SSOTH UCW GIVES TO WELLSPRING
Wellspring Halton-Peel was established in June of 2000 to meet the needs of people coping with cancer in Oakville, Mississauga and surrounding communities. The centre has experienced strong growth since it opened its doors and now welcomes more than 13,000 visits from men, women and children annually. Wellspring’s model for providing supportive care has been developed by a team of oncology experts, working closely with cancer patients, family members and caregivers. True to their calling, the Sew 'n Sews UCW unit has made a $500 donation towards a therapy program that incorporates the use of arts and crafts. This donation by the Sew 'n Sews will actually become $1000 thanks to a matching gift from an anonymous donor. The Fidelios Unit is also making a $500 donation towards the work of Wellspring. The Fidelios will be welcoming Judi Perry Brinkert of Wellspring as a guest speaker at their next meeting on the morning of February 16th.
SUPPORTING THE COMPASS
Have you ever heard of The Compass?
It is a local outreach centre/foodbank located at 310 Lakeshore Road West in Port Credit. St. Stephen's on-the-Hill was a founding partner when The Compass was started ten years ago. It can be hard to beleive that there are people in need in our midst, especially when many of us have so much. But there are individauls and families out there who are faced with the choice each month of either paying the rent/mortage or buying food. The Compass collaborative minitsry of fourteen local Christian churches -a shining example of Christian working together as we seek to bring some relief to the impoverished in our city. If you would like to volunteer some time helping at The Compass please call 905-274-9309. You help is always needed.
OUR DESIGNATED FOOD COLLECTION DAY FOR THE COMPASS IS THE LAST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH.
It is a local outreach centre/foodbank located at 310 Lakeshore Road West in Port Credit. St. Stephen's on-the-Hill was a founding partner when The Compass was started ten years ago. It can be hard to beleive that there are people in need in our midst, especially when many of us have so much. But there are individauls and families out there who are faced with the choice each month of either paying the rent/mortage or buying food. The Compass collaborative minitsry of fourteen local Christian churches -a shining example of Christian working together as we seek to bring some relief to the impoverished in our city. If you would like to volunteer some time helping at The Compass please call 905-274-9309. You help is always needed.
OUR DESIGNATED FOOD COLLECTION DAY FOR THE COMPASS IS THE LAST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH.
Responding to the needs of those around us...
The Open Door: This is a Christian Drop-in and Information Service at Square One Shopping Centre. Our White Gifts were gratefully received at Christmas. The Open Door is open six days a week. They provided a turkey dinner for 250 people. The thank you letter we received said, “in the midst of poverty and loneliness there was comfort for adults and fun for the children. Thank you.“ During the year, the service involves supporting 165 families by linking them to a sponsoring church, family or group. Reports indicate that this sponsorship program is a blessing to the family and the sponsor. People with all sorts of crisis situations (bereavement, job loss, loss of housing, abuse, etc) come to The Open Door, they receive practical help and encouragement and leave with a measure of Hopefulness .
Benevolent Fund: This fund is separate from all our other funds. It is managed confidentially by the minister. It is supported by individual donations and through Outreach fund raising projects. The funds are there to respond faithfully to those who come to our door in need, no strings attached. Traditionally in the United Church this fund was maintained through a special offering each concurrent communion service, to give as we have received. Our practice now is to place offering plates at the door of the sanctuary on Communion Sundays. As you can imagine the requests for support are on the increase. Please give generously to this very local and sensitive way we can support our neighbors and friends.
Habitat for Humanity: The Habitat online newsletter reports: The second HFH (Mississauga) building was completed on schedule. Corporate and individual volunteers gave freely of their time working with the partner family. The volunteer time totaled 3300 hours (many of these from SSOTH). SSOTH is listed as a Community Partner, as they continue their goal of 15 houses by 2015. Thanks to Jacque Knowles for her activities on the Board and Barry Tatchell for his liaison efforts on our behalf.
Honduras: Lynda Appleby and Leslie Bentley traveled to Honduras taking with them our financial support, our gifts for the Hondurans and our prayers. Through their efforts we are making a difference in Honduras through medical, dental and optical services, with the addition of a whole lot of love and kindness. These trips are particularly successful because with the help of many Honduran staff and volunteers who are part of the mission, health teaching is a major component in the clinics; clients’ are referred to city resources (with financial support to get there) and, needed supplies are purchased locally wherever possible. As Leslie has said, making a difference in just one person’s life there makes all the difference in hers, and in her decision to go where God leads.
