Kitchener East Presbyterian Church embraces opportunities to partner with agencies in our community and beyond to serve the pressing needs of people in difficulty or distress. Here are some of the ways we do that:
- Guatemala Mission Trips in partnership with Missionary Ventures Canada.
- Support to House of Friendship February Blitz.
- During the Lenten season members of our congregation are encouraged to donate to The Working Centre to assist with projects aimed at helping meet the needs of individuals who are unemployed or facing economic hardship in our community (theworkingcentre.org).
- Between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, members fill baby bottles or donate cash to the K-W Pregnancy Resource Centre, which provides free services to anyone experiencing an unplanned pregnancy (pregnancycentre.ca).
- We participate in The Food Bank of Waterloo Region DIG IN event, an annual one-day region-wide food drive to raise non-perishable food needed for the summer months. (thefoodbank.ca).
- We have a White Gift Sunday in December to collect non-perishable food items for The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. (thefoodbank.ca).
- We collect stamps to support The Leprosy Mission Canada, a Christian development organization focused on achieving positive change among people affected by leprosy (leprosy.ca) .
- We collect donations for Anna Kaljas Homes (supportive boarding homes for individuals with chronic/severe mental illness).
- We maintain a “Well of Blessing” in our foyer to allow people to make donations towards a Benevolent Fund.
- We operate the “Sonshine Corner”, a playgroup for toddlers and their caregivers, Thursday mornings from September to June, where both child and caregiver have opportunities for pleasant social interaction (suspended during pandemic).
- We donate to Presbyterians Sharing, which is our national church fund that supports the wide-reaching mission and ministries we do together in Canada and around the world presbyterian.ca/sharing/).
- Our members donate to Presbyterian World Service and Development. “For over 65 years, PWS&D has been working with partners overseas and Canadians here at home to make positive changes in our global village. PWS&D has a wide variety of programs that work to help communities overcome poverty, recover from emergency situations and provide new futures of hope for vulnerable people” presbyterian.ca/pwsd/).
- We join with other area churches to organize and attend annual World Day of Prayer services (www.wicc.org) . World Day of Prayer is “a global ecumenical movement of Christian women joined together to observe a common day of prayer each year on the first Friday of March.” The motto is, “Informed Prayer & Prayerful Action”, and signifies that prayer and action are inseparable. Through World Day of Prayer grants, the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada supports grassroots work to help women and children both in developing countries and here at home escape the cycle of poverty and violence.
- We lead a quarterly Communion Worship Service at Sunnyside Nursing Home (suspended during pandemic).