Sunday, February 5, 6-8:30 AM. St. Stephen’s Breakfast the first Sunday of every month. People from St. Aidan’s go to St. Stephens, in the College and Spadina area, to help serve breakfast to people who live on the margins of society. Some parishioners go at 5:30 AM (to get there at 6:00) so we can help set up the breakfast. We start serving food about 6:30 AM. Others get there about 6:30 so they can help serve.
The clean up is finished around 8:30 AM and we’re back around 9:00. No special skills are required. The jobs are bussing tables, making sure the jam, milk, sugar, peanut butter, eggs are replenished and the dishes are done. After the meal we stack chairs, wash tablecloths, sweep and wash the floors and clean up the kitchen.
The main gift we offer people is that we treat them with dignity as children of God.
If you are able to come let me know and, if you need it, car pooling can be arranged for you. Contact Michael Van Dusen at 416-691-5699 or at mvd@sympatico.ca
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Bishop Linda Nicholls met with Ontario Finance Minister Duncan to urge food supplement
RALLY AT QUEEN’S PARK, MARCH 10,
“Social assistance rates have been nearly flatlined in Ontario for close to two decades,” says Anglican Archbishop Colin Johnson. “It has become impossible for a person on social assistance to afford both shelter and adequate food, and many are living with shocking levels of hunger and malnutrition. People need to be able to buy decent food.”
More than 80 Anglican parishes, representing over 30,000 church members in the GTA and nearby region, passed motions at recent church meetings to support the proposal. The Food Supplement proposal is gaining support in other ways, especially through the Put Food in the Budget coalition, which has supporters in 30 Ontario communities.
Props at the rally will represent the kind of food that food banks are able to supply (Kraft Dinner, Wonder Bread), and the fruits and vegetables that people could buy with $100 per month.
“Single people receiving Ontario welfare have only $592 per month for housing, food and everything else – it is impossible to eat, let alone afford healthy food, on that income” says Mike Balkwill, coordinator for Put Food in the Budget. “Even Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told us that ‘a person can’t function on social assistance.’ Minister Duncan should ensure people with the lowest incomes have enough to eat before he ‘feeds’ Ontario corporations with another tax break.”
We don’t accept the argument that Ontario can’t afford to help the poor,” says Bishop Linda Nicholls. “That’s a morally bankrupt position. We live in a wealthy society. This is a modest proposal, costing less than one percent of the annual provincial budget, which will have the added benefit of boosting spending at local businesses. We urge our government to do the right thing, and put food in the budget for our most vulnerable citizens.”
Media contacts:
Archbishop Colin Johnson, 416-363-6021 ext. 247
Bishop Linda Nicholls, 416-363-6021 ext. 247
Mike Balkwill, 416-806-2401
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St. Aidans has many different forms of Outreach…activities that express the gospel in action.
Collectively, the Outreach activities enable every member of the parish community, from the very young to seniors, to take part in some form of activity that lives out the gospel.
Some activities are once a year, like the Christmas children’s boxes, the Christmas day lunch, the 30 Hour Famine fundraiser for youth and the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper.
Some activities are seasonal, like Out of the Cold, which runs from November to April.
Other activities, such as the Sunday breakfast at St. Stephen’s in the Field (College and Bellevue- near Spadina), the East End Refugee Committee, Beach Interfaith Outreach Committee, including Outreach lunches, or the pastoral visiting program continue all year long in one form or another.
In the coming weeks, this page of the St. Aidans web site will expand the description of each of the programs and discuss the different forms of participation and who to contact if you want more information.
If you have questions now, however, you can contact Michael Van Dusen at mvd@sympatico.ca
