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As of April 24, Anglicans had given $65,000 to the appeal. With a $50,000 matching grant from FaithWorks, the total amount sent to Jamaica was $115,000.

“You responded with perseverance,” wrote Bishop Andrew Asbil in his weekly letter to the diocese at the end of the appeal. “I am told that 17 of our parishes, 184 individuals and our beloved Sisterhood of St. John the Divine all made heartfelt and generous donations. People have sent in their gifts from every corner of our diocese – from $20 to $2,000. I want to single out the parish of St. Paul, Newmarket, which raised an incredible $9,000. Amazing! It has been an outpouring of love and support to a devastated island. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The appeal, held from late February to mid-April, raised money to help Jamaica rebuild after Hurricane Melissa devastated the Caribbean island nation last year. About half of the places of worship were destroyed by the storm, along with homes, schools and infrastructure.

All the funds raised were forwarded to Alongside Hope for distribution through its established partners in Jamaica.

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On our learning tour were 12 people from across Canada. There were four CFGB staff members, plus farmers, clergy, a Caritas worker and an oil executive. We were Anglican, United, Catholic and Mennonites, and we didn’t have a moment of friction between us. It was quite heavenly.

The objective was to visit CFGB projects across Kenya and witness the incredible work that is being achieved with the local partners. CFGB, founded by Canadian farmers in the late 70s to provide excess grain to developing countries, later expanded to support local initiatives to achieve long-term solutions to hunger and food insecurity. It works with 15 church denominations and agencies, and its Anglican partner is Alongside Hope.

Kenya is large and diverse in its peoples and its geography. The tour likewise was intensive and wide-ranging. We began and ended in Nairobi with the wonderful staff of Church World Service Africa. In between, we covered much of the country, travelling nine hours north to the drought-ridden deserts of Marsabit county, much of it off-roading, and back down to Embu and Makueni counties, which were some of the lushest and most verdant land I have ever seen. In each place we met small-scale farmers, almost all women, who had been given the opportunity to start home-based projects to generate income, support their families and send their children to school. We witnessed the local partners work together to provide the kind of valuable training and education that lifts people from surviving to thriving.

In Embu county, we met Pauline Kagendo, a dynamic young poultry farmer. Pauline had started out with a loan to buy 10 chickens and a desire to raise her family out of poverty. After three years of determined work, her business has expanded to selling 300 chickens per month to local restaurants and markets, and now she is planning a joint venture in the chicken feed industry. Pauline was the first to describe chickens to us as ATM machines, and it was clear that she had taken the training she was offered and fully invested herself into the care and growth of her poultry business. There was no end to Pauline’s plan for her family’s future. She was a force of nature and an impressive role model for her community. As we drove away, some of the local staff discussed whether they might start keeping chickens themselves.

Village Saving and Loans Associations (VSLAs) are the lifeblood of grassroots development for small-scale farmers. Pauline was one of thousands who have benefitted from start-up loans and ongoing financial opportunities afforded by VSLA membership. They operate just like a small credit union. In each village, we visited the local VSLA meetings, witnessing the solidarity of local women supporting and encouraging each other in their business ventures. The rules are simple: loans are to be repaid within three months, shares can be purchased at each meeting, and dividends are paid out annually. VSLA members decide together who to invite to participate in the group, since they expect commitment, hard work and honesty. As a result, many of the projects are producing impressive results.

In Nthugoni village in Makueni county, we visited the homestead of Jacinda and Francis Mutuku. The Mutukus have been learning skills from the local partner, Utooni Development Organization (UDO), which has been building shallow wells with support from Alongside Hope, since 2019. Shallow wells are an effective way of accessing water where piped water is unavailable. UDO also provides 10,000-litre water tanks so that small farmers can water their nurseries during the dry seasons.

