St. Timothy, North Toronto originally earmarked $10,000 in its budget to help St. Stephen in-the- Fields, Toronto, which provides hot meals and other services to hungry and homeless people in and around Kensington Market.

“We were very aware that the pandemic has affected the most vulnerable the most negatively,” explains the Rev. Canon Dr. Eric Beresford, incumbent. “As a church, we began to ask ourselves, ‘How do we find ways to be really generous?’”

As the gift was debated at St. Timothy’s vestry meeting, the amount started to climb, eventually reaching $50,000. “There was a will to do more,” says Trish Back, who had proposed the original amount. “It was fantastic.”

The money will be coming out of an endowment given to St. Timothy’s by the late Reginald Soward, a former parishioner who was active in the Anglican Church at the local, diocesan and national levels. “We’re very lucky to have this endowment to help others in these terrible times,” says Ms. Back.

The funds are being given to under-resourced Anglican churches and ministries that help marginalized people. Fifteen thousand dollars has been given to St. Stephen’s and the rest will go to All Saints Church-Community Centre, Toronto Urban Native Ministry, St. Bartholomew, Toronto for its outreach programs to Regent Park, and the Diocese of Mishamikoweesh, located in northern Ontario and Manitoba.

Bruce Cameron, a member of the church’s outreach committee, says the pandemic has prevented St. Timothy’s parishioners from helping others in the usual ways, so the gift was one way of overcoming that. “We were looking for ways to get energized,” he says.

The church usually holds a community lunch and a fundraising bazaar, and parishioners help out at Moorelands Camp and at foodbanks, but the pandemic has put those efforts on hold.

Mr. Cameron says the gift is unusual for St. Timothy’s. “Traditionally, we ask people to contribute to fundraising campaigns, to give to FaithWorks or to volunteer. But this was different. It was about looking at the blessings we have and saying, ‘There’s a lot of people who don’t have rainy day funds’ and how can we help them?”

Although the $50,000 is a one-time gift, St. Timothy’s is hoping it will be the start of a partnership between the church and the ministries. “We’re hoping to build relationships and learn from them,” says Canon Beresford.

He says one of the reasons for the church’s outpouring of generosity is its daily Morning Prayer service, which has been held online, Monday to Friday, since the pandemic began, regularly attended by about 30 people. “People can’t pray together like that over such a long period of time without being changed,” he says. “The daily act of putting our lives in God’s hands is affecting and shaping us. That has been one of the pandemic’s gifts to us.”

The church has also been going through the diocese’s MAP (Mission Action Planning) process, which helps churches to look outward and engage with the surrounding community. As part of connecting with its neighbours, St. Timothy’s plans to invite them to give to the frontline ministries as well.

He says the gift says a lot about the character of St. Timothy’s members. “The decision reflects a grassroots sense of who we are, who want to be and our willingness to take risks to be that.”

The Rev. Maggie Helwig, incumbent of St. Stephen’s, thanked St. Timothy’s for the gift. “I began my ordained ministry as a curate at St. Timothy’s, and I have very fond memories of the people there. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to maintain a relationship, and that they have supported and engaged with the outreach programming at St Stephen’s for years. This exceptionally generous gift will help to keep us going through the additional expenses of providing food, shelter, and social support to our marginalized community members during COVID-19.”

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This sounds like Alice in Wonderland, doesn’t it? Or Harry Potter entering the wizarding world, rather than the way we usually think of our lives. And yet, we do live in the story of God’s relationship with ourselves and all of creation. Each week, we hear bits of the story at church, in our own devotional reading, and ideally, we are pulled into the story, carried along by it in our own daily lives.

The Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care (BCCC) has been working since last July to help Anglicans, parishes, and the diocese as a whole to better imagine how we might live out this story in relation to creation. Our world continues to grapple with the climate crisis, and the Church is realizing the many ways that we have neglected our calling to live in peace with the diversity of plants, insects, animals, and people that God created in that first garden community or community garden.

In that context, the BCCC is asking parishes to spend some time thinking about the land, and the actual earth that surrounds their churches. What other creatures live in the soil and in the foliage? How could these creatures be cared for? What needs to be done to ensure that plants, animals, insects and birds continue to flourish around your church? What has been lost, and what needs to be restored? What can grow there? Is there a way that you can tend the earth around your church and also meet the needs of the surrounding community?

