St. Columba outreach: near and far
Manor Park church continues good work in and outside the community
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that other than worship, St. Columba Parish has focused largely on outreach these past few years.
It really started during COVID when so many people, including neighbours, found themselves in difficult times with shorter working hours, layoffs and job losses. St. Columba partnered with Manor Park Community Association’s Community Outreach Committee to help identify and assist our neighbours in need.
Although a small congregation, parishioners stepped up in a big way to donate money for grocery gift cards to be distributed to those in need.
Since that time, gift cards have continued to be provided to those in need through Manor Park Public School, Queen Elizabeth School, MPCA and Veterans’ House (the Andy Carswell Building). Donations of food are delivered regularly to the food bank at the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre (the Hub) with fresh produce from the Community Garden at St. Columba delivered weekly throughout the summer months. Baby food, diapers, wipes and formula were delivered to the Youville Centre as part of an Advent project. The dinners at Veterans’ House, in conjunction with Dante restaurant owners, Karim Teyib and Massimo Donde, have forged a partnership and friendship that is valued by all.
Beyond Manor Park
In March, St. Columba’s outreach extended beyond Manor Park and even Ottawa and all the way to Saskatoon. We had been contacted by the Saskatoon Blazers U19 ringette team to see about renting our kitchen to prepare some meals for the team (girls ages 16, 17 and 18), who would be in Ottawa, host city for the Canadian Ringette Championships. The congregation quickly offered to provide the kitchen to the team at no cost and then invited the team (16 girls and four coaches plus assorted parents) to a team lunch at the church following our worship service on March 30.
Dozens of muffins, salads, plus cookies and even pancakes (with maple syrup) were provided to the team to take with them to the hotel for munchies in between games. A further cash donation of $400 was provided to help offset some of their costs while in Ottawa. A few members of the St. Columba congregation were able to attend one of the team’s games thanks to tickets secured for us by the Blazers.
The opportunity to support these girls/young women in sports provided great joy to members of the congregation, many of whom have grandkids playing ringette. I am one such proud grandparent and if ringette is an unfamiliar sport to you, please see the companion article written by my granddaughter, Natasha Poitras Vant, a ringette goalie with the University of Nipissing Lakers.
Veterans’ House
Following the Blazers’ lunch, our 65th anniversary dinner, and our spring bake sale, leftovers were delivered to Veterans’ House much to the delight of the residents.
We look forward to continuing to be a support to our local school, the veterans and our community association. Donations in support of our outreach efforts may be made on the St. Columba website (stcolumbaottawa.ca) using the “donate” button. A receipt from Canada Helps will be issued immediately for any such donations — which should include a message that it is for outreach.