Francis Mutuku is legally blind, but it has not stopped him from having a vision for his family. Jacinda showed us the family’s vision maps for 2025 and 2026. What began as a small garden vegetable plot and a few chickens has turned into big dreams for a homestead with larger livestock, expanded chicken production and greater vegetable and tree plantations. Their two children now attend a good school, and Francis is able to participate in much of the work despite his disability. He is also vice president of the local VSLA. Jacinda’s devoted and watchful eye over the many feathery obstacles in Francis’s path, and his sharing of how his family’s love grows in the garden where they work, sing and chat together, was a beautiful thing to behold. Theirs was one of many success stories we had the privilege to encounter.

If there was a difficult part of the tour, it was saying farewell to the Samburu and Rendille villagers in Marsabit county, where Alongside Hope has been working with Church World Service (CWS) on improving food security. In the past, Marsabit would experience a significant drought once in 10 years; since 2015, it has been every two to three years and is projected to become more severe with global warming. When we arrived, much later than expected, the women greeted us so joyfully with their singing and dancing; we were deeply moved. We were transfixed by the beauty of their decorative beadwork that they wore with great pride. But despite the smiles and gracious welcome, their daily reality is drought. They have the training and the knowledge to grow vegetables, but without water it is simply not possible. We did view their beekeeping, beadwork and poultry projects, but the lack of water looms over the community, affecting every facet of daily life. It is a disaster for a pastoralist society. We left determined to pray for the community and to support it going forward. At the time of writing, I am glad to have learnt that Alongside Hope and CFGB have provided funds to rehabilitate two boreholes to attempt to ease the water shortage.

After many visits to farmers across Kenya, our tour ended with a wonderful safari day in Nairobi National Park, then a visit to the Canadian High Commission to advocate for Canada’s commitment to international development, particularly having seen the devastation that the withdrawal of USAID has caused.

Kenya is simply incredible. No movie can adequately capture the warmth of its people, their vibrant Christian faith, the dramatic vistas or the majesty of its animal kingdom. I was, finally, fortunate to make my way to Maasai Mara before flying home, too. The whole experience of participating in a Canadian Foodgrains Bank Learning Tour was inspiring. I saw first-hand the great work that Alongside Hope achieves together with its Kenyan partners and CFGB. I had a really hard time unlearning “PWRDF,” but now I’ve seen that they really do journey alongside hope, and that is Christ’s work.

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After considerable discussion, Synod Council unanimously approved a motion in support of developing and implementing a voluntary, opt-in fundraising campaign for parishes that are ready to proceed now.

The need for a capital campaign emerged from Cast the Net, the diocese’s strategic plan, which identified several priorities that would benefit from financial support. A feasibility study conducted in the spring of 2025 found strong readiness, capacity and support for a diocesan campaign. When Synod gathered last November, its members were more cautious, narrowly passing an amendment to the Priorities and Plans 2025-2027 to defer the plan to “engage all parishes in a diocesan major gift fundraising campaign” until Synod 2027.

In the months after Synod, Bishop Andrew Asbil and Peter Misiazsek, director of Stewardship Development, met with the diocese’s chancellor and vice-chancellors about how best to support the parishes that were ready to start a campaign while respecting Synod’s decision. The chancellors advised that an optional, parish-driven campaign wouldn’t contravene the vote at Synod.

“We had a chance to really look at the intent and the spirit of that motion, and we saw that it was really about the inclusion of every parish. Out of our feasibility study, we knew that there were at least 10 parishes in the diocese that really wanted to get started early, and we already had two parishes that were in the process,” says Bishop Asbil. “We really felt the need to be able to honour what Synod had decided, and at the same time wanting to pick up the deep desire of parishes to get going now.”

The idea was brought forward for a conversation at Synod Council in February, and discussions continued across its March and April meetings before its members voted in April.

“By meeting with the chancellor and having conversations with folks on Synod Council, I think we’ve been able to strike a balance between the concern expressed at Synod and the parishes that are really enthusiastic and believe that they have a compelling case within their own communities to move forward with something now,” says Mr. Misiaszek.

Ten parishes have stepped forward so far, eager to start a campaign because of local priorities that need financial attention, from deferred maintenance and building accessibility concerns to new ministry ideas.