Perhaps your church has enough space to create beds that provide gardening opportunities for those who no other access to land. Perhaps your church has enough space to grow vegetables for those in your community who are food insecure. Perhaps making a pollinator garden for your community is the most appropriate choice. Or perhaps you have a vision for both vegetables and pollinators.

Does your busy context mean that a meditation garden would be appropriate? Is it possible to tuck a few currant or raspberry bushes in the shady spots around the perimeter? Is there room for a dwarf apple or peach tree or two? Or maybe your church only has space for a small bed of native plants or some pollinator annuals in a planter.

Of course, imagining what is possible on the land around your church is one thing. Turning that vision into reality can be more challenging. Where to start? This is where the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care hopes to help in a number of ways:

• Members of the BCCC are available to discuss your project both in terms of vision and in terms of practical steps.
• Numerous parishioners from churches with established community gardens have volunteered to act as a resource for those with questions about gardens. They are also willing to provide tours of their gardens.
• The committee has created a toolkit that outlines the steps to starting a garden, including assembling a team, plant selection, allocating a budget, pruning and planting tips, and COVID-19 consideration. In addition, there are links to external resources providing detailed instructions on starting a community garden and suggestions for plants. This can be found at toronto.anglican.ca/creationcare.

We don’t know what this summer will bring in terms of worship and communal life in our churches. Beginning a garden project is one way that we can gather as a community, imagine our life together in a new way, and enter into the story of healing for creation that God calls us to. Please, join us.

Sylvia Keesmaat and Chanelle McLeod are members of the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care. If you would like more information on starting a garden on your church property, go to www.toronto.anglican.ca/creationcare or send an email to creation.care@toronto.anglican.ca.

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It’s at the heart of our relationship with God and with others. We see plenty of references to forgiveness in the Bible. Jesus speaks about forgiveness often and weaves this quality into his instruction on how we should pray (Matthew 6:9-13).

All of us have been hurt by others. It’s not easy to forgive a wrongdoer. Yet Jesus underscores the importance of forgiveness in the famous episode where he says we should be prepared to forgive not seven times, but 77 times – in effect, to practise forgiveness without end (Matthew 18:22). He drives the point home in the following passage in the parable about the unforgiving servant.

Forgiveness, however, like so much of Christian faith, is not only about our individual lives. It has a communal dimension as well. How do we practise forgiveness as a society?

One way is by forgiving ex-offenders. The concept of restorative justice, in which communities try to repair the hurt caused by crime, is an important example of this. Indigenous people have been practising this kind of community-based justice for generations. More recently, a Mennonite-inspired program called Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) strives to put this belief into action. A small group of volunteers walks alongside a former inmate determined to turn his life around (and we are usually talking about males in these cases).

For the past several months, I’ve been working with a Circle group involved with an ex-offender I’ll call Andy. When first asked if I’d join his circle, I hesitated. Andy spent time in prison for sex-related crimes and as a survivor of sexual assault as a child, I wondered if I could find it in my heart to forgive Andy. I prayed about it and decided to give it a try.

When I first met Andy and the rest of the Circle team, I felt apprehensive.  But as we met and got to know each other, I felt more at ease. I quickly learned that the CoSA program is anything but a “get out of jail free” card.  The program’s accountability element is front and centre. An ex-offender must show sincere willingness to work on his challenges. He also lives under many conditions affecting his life, including whom he can associate with, where he can go and his access to the Internet. I soon realized that Andy is determined to leave his mistakes behind and he acknowledges the harm he’s done. In fact, Andy began looking for programs that could help him re-integrate into society while he was still in prison.

For the Rev. Christian Harvey, executive director of the One City Peterborough community agency that sponsors the CoSA program in my city, a key element is that this initiative tries to re-integrate sex offenders back into society – or to welcome people into the community who have always been isolated, never feeling they were part of the community. If someone is further isolated after release from jail, they’re more likely to re-offend.

“The narrative from much of society is that sex offenders are monsters,” notes Mr. Harvey, a deacon at St. John the Evangelist in Peterborough. “When you’re told repeatedly you’re a monster, you’re more likely to do monstrous things.”

The message of forgiveness along with accountability upon which the Circles program is based ties in with Christian faith, he says. “Jesus was always going to those pushed to the margins and saying what you did wrong doesn’t define you.” Mr. Harvey has spent time with many former inmates and has found their willingness to repent beautiful and Gospel-based – as I have, when listening to Andy own up for his harmful actions.

