Mission & Outreach
Our Outreach Committee strives to make the world a better place by focussing our efforts on poverty reduction, food insecurity, environmental protection and refugee support.
Volunteer Opportunities
- Helping to plant, tend and water the plants in our community garden.
- Organizing our Christmas Pyjama Drive on behalf of Kerr Street Mission.
- Assisting with the remaining tasks when our next Afghani refugee family arrives, probably in late spring.
- Participating in the Neighbourhood Care Network, an organization that provides a helping hand to local people in need.
- Planning programs to help educate our church members and the broader community about indigenous issues
Poverty Reduction
Christmas Wonders Program – Every November we receive about 85 donations of new pyjamas plus cash of about $1000 to provide food and presents for the young clients of Kerr Street Mission.
Pyjama Drive 2023: We had another fantastic year thanks to your kind generosity. We donated 66 pyjama sets and raised over $1,000 for this very worthy cause run by Kerr Street Mission. A special thanks to Rachel Onufryk for her leadership in running this campaign, and a big thank you to the Gilchrist clan for their enthusiastic kickoff decked out in their PJ’s!
Neighbourhood Care Network – We partner with Kerr Street Mission to provide volunteers to help our local citizens in need of a helping hand. Our help can range from assisting clients in finding rental accommodation to helping them access social services. Sometimes the only skill required is that you be a good listener. Volunteers are trained by Kerr Street Mission and matched with the individuals in need.
Keep an eye out for upcoming training
Human Trafficking in Halton – A new initiative is to work with local churches and organizations to help the victims of human trafficking in our neighbourhood. Oakville’s United Church congregations joined together in Song of Praise at St. John’s United church on April 14. Planning started last year. Choir directors worked very hard getting the Oakville United Church choirs ready. The music planning team worked so well together.
About 200 people gathered in the pews with over 70 in the choir. Clergy from seven Oakville United Churches took part. A huge thanks to St. John’s U.C. for hosting. The event raised over $3200 for Nancy’s House (Restoration Second Stage Homes supporting human traffic survivors).
There is an eagerness to have another event of this kind.
Food Insecurity
Our church has been supporting the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for many years. The Modern Miracle Spaghetti dinner is held annually as a fundraiser. The funds raised help to relieve famine and provide agricultural training in the developing world.
Modern Miracle Dinner 2024
We served around 90 meals & raised roughly $3,000 for Canada Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). Big thank you to:
- The Old Spaghetti Factory & the Hnatiw Family for donating the meals!
Kim MacKay & Bill Bremner for helping with cost of Salad and Ice Cream Sundaes!
The Belle Choir for providing dessert squares!The over 20 volunteers who helped sell tickets, run the kitchen, serve the meals, and cleanup!
- The McKee family for performing some sing-alongs!
Lastly, thanks to all of you that attended & donated
The next Modern Miracle Dinner will be Spring 2025
Dinners at Kerr Street Mission
Our church along with many other Oakville churches take turns in providing healthy meals to the clients of Kerr Street Mission. Upcoming Dates: August 19th, 2024 and October 21, 2024.
For more information, contact Hugh Wanless at [email protected]
Adopt a Shelf
Maple Grove United Church is a strong supporter of this program in support of Kerr Street Mission. For more information on the program click here: kerrstreet.com/adopt-a-shelf/
Watch this space for upcoming Adopt a Shelf campaigns.
October Food Drive
Thank you for your support of the Adopt a Shelf program. All of the donations were delivered to support Kerr Street Mission and their work with those in need in the community. We exceeded our goal of 350 cans!
Community Garden
Vegetables raised in our garden are donated to the Kerr Street Mission foodbank as well as other foodbanks in Oakville.
Environmental Protection
Pollinator Garden
Our pollinator garden of native plants was created to showcase how a garden can benefit birds, butterflies and other insects.
If you are interesting in helping to maintain the garden (spring and fall) please feel free to contact Hugh Wanless at [email protected]
POLLINATOR SHRUBS MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT MAPLE GROVE!
Thanks to the generosity of Oakville Ready, a group within the Town of Oakville focused on Climate Resiliency, we have been provided with 4 pollinator shrubs to plant on our grounds.
This was completed in the fall of 2023, and I’d like to thank the volunteers who helped make this happen: Ann Bone, Aki Tanaka, Judy Lang and Patty Wanless.
While the shrubs are tiny now they will grow to between eight and twenty feet in height when mature and provide berries and other benefits to birds and other wildlife.
More information on what was planted and why can be found here
Regards,
Your Outreach Committee
Earth Day Clean up
Message from Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights:
Thank you very much for supporting the annual Clean Up of Oakville nature sites. The Clean Up took place on Saturday, April 20 under cool but dry weather with 1,000+ Oakville environmentalists pitching-in to cleanup sixty-seven different nature sites throughout the Town.
The campaign is succeeding in promoting anti-littering. Many Site Coordinators reported that the parks and ravines were cleaner than in the past and fewer large pieces of garbage and trash were being pulled out of our green spaces for Earth Day. Volunteers included seniors, adults, students, children and members of various local organizations and that they greatly appreciated the opportunity to participate in a community-wide event that improves the Town’s natural environment and protects wildlife.
Thank you for being such a steadfast sponsor of the Earth Day Clean Up of Oakville Nature Sites.
Sincerely,
Stephen Dankowich,
for the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights
FOREST BATHING – A LOVELY WALK AND TIME TO REFLECT IN THE WOODS
On April 21, 2024, several of us spent a wonderful time in Iroquois Shoreline Woods Park, just 15 minutes from the church, to reconnect with nature. We were led by Ruth Silver, an ANFT trained Forest Therapy Guide The weather cooperated and everyone in attendance enjoyed the activity. As a refresher, below is some more information about Forest Therapy.
Forest therapy is a practice that helps people to rediscover and rebuild their relationships with the natural world through guided immersions in forests or other outdoor places. More than just a walk in the woods, this is an opportunity to slow down, to be present, and to reconnect with nature through your senses, in any way that feels right for you. A Forest Therapy Walk is all about the journey, not the distance covered; the forest trail terrain is flat and accessible to most abilities. Guided Forest Therapy was inspired by Shinrin-Yoku, the Japanese practice of Forest Bathing. It was developed in the 1980’s as a response to a health crisis
caused by intense stress caused by the tech boom and rapid urbanization. More and more scientific evidence shows that this time spent in the forest “reduces stress hormone production, improves feelings of happiness and creativity, as well as lowers our heart rate and blood pressure, boosts the immune system and accelerates recovery from illness.” Practices that promote connecting with nature are integral
for our balance and wellbeing.
Thanks,
Hugh
Refugee Support
In the past 5 years we have sponsored 7 Middle Eastern refugee families from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and we are expecting our seventh family in late spring.
If you are interested in donating gently used clothing or furniture, please contact Safety Net to make your contributions: safetynetservices.ca