“Timing is everything, and when a parish has vision for its own ministry, when they know that the diocesan family is going to be very supportive, there’s a real desire to not hold back, but to really let the Spirit of God just hop on and get going,” says Bishop Asbil.

This first phase until Synod 2027 will involve only parishes that have volunteered, while those that aren’t ready to move ahead won’t be expected or asked to join. Mr. Misiaszek says the first parishes provide a good sample of the make-up of in the diocese, accounting for about 10 per cent of average Sunday attendance and offertory giving.

“They represent a cross-section of parishes, from parishes that have over 300 people attending on a Sunday to those who have less than 50. Some are in the city, some are suburban and some rural,” he says.

With the help of professional fundraising consultants, each parish will develop a case for support that reflects its own needs. Parishes will be given a goal that represents about 125 per cent of their average annual offertories over the past three years, with pledged gifts being fulfilled over a five-year period. Parishes will keep the majority of the funds they raise, with smaller parishes keeping a higher percentage. The rest will go into a pool of funds for diocesan-wide priorities.

“They get to keep, at a minimum, 60 per cent for their own initiatives. If you’re a much smaller parish you could retain up to 75 per cent of funds. We’re even prepared to negotiate with parishes, because we want what’s in their best interest,” says Mr. Misiaszek.

Parishes will also keep 100 per cent of funds raised above and beyond their campaign goals.

The Synod Office and its consultants will take on much of the campaign’s administrative work, acknowledging and receipting gifts, maintaining donor relations, receiving funds and passing those funds along to parishes. The diocese will also absorb the up-front campaign costs, which Mr. Misiaszek anticipates will amount to about $400,000.

“We’re trying to make this as much of an easy win for parishes as possible,” he says.

He and Bishop Asbil are also hoping that early successes among this small group will encourage the rest of the diocese and help shape the roll-out of a broader campaign.

“This is a really important time for us to be able to listen, to watch, to pay close attention to what’s happening on the ground in each of the parishes,” says Bishop Asbil. “They’ll teach us where the passion for ministry is, and where we need to be really supportive in their endeavours.”

While work to set up the campaign gets underway, Mr. Misiaszek anticipates that the 10 parishes will get started in earnest in early 2027. In the meantime, both he and Bishop Asbil are eager to support the enthusiastic first group in the coming months.

“I am really excited by the opportunity for us to be able to support ministry where it’s happening on the ground, and to be able to help the wider diocese take this moment in time to see that the Spirit of God is calling us to ministry,” says Bishop Asbil. “We are having, I think, a moment in our diocese and beyond where there is an awakening and a spiritual renewal. Here’s an opportunity for us to be able to say, How do we build ministry for today and tomorrow?”

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FaithWorks is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026!

Thirty years ago in 1996, Charles and Diana divorced. Jean Chretien was prime minister. Bill Clinton was elected president. Gas averaged 60 cents/litre. Windows, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo were new. We watched Friends and ER. Cellphones were just phones the size of bricks. Y2K was looming on the horizon. And FaithWorks was founded.

Since 1996, FaithWorks has survived social, economic, political and health-care upheavals to provide stable support for our ministry partners. $45 million has been raised and hundreds of thousands of people have been helped in communities across our Diocese, across Canada and around the world. Last year alone, over 52,000 people were impacted by the work of FaithWorks’ ministry partners. Together, we helped improve the lives of vulnerable people facing difficult challenges.

In 2026, food insecurity is rampant around the world and here in Canada. Food Banks Canada reports that 1 in 4 people living in Canada live in food insecure households. 1 in 4 households relying on food banks are two parent families. 1 in 5 people relying on food banks are employed, an all-time high!

FaithWorks is an expression of the Christian desire to respond to this need. Through our ministry partners, we reach out to those with inadequate food, housing, safety and support. FaithWorks reaches out to victims of poverty, violence and deprivation right here in our neighbourhoods every day.

