Some congregations support food banks. Others raise funds for HIV/AIDS programs. St. George's, London, Ont., does both. The congregation has partnered with the AIDS Committee of London for the past eight years, helping the agency operate its Country Cupboard food bank for people living with HIV.
"St. George's has shown itself to be a leader in responding to the AIDS pandemic and is an example to other Christian communities," said Chris McInnis, director of community development at ACOL. He and executive director Peter Hayes added St. George's to the agency's honour roll last June.
The congregation collects food and toiletries for the Country Cupboard every Sunday. Vitamins and specialty products are also donated. One member helped build the cupboard's current facility. "The whole congregation is involved in the fundraising," said Rev. Keith McKee. "They've really embraced it."
Money raised is split between ACOL (which receives 25 per cent) and the national church's Towards a World Without AIDS campaign. To date, St. George's has raised more than $3,000 through special events like roast beef dinners and chili lunches, a designated offering on Worldwide Communion Sunday and distributing coin boxes during Advent.
According to the Canadian Public Health Association, 11 people are infected with HIV in Canada everyday. To help raise awareness of this fact, St. George's hosted a World AIDS Day vigil last December. The event was a time to remember those in the community who had died from the disease.
The congregation also sponsored a screening in November of A Closer Walk, an American film on the global AIDS pandemic. Interviews with orphans, doctors, social workers, government leaders and NGO officials help tell the story of a world affected by AIDS.
McKee said the congregation often pours all of its efforts into specific projects for long periods, and it will eventually direct these efforts elsewhere. "We will always be involved with PWS&D though," he said, "because AIDS is not going away."
Youth reach lofty goal
The youth at St. John's, Toronto, raised a whopping $10,000 for Towards a World Without AIDS last year. Spurred on by Christian education director Laurie McGugan, along with Ellen Moore and Michelle Ramsaran, both Sunday school teachers, about 15 teenagers raised money for the national church's AIDS project. At the urging of their minister, Rev. Charlotte Stuart, the team set the lofty goal of $10,000 in the fall of 2004. With a final push last September, they reached the target. The youth organized numerous projects, including putting together cookie ingredient jars that were sold at Christmas and Valentine's Day, hosting Sunday lunches (using donated ingredients), holding an AIDS-themed service with a special offering taken and participating in a 30-hour famine. "We originally said we'd try for $5,000, but Charlotte told us to aim higher," said Moore. "She said if we don't reach it right away, we can just keep trying."
Sarnia addresses Kenyan challenge
After Rev. Terry Samuel and his wife, Susan, returned from a 12-week trip to Kenya in 1999, the congregation at St. Giles, Sarnia, Ont., wanted to help tackle the tragedy of AIDS in Africa. "We saw the difference between the haves and have-nots in the world," said Samuel, of his trip to Africa. "We saw the challenges. We met many families suffering from AIDS losses."
Moved by the Samuel's stories, the congregation began a twinning relationship with a parish in Kenya led by Rev. Joseph Mothaly. Mothaly is a member of the Presbyterian Church in East Africa, and has visited St. Giles three times since the partnership began. In addition to his parish duties, Mothaly teaches AIDS awareness and prevention in Kenya, and last year travelled to the United States for a course in clinical/pastoral education. He works closely with Dr. Rick Allen, who is also from Sarnia and works as a missionary in Kenya through International Ministries.
St. Giles' mission and outreach committee has organized special fundraising events such as auctions, soup lunches, dinners and wine tours. The committee is also spearheading a six-week congregational study of HIV/AIDS during Lent. The Sunday school collects pennies and sends the money to children in Mothaly's church. Samuel said the congregation hopes it will one day be able to send some members to Kenya. "It's been an inspiring mission focus for the congregation," he said. "They got on board and stuck with it. We don't know where it's going, but it's going! Concern continues to be a big thing."
