankful for our regular three parishioners who have made monthly deliveries of food items to West Broadway and continue to do so. Over the year it is safe to say that many pounds of food products were delivered. Please feel free to add your donations to the basket at the back of the church.
Our Christmas Orange campaign was a great success. 216 lbs. of oranges were purchased and delivered which works out to 500 per week. Cost of the oranges amounted to $475.00 and the balance of the donations received was forwarded to West Broadway.