Nonetheless, forgiveness is far from easy. When I find it tough to forgive, I say the Lord’s Prayer slowly, pondering the words, “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” I also meditate on the rap-style reflection in a powerful song called Forgive, by folksinger Trevor Hall:

Forgive everything that has ever happened
Life is everything we can imagine
Laid out in patterns of pain and passion
You cannot control it so keep your compassion
There are no accidents
And there are no factions
There is no “us” and “them”
And only forgiveness can make that happen.

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By mid-March of this year, 40 parishes in the diocese had contacted me directly to report that their parish had passed the motion. These 40 parishes, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. This year, for the first time, the Incumbent’s Return form included the question, “Did your congregation pass a Social Justice Motion at your last Vestry?” Based on the returns uploaded to the diocese’s database by March 23, 130 parishes out of 204, or 64 per cent of the diocese, indicated that they had passed this year’s motion. Of the remainder, 36 parishes indicated that they had not passed the motion, and data from 38 parishes had yet to be uploaded from paper returns.

This is a greater number of positive responses to a Social Justice Vestry Motion than has ever been reported since these motions were introduced! However, due to the change in how the data was collected, it is hard to say to what degree this year’s numbers reflect the ease of reporting, and how much is due to the substance of this year’s motion. While data from the Incumbent’s Return gives a better indication of the number of parishes supporting the motion, it cannot give a qualitative description of the ways in which parishes responded. However, the reports received directly indicate that this year’s motion was gladly received by many parishes, and that congregations have taken it to heart and engaged with it in creative ways.

At St. Olave, Swansea, members of the youth group took turns on Zoom speaking to the motion and putting it into the context of current events and biblical faith. Many parishes are forming anti-racism working groups, planning book and film study series, and inviting guest preachers and workshop leaders to address the topic, while some are also looking inward, inviting parishioners to share their own stories of identity, inclusion and exclusion. Plans to celebrate Asian History Month, with contributions from Asian and South Asian parishioners, are underway at St. Philip-on-the-Hill, Unionville. In addition to learning, dialogue, and celebration, a number of parishes are taking the next steps to examine how their parish life and leadership reflect the racial diversity of their congregations and communities. Several commended the diocese’s effort in rolling out anti-bias/anti-racism training and looked forward to this training being offered at the parish level.  As the anti-racism working group at St. Anne, Toronto, put it, “Together, we seek to go beyond inclusion, to ensure that our faith in action and the spaces we cultivate are reflective of the voices, experiences and identities of Black, Indigenous and other racialized people, so that all members of the Christian family not only feel that they are part of the Church, but also that they have a collective role in reimagining and sustaining it.”

Extrapolating from these reports, it seems that this year’s motion has struck a chord with many parishes who are eager to begin or expand upon this work. While the annual return gives a fuller picture of the extent to which parishes in our diocese engage with the motion, the narrative reports provide much more detail of the ways in which parishes make the motion their own.

Several clergy reported that their parishes had used Vestry season to reflect on the progress they had made on previous Social Justice Vestry Motions, and had been pleased by the work that these motions had inspired in the parish. “I think the SJAC motions are a really effective tool,” said the Rev. Susan Spicer at St. George, Ajax. This is indeed the goal of the annual Social Justice Vestry Motion – for parishes to engage with a particular social justice issue and to find ways to take meaningful action on it, within their local context.

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My main duties include overseeing and maintaining the Sisters’ website and general online presence as well as coordinating, facilitating and journeying with the people who join the Companions program in both their residential and online forms.

The Companions program is offered in two forms: the original residential or “in-person” program where the Companions live and work and pray with the Sisters at the convent, and an online form which we have called “Companions Online.”

Companions Online is an 11-month program that has been developed specifically for people who are working, have families or who are in school. In this program, Companions have the opportunity to become “monastics in the world,” living a Benedictine rhythm of prayer, work, study and recreation within an intentional online community. Online Companions learn to develop practices that support and nurture their spiritual life from their homes.

The residential or “in-person” Companions program invites women aged 21 and up to live with the Sisters for 11 months to explore an expression of contemporary monasticism rooted in the Anglican tradition. The Companions develop a rhythm of life that includes public and private prayer, engage in service to others, and learn to live in intentional community. They also cultivate an appreciation for the values of prayerfulness and service, deepen their rootedness and spiritual intimacy with God and each other in community, discover a personal path to spiritual growth and transformation and discern individual gifts and vocations.

