Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Acchhhhh! – That’s the best Scottish impression I can do, but that’s the kind of week it seems to be.  On the last day of January, the January blahs seem to be blending into the February blues.  Nary a sign of the sun for what seems to be such a long time – and temperatures so strange – right across the country. Just a couple of weeks ago we had record lows, and now record highs.  Here we are at a balmy 3 degrees on a Wednesday afternoon.  It is true that Canadians love to complain about the weather and today I am a typical Canadian. 

But there is a lot of good news!  Lots is happening at St. Andrew’s.  By now you may have heard that Judy Hight has been engaged part time and short term (6 months) as an Executive Assistant to the Lead Minister to help with general administration and beginning to work on long term rentals with partners.  We are following the example of Trinity Presbyterian Church  (York Mills) in this regard, and I am happy to say that conversations with potential partners have already begun.  Two local churches may be joining us on Sunday mornings, sometime during 2024 – KW Redeemer and Nexus.  Both of these churches currently meet in the downtown area and are looking for two things – one, a place they can call home, and two, a base whereby they can begin outreach within the community.  Both congregations have expressed interest in our Roy Street project, and in our connections with organizations like the Working Centre, Ray of Hope, the House of Friendship, and Food 4 Kids.  As well, they are keenly interested in the Thrift Shop and have already had conversations about how they might support or even expand the Thrift Shop to include younger families.  Of course, nothing has been decided yet, but we are at the beginning of some wonderful conversations.  This truly can be a win - win situation, whereby these congregations have a more permanent home, and whereby we benefit from rental incomes that help us to address the annual deficit. 

Last night Operational Council met and tonight The Session meets. This new focus on utilizing our space effectively has been and will continue to be front and center.  In addition to churches potentially joining us here at 54 Queen Street, Operational Council has heard and session will hear about other potential partnerships including:

1. A daycare operator

2. EarlyON and an indigenous group – possibly Sheena Merling

3. A private school

4. Enhanced use of Covenant Chapel for weddings and meetings

5. Enhanced use of Elizabeth and Heather rooms for meetings and gatherings

6. Rental of the Tower room by a Health Professional (for example)

To this point staff has not had the time to effectively pursue all of these possibilities. Judy Hight will help at least initially.

One final item of good news. Yesterday, Stephen Eadie and I met with Lisa Reitzel from Elmira District Community Living. They are interested in providing staff for a program at St. Andrew’s focusing on teaching life skills for young adults with differing abilities. The focus will be on young people and young adults from within St. Andrew’s to start, but they also have 50 people on a waiting list for this kind of program within Kitchener Waterloo. This is exactly what our Partners in Belonging group had been hoping for – beginning to work with young adults with differing abilities long before the Roy Street project gets underway.

So, as you can see, a busy, productive week.

Please keep the staff, leadership and especially the session in your prayers

Take good care

Marty