Church Community Volunteers: The Church Community Volunteers (CCV) provides rides for those who require transportation to medical and health related appointments. SSOTH is one of eight sponsoring churches in the area south of the QEW and between Mississauga Road and Winston Churchill. Capable drivers and office help are needed to help continue this program. The office is open from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday to Friday to arrange drives for those in need. Volunteer drivers and office help are not expected to assist more than once a month. If you would like to volunteer please call the CCV office at 905-822-3377 for more information, or call Ron Ormiston at 905-274-8060.
Benevolent Fund: This fund is separate from all our other funds. It is managed confidentially by the minister. It is supported by individual donations and through Outreach fund raising projects. The funds are there to respond faithfully to those who come to our door in need, no strings attached. Traditionally in the United Church this fund was maintained through a special offering each concurrent communion service, to give as we have received. Our practice now is to place offering plates at the door of the sanctuary on Communion Sundays. As you can imagine the requests for support are on the increase. Please give generously to this very local and sensitive way we can support our neighbors and friends.
Habitat for Humanity: The Habitat online newsletter reports: The second HFH (Mississauga) building was completed on schedule. Corporate and individual volunteers gave freely of their time working with the partner family. The volunteer time totaled 3300 hours (many of these from SSOTH). SSOTH is listed as a Community Partner, as they continue their goal of 15 houses by 2015. Thanks to Jacque Knowles for her activities on the Board and Barry Tatchell for his liaison efforts on our behalf.
Honduras: Lynda Appleby and Leslie Bentley traveled to Honduras taking with them our financial support, our gifts for the Hondurans and our prayers. Through their efforts we are making a difference in Honduras through medical, dental and optical services, with the addition of a whole lot of love and kindness. These trips are particularly successful because with the help of many Honduran staff and volunteers who are part of the mission, health teaching is a major component in the clinics; clients’ are referred to city resources (with financial support to get there) and, needed supplies are purchased locally wherever possible. As Leslie has said, making a difference in just one person’s life there makes all the difference in hers, and in her decision to go where God leads.
Church Community Volunteers: The Church Community Volunteers (CCV) provides rides for those who require transportation to medical and health related appointments. SSOTH is one of eight sponsoring churches in the area south of the QEW and between Mississauga Road and Winston Churchill. Capable drivers and office help are needed to help continue this program. The office is open from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday to Friday to arrange drives for those in need. Volunteer drivers and office help are not expected to assist more than once a month. If you would like to volunteer please call the CCV office at 905-822-3377 for more information, or call Ron Ormiston at 905-274-8060.
JAKOB'S JOURNEY
During the summer of 2011 Jakob Pugi travelled to Kenya as a part of the international organization known as “Free The Children.” Jakob had to raise a lot of funds to make this trip possible and many member of SSOTH offered their support in a variety ways. Jakob also received financial assistance from the Special Gifts Fund, the Rev. Dr. Albion Wright Youth Travelling Fund and the Chris Parr Memorial Fund. Below is a letter from Jakob about this experience.
To everyone who supported me,I just wanted to say thank you so much for allowing me to have the amazing experience that I did in Kenya. The trip was one of hard work, and learning so many different things about the world. I've seen so much on this trip that I never would have been able to understand before, and it's really given me a new perspective on how life and the world goes on. Seeing the people there was such an inspiration, because every person I met had such an acceptance with their lot in life, and were all so happy to be living everyday. It didn't matter what the conditions were, or what their future held, the fact was they enjoyed living in their communities. If I wasn't inspired before this trip, I certainly am now. I'm going to give a brief summary of what my trip was like everyday and include a few pictures of what I did, to hopefully give a bit of an idea to what my experience was like.
We stayed in the community of Enelerai in the Masai Mara area of Kenya, right beside the Kisaruni girls boarding high school and the Baraka Health Clinic, both Free The Children projects. The high school had their first class this year of grade nines, with just under fifty girls staying there. The girls were so amazing, many of them had definite plans for what they wanted to do after high school, from being lawyers to dentists to working for a news station. To be honest they certainly know more about what they want to do than I did two years ago.
Every day we woke up at 7:30 for weekdays and 8 for weekends, had breakfast and then, most days, went to the worksite. We worked for around three hours on the buildsite, then went back for lunch. In the afternoon we did a bunch of different activities, from leadership activities, to hikes, to walks in the community, to meeting with the locals and understanding what their lives are like, to playing soccer (oh sorry, it's football there) with the girls. The work was hard, we ended working on two separate projects through the course of the trip, the first was breaking ground and digging trenches for the maternity ward to be built at the health clinic, and the second was building an outdoor study center for the girls at the high school. Digging trenches involved pick axing the ground, and then shoveling out the rocks and dirt you dug up. The ground was mostly rocks and not too much dirt, so I ended up taking out probably around 200 rocks the size of two of my fists out of my trench, and a couple were really big and took two people to get out.
