COMMUNITY CARE AND OUTREACH

Pastoral Care Team

Our team members include Joanne Lewis (Chair), Ruth Ann Carney, Mary Lynne Harvey, Janice Hopkins-Boucher, Marilyn Jensen, Shirley Johnston, Norma Johnson, Claire Knudson, Dorothy Latour, Diane Riethman, and Rev. Jim Baldwin. Betty Renwick continues to send greeting cards to the members on the Pastoral Care list

The Team maintains regular connections with members of the church who are going through difficult times and are not able to attend church services.

We hold a Blue Christmas Service on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas each year at which time we remember family members who have recently passed away whose lives have meant so much to us.

Our Friendship Basket project, an outreach organized by Joan Dobson, has also been taking place for several decades. Our decorated fruit baskets are filled with snack foods and sweets and taken out to our church members who have had difficult times over the year, such as a death in the family, a newly discovered cancer, or some other misfortune.

Mission and Outreach

Our committee members include Sheila Smith (Chair), Frank Pole, and Lambert Okrah.

In 2022 we were also happy to welcome back into in-person worship our former Telci group home friends Laura Allingham and John Robson. This church community is one of their “Happy Places” as it has been for many years. They have been especially happy to join everyone for coffee again.

The Mission and Service Fund supports many projects, chaplaincies, street ministries etc in Canada and is counted on by our 79 international partners for support around the world. In 2022, we donated $40,662.44 to this important work.

Local Outreach support continues to be a priority for our members, and we thank everyone for their ongoing donations. Offerings marked “Local” were distributed to the following groups in 2022:

Our biggest support this year has gone into helping the Caldwell Food Bank. In July 2023, their landlord evicted the Caldwell Family Centre from their previous location after years of serving those in the low-income Caldwell area. Our Council recently decided to provide space for this food bank in our church for the next year until they can find a more permanent location elsewhere.

Hamper Sub-Committee

Our Hamper Sub-Committee includes Joan Dobson (Chair), Barb Williams, Ron Horton, Fern and Dave McGale, and Michele Suitor.

Since the 1970s, the Hamper Committee has organized a food and gift drive each year when Christmas approaches. Besides contributions from our church members, nearby schools have contributed generously with non-perishable food items. For many years we have also had the generous support from the Nepean Kiwanis, The Rotary Club of West Ottawa, and Unifor. Our committee, with the help of all our church members, has then put together hampers and distributed them under the direction of the Caring and Sharing Co-ordination Service. When Covid 19 happened, we could no longer do this. Instead, we purchased food certificates from Metro/Basics, Tim Hortons, and McDonalds, and distributed these.

In 2022, late donations to the Hamper fund meant that we could also give cheques for $500 each to Caldwell and Debra Dynes.

In addition, we bought socks and Tim Horton gift cards for the homeless in the market area. Members of the congregation also donated hats, gloves and $10 gift cards for Tim Hortons and McDonald’s.

United Church Women

The Phoebe Unit

Our Phoebe group, a group of 19 women, chaired by Pat Beauchamp, meets the second Tuesday of the month at the home of one or our members.