In this anniversary year the FaithWorks campaign is turning to Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the multitude for inspiration and guidance. We are being reminded, as “Jesus fed the multitude, now it’s our turn to help.” We are being challenged to “give extra for food.” Our hope is to exceed our annual goal of $1.5 million needed to meet our ongoing commitments and use the extra funds to assist parish food insecurity programs. To realize this hope, we are asking 100% of parishes to participate in this anniversary campaign by setting a fundraising goal that exceeds their 2025 FaithWorks contribution by at least 1% of their overall offertory amount – 100 + 1%. We hope you take up the challenge!

Thank you to all who support and participate in the mission of FaithWorks. Thank you to our generous donors, our tireless volunteers and our dedicated ministry partners. Together, let us follow Jesus’ example and help those in need.

The impact of your donation to FaithWorks was felt across the Diocese and around the world. In 2025 the number of people served by FaithWorks’ ministry partners increased again to over 52,000, including:

• 7,957 people were fed, sheltered, nurtured and befriended
• 3,177 people touched by the prison system
• 1,513 young adults living with mental health challenges
• 1,003 people impacted by HIV/AIDS
• 2,805 Indigenous people
• 1,547 at-risk women, children and youth
• 16,248 refugees, new Canadians and migrant workers
• 10,948 families in need

Thank you to our Parishes!

As communities of compassion and hope, our parishes are the heart of the annual FaithWorks campaign.

90% of parishes participated in the 2025 campaign. 78 parishes saw an increase in contributions to FaithWorks. Contributions from our parishes were $813,100. Parishes retained $90,600 for local outreach ministries.

Thank you to our Corporate and Foundation Donors!

Thank you to our Corporate and Foundation Donors who contributed $438,000 to FaithWorks in 2025. Your generosity makes it possible to improve the lives of thousands of individuals and families.

$100,000 or more

Anglican Diocese of Toronto Foundation

$50,000

BMO

Fast Family Foundation

$30,000

New England Company

$25,000

Letko, Brousseau & Associates

$20,000

Margaret McCain ODT

$15,000

Anglican Foundation of Canada

Burgundy Legacy Foundation

Canso Investment Counsel

$10,000

Hayhoe Family Foundation

VPC Group

$7,500

Manulife Investment Management

$5,000

Foster Hewitt Foundation

Koskie Minsky LLP

NHI Nurse Homemakers International

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Smith-Boake Designwerke

Rogers Gardham ODT

<$4,999

Clairmark Consulting

M&M Consulting

Our FaithWorks Ministry Partners struggle tirelessly each and every day to share the transforming power of God’s love with thousands of people in need. We thank our Ministry Partners for being powerful agents of the love that is changing lives and changing the world.

• A Place Called Home, Lindsay
• All Saints’ Church – Community Centre, Toronto
• Alongside Hope
• Anglican United Refugee Alliance – AURA
• Flemingdon Park Ministry, Toronto
• Holy Trinity, Trinity Square, Toronto – CommUNITY Hub
• North House, Durham
• One City Peterborough
• Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care, Toronto
• Regeneration Outreach Community, Brampton
• St. James’ Cathedral – Outreach Footcare clinic
• St. James, Orillia – Breakfast & Lunch program
• St. Margaret, New Toronto – Outreach program
• St. Saviour, Orono – Migrant Worker Ministry
• St. Stephen in-the-Fields, Toronto – Outreach program
• The Dam, Mississauga
• Toronto Urban Native Ministry

Give extra for food

In celebration of our 30th anniversary, FaithWorks wants to provide extra help to parish food insecurity programs.

Any extra funds raised beyond the annual goal of $1.5 million needed to meet our ongoing commitments will be set aside for parish food insecurity programs.

Please consider increasing your support to match the increase in need. Visit faithworks.ca.

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As of March 30 of this year, 123 parishes, or 64 per cent of the diocese, had reported passing this year’s motion. Information was still pending from an additional 27 parishes, as well as from a number of parishes with vestries in the fall, so the final number of supporting parishes might still rise.

