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Outreach is very important to our life at
Grace
United
Church
. It takes many forms as we seek … “to nurture one another, to reach out to meet the needs of local and world communities ...” as our Vision Statement puts it (see “About Us”).
Internationally and nationally, we work through the
Mission
and Service Fund of the United Church of Canada by contributions from individuals, the UCW and the church. As well, we have supported other initiatives such as the appeal regarding the removal of land mines, the Wells of Hope project in
Guatemala
and a very significant total of contributions to the Tsunami Relief Appeal in January 2005, as well as other relief and mission appeals.
In the local community, our outreach activities are many. We support Newark Neighbours, a local agency providing food and clothing to less fortunate residents of the area. We have a White Gift Sunday in early December, with the gifts going to underprivileged members of society. The children go shopping on a Saturday in early December to buy gifts for less fortunate children using money the Childern's Program has raised during the year. Many members of our congregation are very active in various charitable organizations such as the Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Red Cross and others. We offer caring support and visitation to the sick and elderly in nursing homes, hospitals and convalescent facilities. Our Minister, the Elders and other members of our congregation all rally to provide material and spiritual support to all people in times of personal crisis.
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Caribbean
Workers Offshore Project
At Grace we are very involved in CWOP, a multi-denominational project which seeks to provide spiritual support to the many seasonal workers that travel from
Jamaica
and other islands in the Caribbean to work for local farmers in the orchards and vineyards of the
Niagara
Peninsula
. CWOP brings ministers from the Caribbean to
Canada
for a six-week period each summer. While they are here they visit the men nightly at the farms and conduct worship services each Sunday evening. The ministers are hosted by families in the congregations of the supporting churches, and driven to the farms by volunteers. Each week one of the supporting churches takes the responsibility of hosting a fellowship hour after the service, including providing refreshments. This project, particularly the contact with one of their own ministers, is greatly appreciated by the
Caribbean
workers.
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- Birthday Bank
On the first Sunday of each month, members of the congregation voluntarily contribute one penny for each year of any anniversary they, or members of their family, have that falls in that month - birthdays, weddings and so on. The money goes to the Children's Program to be used for an outreach project of the children’s choice. In the past,it was used to support a child in a developing country, through World Vision. More recently, it has been donated to Los Pinos, an orphanage in Jalapa, Guatemala to provide clothing, food and other necessities of life to over 100 girls.
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