There are many parts of my job that I enjoy. I’d have to say that the best part for me is working with the Sisters and other staff and journeying with the Companions. I wouldn’t call this a challenge, but let’s just say it was an adventure moving the tail-end of last year’s residential Companions program over to Zoom!

I was born in Alberta and raised in the foothills, on the threshold of Kananaskis Country, amid farm animals and mountains, rivers and wheat fields. Having discerned a call to religious life in early adulthood, I joined Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, where I had the great privilege to journey with many of the poorest of the poor throughout the U.S.A. and Mexico. Upon my leaving the order, I moved to Toronto and earned my Master’s degree in Theological Studies. Soon afterward, I began working for the Sisters at St. John’s Convent.

Growing up surrounded by nature was foundational to my faith life. I resonate deeply when the Psalms say that “Creation declares the glory of God.” Creation does indeed declare and impart wisdom, and I have been richly blessed because of it. As Celtic spirituality so beautifully puts it, I have been schooled in the “Book of Creation.” In addition to nature, my faith has been deeply formed by the liturgy and contemplation, especially on the Mysteries of the Incarnation and the Eucharist. As to important people along the way… there are too many to mention. Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity is certainly one, my childhood parish priest is another, as well as many friends and family.

Five years from now, I will hopefully still be working at SSJD!

I actually don’t have a favourite Scripture passage.

Both Companions programs offered by the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine are free of charge. More information about the program in both its forms can be found by visiting the Sisterhood’s website, www.ssjd.ca, and searching “Companions Program.”

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It is the 25^th year of FaithWorks in our diocese, and it is well worth celebrating. It may be of interest to know how FaithWorks came to be.

In 1995, the diocese had a Treasury Board, made up of volunteers, that was responsible for, among other things, creating a budget for the Synod office. We were struggling to cover expenses without having to raise parish assessments. We examined the Community Ministries department’s budget, which funded the diocese’s major outreach programs such as The Dam, Flemington Park Ministry and others. We thought we might fund them from freewill offerings rather than using parish assessments.

We then applied the Anglican Church’s Rule 101: when in doubt, form a committee. So three of us (myself, Tom Abel and John Howard) created the Stewardship Development Committee. Our first question was: how will the new program appeal to parish families? The diocese’s outreach programs were not well known. We looked to the Bible for guidance – the stories of Jesus’ healing and giving. Tell the stories, we thought.

Beyond the outreach programs, we thought about our parishes: could we share a portion of the gifts, to provide seed money for local outreach projects? What if we gave our episcopal areas a portion, too, to seed larger projects that sister parishes could create together? If we shared these stories, they might inspire other people to take action.

We then thought about other outreach programs such as Anglican Houses, The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) and Anglican Appeal. Parishioners were torn – which program was most deserving? We thought that we should wrap the other programs into this new one. In a meeting with the Anglican Houses team, their concern was that donations might shrink. We then suggested that they take a leap of faith with us – that together we would be stronger. They agreed. Shortly thereafter, Anglican Houses became Leap Of Faith Together (LOFT).

Our next meeting was at the national church’s office, to see if the Anglican Appeal and PWRDF would join us. We met Suzanne Lawson, who was so excited by this that she not only agreed, but joined our team. What a Godsend! Susan Graham-Walker also joined us from the diocese’s Program Resources department, to help give us much-needed guidance.

The new program had to be ongoing. Every year, an appeal would be needed, with new stories told and new initiatives taken. This would require new Synod office staff, and with God’s grace, Richard Garnett became our first director of Stewardship Development.

Something was still missing, however – a name. It had to inspire. We spent several meetings struggling with this. I was walking to Union Station after one meeting when it hit me. I actually froze and almost got trampled by other commuters. Our next meeting was in two weeks – I could hardly wait. I spent the time sketching the logo: Faith had to be airy, with spaces for light, reaching up, with a cross in the center. Works had to be grounded, solid, industrial-strength. Can you see it?

I brought copies of the sketch to the next meeting and passed them out. I took a deep breath – was this a dumb idea? Five mouths opened, then smiled. FaithWorks was born. Well, almost.

Richard was ready to go, but we explained that we had to present the proposal to Synod. Richard said, “You need the parishes to vote on this? How do you get anything done?” John replied, “Quite well, actually.” I remember the discussion about Synod: how do we present FaithWorks to Synod? How could it appeal to Synod members? Answer: tell the stories, of course. But there were hundreds of stories, and we only had 45 minutes. Then show them the stories, we thought.

