Page 6 - Presbyterian Connection – Spring 2021

6 SPRING 2021
PRESBYTERIAN
St. John’s Piepers
The St. John’s “Piepers” (pie-people) at the Presbyterian Church on 10th sideroad, Bradford has been making and selling turkey pies for over 20 years and recently donated $2,000 to a church in Vanuatu from the meat pie sales. (Left-Right) Marie Wood, Helen Robson, Laurie Wood, Dianne & Jim Van Voorst, Leila & Edgar Lloyd
Other projects followed: tables for the hall, an outside storage shed, sound barriers in the hall, sound and video for the sanctuary, chair dollies, plate warmers, window replacement, door canopy, backdoor opener, new organ, new refrigerator, piano and various repairs.
In 2019, we celebrated our 20th anniversary of turkey pie making by paying for our whole Piepers crew to go on a bus tour of the Muskoka area, which included lunch and a boat cruise of the Muskoka River.
We have had tremendous suc-
cess selling our turkey pies. They are very popular with schoolteachers and nurses as they are a complete dinner with a soup or salad accompaniment.
Of course, this would not be pos- sible without the commitment of so many people to the project. We now make in excess of 9,000 pies per year and have a challenge to keep up with our monthly orders. We have at least 20 people who show up month- ly for our two-day pie making ses- sions, which is now done completely in our church building. We still have great fun and fellowship!
By Dianne Van Voorst, St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont.
In 1998, St. John’s Presbyterian Church occupied the old church building at Church and John Streets in Bradford, Ont. The building re- quired much work to bring it up to
code in the modern world. Our first project would be to put in a new kitchen. So my husband, Jim, and I decided to make some turkey pies for our annual meeting in 1999.
We were able to convince fellow members, Leila and Edgar Lloyd, that selling turkey pies might be the pro- ject that would raise the much-need-
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ed funds for the new church kitchen. In April of 1999, the Van Voorsts and the Lloyds, along with Edgar’s sis- ter, Helen Robson, cooked one large turkey and made one batch of filling, which yielded 103 pies. Our first sale of pies gave us a net profit of $2,160. We were on our way!
By October 2000, we cooked six turkeys for the first time to fill our pie orders, and our pie making group had expanded considerably. We made the pie filling in our church kitchen, then transported it to our farm where we were able to provide refrigeration to let it set overnight. The next morning, a dozen or so of us would get togeth- er in our farm dining room and put the pies together, sealing each one in a Ziplock bag and refrigerating them until they were picked up. This was a time of great fellowship and our tur- key pie makers looked forward to our two-day monthly commitment.
We decided to call ourselves the Piepers (short for pie persons).
It wasn’t long before we realized that our old church would be sold and we would be constructing a new sanctuary. Our group decided that our funds for turkey pies would be used to equip a new kitchen in our new building. We were able to supply $38,333 for this, our first project.
The Piepers have been making turkey pies together for over 20 years at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford, Ont.
presbyterian.ca
A Warming Space in Kenora
By Lisa Baker, Clerk of Session, First Presbyterian Church in Kenora, Ont.
First Presbyterian Church in Kenora, Ont., is a small congregation that has been without a pastor for two years.
A request came to Session prior to Christmas from several community groups asking to use the church hall as a “warming space” for those who would not have shelter in the winter months between the hours of 4 to 9 p.m., daily. Other spaces were being approached, but to no avail.
The Session learned that between the time the much-used Anamiewig- ummig Fellowship Centre closes at 4 p.m. and the Overnight Emergency Shelter opens at 9 p.m., there is a five-hour time period where there is no easy access to a toilet facility, warmth or food for those without a home. The seriousness of this inhumane gap in- creases as the temperatures plummet.
The plans presented to the church leadership included a fully managed patron-volunteer model, with in-depth COVID-19 safety protocols, run by lo- cal grassroots groups, Kenora Moving Forward and Spirituality Meets Home- lessness, the latter having a First PC representative.
With the church hall not in use, the Session responded positively.
Preparations for the warming space included gaining the Northwestern Health Unit’s approval of the space and setting up screening and safety protocols. Things moved along swift- ly, and the space was up and running by Jan. 4, 2021. First Nations Elder Cathy Lindsey opened the space with prayer and drum. The space was named “Giizhowigamig,” Oji-Cree for “Warming House.”
Nee-chee Friendship Centre and Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig Health Access Centre help fund an operating model that incorporates former patrons to become staff, who work with the volunteers to manage the space. The motto “nothing for us, without us” incorporates oversight that includes patron input and com- munity circles. The project will take place each day through to April.
While there continues to be concern about the need for better intervention provided by the government, the im- mediate need remains, and the band- aid solution has brought local people and churches together.
We are looking forward to seeing how this endeavour will bring light to our community and widen relation- ships with those around us. Some volunteers initially did not even know of First Presbyterian Church, even though
the church building is located on the main thoroughfare of Kenora’s down- town core. The local news heralded the humanitarian action taking place.
Up to 50 people are being served each day, on a rotational basis to keep with capacity restrictions of 15 people with staff.
Patrons using the space have ex- pressed deep gratitude. One Indig- enous woman, “Patricia,” following a warm meal, stopped to express her thankfulness and added during the conversation that her father had helped build this church when he was 19 years old. When sharing with her that it would be an hour wait time before the Overnight Shelter opened, she replied, “That’s okay...that’s my prayer time while I wait in line.”
Volunteering at the space is a worthy and humbling experience. Those who have been able to take up the challenge while wearing masks, gloves and other PPE when necessary, find it at times “an adjustment” amidst the reality of mental trauma and the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.
However, the mandatory need to screen all of the people in the space every day has provided another op- por tunity to welcome, engage and get to know each other. Interactions become all the more personal for
volunteers from the very first time they meet a patron and write down their first and last name as part of the screening process. When they leave the space for the night, they leave with the knowledge that the patron they served that evening (who they may have seen struggling on the street in the past) is named Carl. These caring interactions offer new mutual respect.
After communing with people who face even more struggle than not hav- ing a place to call home, it is certainly humbling to return to a cozy house and climb into a warm bed at night, know- ing that the Shelter will not hold all of the patrons we’d met that evening.
As throughout the world, homeless- ness is a desperate concern among many, many people. Kenora has an especially high number of persons without shelter due to a variety of social, economic, demographic and historic tragedies that have heavily encompassed northwestern Ontario.
However, already more groups have reached out to find alternative ways to help continue to bridge the gap and learn new stories—bring- ing about a shift on the narrative of homelessness.
Your prayers for this effort are very much cherished as we seek Christ’s will in his kingdom here in Kenora.