Page 21 - Presbyterian Connection – Spring 2021

Connection
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. On Dec. 19, 2020, the Inbetweener group, along with friends of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Orillia, Ont., prepared a Christmas dinner for 380 hungry people. COVID-19 meant that the congregation had to adapt their traditional sit-down meal, and they did! A free take-out-style turkey dinner was offered for pickup or delivery. The small group who prepared this meal had their hearts filled with smiles and kind words from those picking up their dinners. The need was greater than ever during the pandemic. We all needed something to look forward to and for many this would be their Christmas dinner.
The congregation of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton, Ont., is looking toward a more sustainable future for their church by transforming the sanctuary to accommodate a wider range of community activities and faith practices. To help in this work, the congregation invited Doreen Balabanoff, an artist and professor at Ontario College of Art & Design University, to help them re-vision their future and their building. Balabanoff assessed the sanctuary with the congregation’s Celtic roots, Indigenous friends and love of the planet in mind, and provided recommendations for creating a very different, yet more open space. Pictured to the bottom right is the original sanctuary, with models of the new sanctuary pictured above. PHOTO CREDIT: DOREEN BALABANOFF
This past Christmas, Knox Presbyterian Church in Vernon, B.C., challenged its members to support the Okanagan Learning Foun- dation’s “Food for Thought” program—an initiative that supplies weekend food back- packs for teenagers at local high schools. Twenty-four empty bags were placed under the tree, represent- ing the 24 days of Advent. Church members filled the bags with either teen-friend- ly food or a monetary dona- tion. By the time schools closed prior to Christmas, the food and an additional $1,700 were handed over to the Learning Foundation for distribution.
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SPRING 2021
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