For the outdoor study center we made a cement base, which involved mixing 16 wheelbarrows of sand with 4 bags of cement and 16 wheelbarrows or rocks, then mixing small parts with water until it got nice and sticky, then shoveling the cement into wheelbarrows, moving it up to the foundation and patting it down. The work was very rewarding, knowing that I started building something that is going to have babies be born in it in upcoming years was really special.
I'd also like to let you all know that my parents matched the money I received from all of you, and they are donating that money to Free The Children. One thing I learned that made me happy to be working with this organization is that only nine cents from every dollar goes towards administration. Free the Children has sister companies such as Me to We that pay these administration costs.
So thank you again for all supporting me, this experience is something I'm definitely going to take with me throughout my life. My ultimate goal is to work for the NGO Doctors without Borders, and this trip has completely reinforced my drive to get there. One thing I'm taking away from this trip is a form of determination, because I know that I have the ability to help others, and now I have the drive to make sure I use what I have to benefit whoever I can. Thank you again for helping me get to this point, and if you have any questions I'm more than happy to answer them. They say the biggest difference you can make from these trips is to spread the word about the issues in the world, and to try to inspire others in their own worlds. No one can expect to get everyone they know to make worldwide differences, but I hope that I personally will make small changes in my everyday life, and I hope that I can inspire others to do the same. So one more time, thank you so much, this was the trip of a lifetime.
Sincerely, Jakob Pugi
We stayed in the community of Enelerai in the Masai Mara area of Kenya, right beside the Kisaruni girls boarding high school and the Baraka Health Clinic, both Free The Children projects. The high school had their first class this year of grade nines, with just under fifty girls staying there. The girls were so amazing, many of them had definite plans for what they wanted to do after high school, from being lawyers to dentists to working for a news station. To be honest they certainly know more about what they want to do than I did two years ago.
Every day we woke up at 7:30 for weekdays and 8 for weekends, had breakfast and then, most days, went to the worksite. We worked for around three hours on the buildsite, then went back for lunch. In the afternoon we did a bunch of different activities, from leadership activities, to hikes, to walks in the community, to meeting with the locals and understanding what their lives are like, to playing soccer (oh sorry, it's football there) with the girls. The work was hard, we ended working on two separate projects through the course of the trip, the first was breaking ground and digging trenches for the maternity ward to be built at the health clinic, and the second was building an outdoor study center for the girls at the high school. Digging trenches involved pick axing the ground, and then shoveling out the rocks and dirt you dug up. The ground was mostly rocks and not too much dirt, so I ended up taking out probably around 200 rocks the size of two of my fists out of my trench, and a couple were really big and took two people to get out.
For the outdoor study center we made a cement base, which involved mixing 16 wheelbarrows of sand with 4 bags of cement and 16 wheelbarrows or rocks, then mixing small parts with water until it got nice and sticky, then shoveling the cement into wheelbarrows, moving it up to the foundation and patting it down. The work was very rewarding, knowing that I started building something that is going to have babies be born in it in upcoming years was really special.
I'd also like to let you all know that my parents matched the money I received from all of you, and they are donating that money to Free The Children. One thing I learned that made me happy to be working with this organization is that only nine cents from every dollar goes towards administration. Free the Children has sister companies such as Me to We that pay these administration costs.
So thank you again for all supporting me, this experience is something I'm definitely going to take with me throughout my life. My ultimate goal is to work for the NGO Doctors without Borders, and this trip has completely reinforced my drive to get there. One thing I'm taking away from this trip is a form of determination, because I know that I have the ability to help others, and now I have the drive to make sure I use what I have to benefit whoever I can. Thank you again for helping me get to this point, and if you have any questions I'm more than happy to answer them. They say the biggest difference you can make from these trips is to spread the word about the issues in the world, and to try to inspire others in their own worlds. No one can expect to get everyone they know to make worldwide differences, but I hope that I personally will make small changes in my everyday life, and I hope that I can inspire others to do the same. So one more time, thank you so much, this was the trip of a lifetime.
Sincerely, Jakob Pugi
Poverty In Our Backyard - Follow up
On Sunday evening, April 10, the Outreach Committee of SSOTH hosted a panel discussion on the issue of growing levels of poverty in Ontario and more specifically the region of Peel. Thanks go to Loree Benuik for moderating the discussion. Thanks also to the local politicians and advocates who participated that evening. Although numbers were down from last year, the event did generate attention from the local media in the form of two articles including the one printed below with permission from The Mississauga News. Jesus always sought to include the ones forgotten in the margins, may we continue this mission. "Poverty rising in Peel"
Wendy Martineau knows a way of life in Peel Region that is seldom noticed.
Martineau held a career as a nurse for a decade, until her brother committed suicide. His death caused her to spiral into depression and eventually substance abuse.