There were to be four slide projectors at Synod, and I agreed to put the stories together. I cut articles from the Toronto newspapers. There was a picture of furniture sitting curbside in the rain: the only possessions of an evicted family. And one of a man in a sleeping bag on a steam vent in front of our new, shiny City Hall. I needed 60 articles, which I found in only one week’s worth of papers. Then I wanted stories of our outreach programs. I spent hours in the diocese’s Archives and had to go back 10 years to find 40. Outreach was under the radar then.

Synod came, the lights dimmed, the music started and images flashed across the four screens – all different but all the same. It lasted for two minutes. The music ended with a boom, and four FaithWorks logos flooded the room. The lights came up and John, Tom and I explained how FaithWorks came to Synod, and Richard explained how the program would run in the parishes. After a break, Synod voted and FaithWorks became a reality. It was 1996.

At the break, someone asked if I did this for a living, pointing at the screens. I looked at the people in the room and said, “We all do.” She smiled. After the vote, a Synod member approached John, Tom, and I and asked, “Did you ever think that FaithWorks would not happen?” Tom replied, “Never!” Ever.

Cheryl Bristow, Ebert Hobbs and Richard Parton joined our team to help with the first campaign in 1997, assembling posters, parish brochures, the blue envelopes and taking care of thousands of other details. And the rest is history – and the present and future.

I will not likely live to see FaithWorks turn 50, but it will happen – because of our works of faith, and because our faith works.

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What categories do you use to describe yourself? Keep checking your assumptions, reconsidering your perspectives – how many different categories does it take before you start thinking of yourself across a broad spectrum? This is a colourful way of thinking, and it invites us to expand our careful classifications to expose the jagged limits of their usefulness. As we explore our own human identities, often it becomes clear that we need to do more inner work, learning to love ourselves – for when we are able to “hide” our pains and shames from God, we find ways to turn away from other people’s pain. It seems to be a human trait to project onto others our own understanding of ourselves as created in the image of God. Something shifts, when we use love – language to describe the image of God – unconditional Love – no matter what you have done – as in the Gospel story of the father who ran out to meet his prodigal son – welcoming him with love and radical forgiveness before the son even had a chance to say a word to his dad. If we can love ourselves so radically, and let ourselves be so wildly loved by God, we can come to a different understanding of our relationships with one another – also created in the image of God. What would it take to let yourself be fully and completely loved by God? It comes back to Sunday School, with the song that teaches us: “Jesus loves me, this I know – for the Bible tells me so.” In being courageous to love, we can tap into the deep honesty, respect and wisdom required of us to uncover our unconscious racism that infiltrates our culture and our language. Simone de Beauvoir once said: “It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for acting.”

I give great thanks to God for the humble leadership of our clergy, congregations and parishioners as we work in the diocese to dismantle racism – which is itself institutional, systemic and structural. Racism is a reality in our human condition – therefore also reality in the power dynamics and policies that govern our congregations and communities. As our Anglican Church in Canada was founded in a colonial landscape, where can we identify racist policies, and how can we use our power to change and guide policies in our Church and in our government? Can we be intentional in working against complacency – in bringing the gospel into the conversations where people are divided by inequity and injustice, where people are hungry and poverty-stricken? When we feel like that inequity is somehow far from our own context, take a look at where many of the COVID-19 transmissions are found, and ask why? Who is the population? Why hasn’t there been an emphasis on vaccinations and healthcare provisions there? We have much ongoing reconciliation work to do within our own Church and in our land. How can we learn to relate across our human differences, as equals? When we are constricted by thinking that there is a finite amount of honour, money or status to go around, then people in positions of power and privilege are often scared of somehow losing it. Jesus is the dynamos – the “power” that blows up that argument – the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. In resisting a sense of false certainty, we can seek patterns and clarity – outside, beyond, across and maybe even without any boxes or categories. Racism, sexism and other prejudices will be much harder to justify when we allow ourselves, and especially encourage one another to see beyond the categories/buckets/slots we maintain as a culture and as individuals. As Christians, we are an Easter People! And we are called, even in the midst of the cares of life, to recognize our created-ness in the image of God, who is Love.

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While in the car with her mother, Mackenzie saw some people on the sidewalk asking for money. She asked why they were doing that, and her mom Dana replied that they were homeless and needed the money to survive.

