Major mission project 2021

Support of mission and outreach activities has been an important part of the witness of our Church to the teaching of our Lord to love our neighbour. In addition to the annual budget allocated for mission and outreach activities, which is used to support charitable activities locally and internationally, in recent years, our Church has undertaken a major mission project in alternate years.

As you will recall, in 2018 we undertook to raise $10,000.00 for Portland Place to refurbish the kitchen and $10,000.00 to address structural problems with our church’s sanctuary windows. We raised $20,145.21 for these projects to the end of December 2018. A major mission project had been planned for 2020, but it did not proceed due to the pandemic.

Notwithstanding the continued disruption of the pandemic to our Church activities, help is needed by many people in our community. Accordingly, the Mission & Outreach Committee has recommended and Session has agreed, and the annual meeting of the congregation has approved that we as a congregation undertake as our Mission Project 2021 the project of raising $10,000.00 for the Scarborough Food Bank. The COVID pandemic has hit the poorest in our community hardest and our view is that our church must help in a meaningful way. It also is our view that this project will help bring our congregation together in spirit, even if physically meeting together is further delayed.

Inside Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities (SCHC) Food Bank

Donations can be made by adding an amount to your weekly offering and noting on the envelope line for “Other” that it is to go to the “Mission Project” or to “Food Bank” or you can make a direct donation to the church for this purpose. Cheques are to be made out to Guildwood Community Presbyterian Church. As always, accurate records will be kept of the amounts donated and a tax receipt will come following the year end.

To promote awareness of the Food Bank and its needs within families, the committee will be encouraging support by donating food items to the Food Bank, e.g. fish items in “Fishy February” and milk products in “Milky March”. However, the goal of the project is to raise $10,000.00 cash to give to the Food Bank. Its buying power is better than us as individuals and the money will go further.  Please give your generous support to this important project. As Shakespeare so eloquently wrote:

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest.

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1

A version of this message first appeared in the Saturday, March 20, 2021, edition of Tidbits.