“I started treating my pain with drugs and alcohol. It spiraled out of control for many years,” Martineau said. “It got the point where my two daughters wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
Her struggle with addiction escalated until she lost everything. She spent four years living on the streets of Brampton. Her son continued to support Martineau and eventually found a place she could afford to rent.
“The landlord decided I was worth the risk,” Martineau said.
She moved in two years ago and is now 21 months sober. While her situation is improving, Martineau still lives well below the poverty line, spending 60 per cent of the $10,000 provided by the Ontario Disability Support Program annually on her rent.
“It’s difficult trying to maintain a regular lifestyle," she said yesterday at St. Stephen’s On-the-Hill United Church during an event held to raise awareness of poverty in Peel.
In Peel Region, about 167,000 people, 15 per cent of the population, live below the poverty line.
“What’s disturbing is, the trend is increasing, not decreasing,” said Adaoma Paterson, a specialist with Peel Region’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee.
While governments have their role to play in poverty reduction, Paterson believes residents must become aware of the problem.
“Awareness leads to action. As individuals, part of our responsibility is to be aware of what is happening in the community,” Peterson said. “There are still a lot of people in Peel Region who have no idea that poverty is a problem.”
Mississauga South MPP Charles Sousa agrees. He said he didn’t notice Peel’s poverty problem until entering politics.
“Prior to being elected, I really didn’t see poverty in our community,” Sousa said. “It astounds me how prevalent it is.”
Sousa said the Ontario government has created various initiatives to battle poverty, but needs to increase the fight.
“This is not something that is going to go away,” Sousa said. “Any government’s first level of duty is to be socially conscious while being financially responsible."
Sousa and Peterson agreed residential zoning that is inclusive of various income levels would help combat poverty.
“We don’t want ghetto style homes,” Sousa said. “We don’t want to put them all in one school.”
Lis McGregor, a counselor with The Compass food bank and drop-in centre, said residents can help address poverty by mixing with people of various income levels.
“It can be as simple as coming in, getting a cup of coffee and starting a conversation,” McGregor said.
This article was written by Bill Tremblay and appeared in the April 11, 2011 edition of The Mississauga News.
Wendy Martineau knows a way of life in Peel Region that is seldom noticed.
Martineau held a career as a nurse for a decade, until her brother committed suicide. His death caused her to spiral into depression and eventually substance abuse.
“I started treating my pain with drugs and alcohol. It spiraled out of control for many years,” Martineau said. “It got the point where my two daughters wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
Her struggle with addiction escalated until she lost everything. She spent four years living on the streets of Brampton. Her son continued to support Martineau and eventually found a place she could afford to rent.
“The landlord decided I was worth the risk,” Martineau said.
She moved in two years ago and is now 21 months sober. While her situation is improving, Martineau still lives well below the poverty line, spending 60 per cent of the $10,000 provided by the Ontario Disability Support Program annually on her rent.
“It’s difficult trying to maintain a regular lifestyle," she said yesterday at St. Stephen’s On-the-Hill United Church during an event held to raise awareness of poverty in Peel.
In Peel Region, about 167,000 people, 15 per cent of the population, live below the poverty line.
“What’s disturbing is, the trend is increasing, not decreasing,” said Adaoma Paterson, a specialist with Peel Region’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee.
While governments have their role to play in poverty reduction, Paterson believes residents must become aware of the problem.
“Awareness leads to action. As individuals, part of our responsibility is to be aware of what is happening in the community,” Peterson said. “There are still a lot of people in Peel Region who have no idea that poverty is a problem.”
Mississauga South MPP Charles Sousa agrees. He said he didn’t notice Peel’s poverty problem until entering politics.
“Prior to being elected, I really didn’t see poverty in our community,” Sousa said. “It astounds me how prevalent it is.”
Sousa said the Ontario government has created various initiatives to battle poverty, but needs to increase the fight.
“This is not something that is going to go away,” Sousa said. “Any government’s first level of duty is to be socially conscious while being financially responsible."
Sousa and Peterson agreed residential zoning that is inclusive of various income levels would help combat poverty.
“We don’t want ghetto style homes,” Sousa said. “We don’t want to put them all in one school.”
Lis McGregor, a counselor with The Compass food bank and drop-in centre, said residents can help address poverty by mixing with people of various income levels.
“It can be as simple as coming in, getting a cup of coffee and starting a conversation,” McGregor said.
This article was written by Bill Tremblay and appeared in the April 11, 2011 edition of The Mississauga News.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Over the past few years, SSOTH has been an important contributor to the work of Habitat for Humanity.
The photo on the left was taken on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at the offical key turning of the new house located in Streetsville. This was the very first Habitat Mississauga Build.