When they got home, Mackenzie decided to “make a charity” and to donate the money to an agency that helped the homeless. She talked to her great-grandmother, Mary Mann, a member of St. Martin, Bay Ridges in Pickering, who told her about the work of All Saints Church-Community Centre in downtown Toronto.

All Saints, a church and an outreach ministry of the Diocese of Toronto, provides a drop-in space and programs for some of the city’s most marginalized people, including the homeless.

Mackenzie and her mom visited All Saints’ website and watched videos about how All Saints helped the homeless and others. Then Mackenzie started asking people for money – family members, her teacher, her school’s principal and daycare staff. She raised $150. She also sent every donor a thank-you note, telling them where the money would be going.

Due to the pandemic, she couldn’t give the money in person to All Saints, so her mother sent an electronic transfer instead. Mackenzie is looking forward to the day when she can visit in person.

Dana said she is very proud of her daughter. “She noticed a problem and took action and that says a lot,” she said.

The Rev. Dr. Alison Falby, priest-in-charge of All Saints, thanked Mackenzie for her efforts. “I was very moved to hear that Mackenzie had been thinking about people in need during an especially challenging time. When I asked one of our folks how I should thank her, he said I should tell her that her heart is a blessing to our community and that she should stay who she is. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

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Dr. John Bowen, professor emeritus of Evangelism and the retired director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College, Archbishop Colin Johnson, the retired Bishop of Toronto, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki-Mukasa of the Anglican Church of Canada were honoured by Archbishop Justin Welby in early April, along with 34 others from across the Communion.

Dr. Bowen received The Alphege Award for Evangelism and Witness “for his attractive articulation of the love of God for all people, with a particular heart for those who have not yet heard the name of Jesus, and for his mentoring and discipling of Christian leaders.”

Archbishop Johnson received The Cross of St. Augustine “for extraordinary efforts and leadership in sustaining communion through initiating ongoing dialogue amongst bishops across the Anglican Communion – especially Canada, Africa, the U.K. and the U.S.A. – following Lambeth 2008 through to 2020.”

Canon Kawuki-Mukasa received The Cross of St Augustine “for extraordinary efforts and leadership in sustaining communion through initiating ongoing dialogue amongst bishops across the Anglican Communion – especially Canada, Africa, the U.K. and the U.S.A. – following Lambeth 2008 through to 2020.”

Archbishop Welby said: “During the pandemic, we have seen just how vital the contribution of churches is to the fabric of our society. As well as finding creative ways to worship together safely, churches have been feeding the hungry, reaching out to the lonely and offering hope to those struggling in the midst of the crisis.

“This year’s Lambeth Awards recipients, not all of whom are Christians, embody this spirit of service – not just during the pandemic but, for many of them, through decades of faithful work. I commend them and their efforts and look forward to the time when we meet to celebrate their contributions to society.”

Bishop Andrew Asbil, the current Bishop of Toronto, said he was delighted by news. “The Church both here and across the Communion has benefitted enormously from their contributions and I am so thankful for their work over many years.”

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In early March, the church launched a website where seniors could sign up to book a vaccination. The church would then book an appointment on the senior’s behalf, call them up to confirm the appointment and offer to drive them there as well.

The church launched the website, www.markhamvaccinates.com, to make it easier for seniors to get their vaccinations, says Ray Lai, a member of the church who created the website. “The government was announcing a lot of changes at the time and it was quite challenging to book an appointment online, so we felt we could help.”

Word about the website spread through local churches, social media and word-of-mouth. It soon became a runaway success, filling a need in the community. As of March 24, 2,300 seniors had signed up to receive a shot and 1,500 appointments had been made for them.

To handle the demand, the church has recruited a team of volunteers from the parish, other churches and the wider community to help with booking appointments, making phone calls and providing rides. Staff of the Stouffville Public Library are also helping out.

“It has really become a grassroots ecumenical program,” says the Rev. Canon Nicola Skinner, incumbent of Grace Church. “It’s a great witness to the church looking after the neighbourhood and not just parishioners.”

Mr. Lai says a lot of seniors in the community are grateful for the work that is being done on their behalf. “A lot of them don’t know where to turn so they contact us. Some of them don’t have cars, so they’re very grateful for a ride.”

He takes no credit for the success of the project. “We’re just helping. We saw a gap, a need, and we filled it. We’re just serving the community.”

He says other churches can do something similar. “Anyone can run something like this. It doesn’t take much to set up a website, get a list together and help people.”

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