Several parishes supporting the motion indicated additional follow-up actions they planned to take as a parish. The parishes of St. Paul, Midhurst and St. John, Craighurst committed themselves to exploring participation in the Anglican Communion Forest initiative, in partnership with local conservancy groups. St. Augustine of Canterbury added a clause to the motion urging parishioners to prioritize reducing their own hydro-carbon fuel consumption. St. James the Apostle, Sharon has formed a parish “Flower and Garden Guild” to integrate environmental stewardship into the beautification of worship and support of the community. They hope to prioritize sustainable, locally sourced and seasonally appropriate materials, reduce waste, provide space to attract and propagate endangered insects and adopt practices that lessen the parish’s environmental footprint. St. Timothy, Agincourt is embarking on a letter-writing campaign and forming a Green Team to look at ways to reduce energy consumption and waste in the parish, while St. Andrew by-the-Lake has offered to host an event or education series related to climate change.

Responding to the climate crisis requires both kinds of actions: local, individual and communal efforts to reduce one’s carbon footprint, but also increased advocacy, including individual and public conversations about the climate change impacts already being felt by our communities and our planet. More than 40 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are from industrial sources, which means individual lifestyle choices can only go so far without public regulation, which takes political will. Taking the time to send a message to one’s MP, or to convene a local conversation, perhaps using the excellent Faithful Climate Conversations guide from For the Love of Creation, helps to show both decision-makers and our neighbours that climate is still an important concern, which in turn creates greater impetus to action. A recent article from Carleton University’s Centre for Climate Communication and Engagement found that most Canadians believe their fellow Canadians have “given up” on the climate, which can “put a chill on climate conversations and action.” The more we believe that others care, and the more we believe our actions will make a difference, the more likely we are to take action.

Unfortunately, despite the increased impacts we are already seeing here in Ontario in the form of extreme weather events, heatwaves and wildfires, climate change still feels like a distant threat, especially compared with more immediate-seeming challenges such as war, trade negotiations and the high cost of living. As a result, climate action tends to be pushed to the periphery.

Some parishes considering the motion explicitly mentioned our current economic and physical context, pointing out that climate action must also take account of concerns about affordability, employment, food and housing security, and physical and mental health. Ultimately, however, a warming climate will exacerbate those issues as well. As climate scientist and committed Christian Katharine Hayhoe puts it, climate change is not separate from other global issues, but the “hole in the bottom of the bucket” of our efforts to address poverty, inequity, disease and other concerns. We cannot overcome these challenges without also taking action to “fix the hole,” i.e. to address climate change.

To be sure, there are different ways to address climate change, and each in the short term will have different impacts on people of lower and moderate incomes. As well, different measures will be more or less effective in different communities: smaller and more remote communities are perforce more car-dependent than large urban centres, for example, while those on lower incomes are less likely to be able to switch over to heat pumps or electric vehicles. One of the reasons the Social Justice & Advocacy Committee focused on holding Canada to its emissions reduction commitments, rather than to any particular measures designed to achieve them, is that we did not want parishes to get bogged down in debating the merits and demerits of any particular climate policy, but rather signal our concern in more general terms.

The challenge before us is to find measures to address the polycrisis of climate, political and economic conflict, food and housing insecurity and physical and mental health that will put the least burden on those who are least able to afford it and those who have contributed least to the problems. It is an opportunity for further conversation – with our friends, neighbours, fellow parishioners and elected representatives – so that together we can find ways to care for both the Earth and each other, as our Lord calls us to do.

Resources for follow-up action can be found at www.toronto.anglican.ca/vestry-motion.

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Dear Premier Ford, Minister Jones and Minister Thanigasalam,

It is devastating to learn the news that provincial funding for all supervised consumption sites in the province of Ontario will end.

Since the closure of nine provincially funded sites last year under the Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024, we have seen the fallout in our communities: increased public drug use and discarded needles, more overdoses at church- and community centre-run drop-ins, and a sharp increase in the number of paramedic calls to deal with suspected overdoses. In Toronto alone, the number of overdose-related paramedic calls in January 2026 was up nearly 50 per cent from the previous year. The increasing contamination of street drugs with veterinary tranquilizers such as medetomidine, which is not responsive to naloxone, produces overdoses that require more support than community agencies can offer. Supervised consumption sites provided drug-checking services, as well as trained staff and equipment able to respond to such overdoses. Without them, these overdose cases must be referred to paramedics and emergency rooms. Not only does this cost taxpayers more, but it also contributes to increased delay and emergency room wait times, putting the health of all Ontarians at risk.

The province’s transition to the HART hub model, which began last spring, was meant to connect people who use drugs with greater access to treatment and supportive housing. Those who work on the frontlines, in drop-ins, emergency rooms and the few remaining supervised consumption sites, tell us a different story. These promised resources have not materialized. There are still not enough publicly funded treatment services and supportive housing available for those who want and need them. In their absence, people continue to use street drugs and to remain homeless, with even less chance of finding housing and greater risk of criminalization, thanks to Bills 10 and 6.

Keeping actual and suspected drug users homeless and increasing their likelihood of incarceration will not solve either the overdose crisis or the housing crisis, and enforcement and incarceration cost still more than harm reduction, treatment and supportive housing.

In December 2024, Ontario’s auditor general released a report criticizing this government for failing to provide an evidence-based case analysis for the proposed HART hub model, and for failing to mitigate the adverse impacts that will result from closing supervised consumption sites. We are deeply grieved that rather than addressing these adverse impacts, this government has doubled down and will now be closing the remaining seven publicly funded supervised consumption sites in the province.

We maintain that supervised consumption sites are an important part of an overall public health response to the opioid crisis. They contribute to public health by reducing public drug use and the transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases. Not only do they reverse overdoses without putting additional burdens on emergency services, they provide a place where people who use drugs can access other supports without stigma, helping them get to a place where they can choose recovery or at the very least reduce their drug use and other risky behaviours. There is no path to recovery without meeting people where they are.

Anglicans all over our diocese agree. Last year, over 65 per cent of parishes in our diocese passed resolutions urging this government to reverse the planned closure of supervised consumption sites and to lift the ban on new sites. We cannot stand by and watch the remainder of these sites – the last lifeline available to many in our communities – be stripped away.

We urge you to reconsider and maintain provincial funding for existing supervised consumption sites, and to allow the opening of new sites in communities experiencing high volumes of drug overdoses. We would be grateful for any opportunity to meet with you further on this issue.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto

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We consider it a privilege to have them with us during our bilingual services at St. Saviour’s, and we are glad they can use our Clothing Hub, where they can help themselves to work clothes throughout the season that they are here.

In preparation for their return, we assembled welcome bags filled with hygiene products, snacks and other essentials. Last year, we distributed about 500 welcome bags, and we expect to provide the same number this season. We are incredibly grateful to our partner churches, community organizations and generous volunteers who help us put these bags together and maintain our Clothing Hub throughout the season.

Our migrant workers consistently express their gratitude for the support we offer. Here are just a few messages we’ve received this past season:

• “Thank you for all you’ve done for us. The clothes, the meals, the music and the fellowship are greatly appreciated. Most of all, we are thankful for sharing the word of God.” – Juan Carlos Diaz at Algoma Orchards.
• “I thank God for allowing us to come here to work for our families. We are so grateful to meet you and to everyone who have helped us with clothes, shoes and so much more. Your prayers and the Mexican songs you bring mean a lot to us.”– Juan de Dios Barron Medina at Wilmont Farm.
• “Thank you for your unconditional support. I look forward to continuing to receive your kindness in the years to come.” – Miguel Angel Romero at Linton’s Farm.

Our migrant workers represent a vulnerable population, one that our church and community are proud to support. This ministry reflects the diocese’s commitment to mission and outreach, ensuring that we extend care not just within our church walls, but also to those who contribute so much to our agricultural sector.

As we celebrate their return this year, we invite your support for this vital ministry. In-kind donations and financial contributions through FaithWorks are always welcome, ensuring that we can continue providing for the needs of our migrant worker friends. Let us continue to reflect the love of Christ through our actions, sharing support, prayer and fellowship with those who need it most.

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