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Open and Affirming Declaration

Affordable Housing
Aids Ministry
Bridgehead
Centretown Churches
Circle of Support
Community Shop
Foot Care Clinic
Integrity Ottawa
Multifaith Housing Initiative
Pastoral Care
PWRDF
Refugee Assistance
The Well/La Source

The Affordable Housing Fund Supports the Multifaith Housing Initiative (MHI) The affordable housing fund is replenished each year through the Loblaws Gift Card Program and some individual donations. Since the establishment of the committee in 2003, St John's has joined MHI as a faith community member, providing a donation of $500 per year to MHI's operating budget. In 2007, the committee donated $12,000 to assist with the purchase of the ten MHI units in Somerset Gardens and in 2008, provided $2,700 to MHI's Bricks for Blake, a fund raising effort to assist with MHI's purchase of a 27-unit apartment building on Blake Blvd in Vanier.

In 2009, St John's initially provided rent subsidies to three households but, as of the fall of 2009, subsidies are now provided to two households in Somerset Gardens. Each year the Affordable Housing Committee assesses the need and its ability to sustain support before agreeing on rent subsidies for the following year.

In 2010, the committee intends to raise the level of awareness about the issue of affordable housing through an information session and will welcome the participation of members of the congregation in a dialogue about this core issue for our society and how St John's can become more engaged.

Loblaws Gift Card Program
Since 2003, the Affordable Housing Committee has been selling Loblaws Gift Cards at St. John's. This program provides a sustainable revenue source which allows the committee to plan its subsidies, grants and donations over a period of time. About $18,000 has been raised in 6 years allowing St. John's, with Multifaith Housing Initiative (MHI), to make a difference in a tangible way to provide affordable housing in the city of Ottawa. In 2009, the program raised over $2,700.

How does the Loblaws program work? For many years Loblaws has offered a Gift Card Program as a fund raising source for community organizations. For each Gift Card purchased under the program, Loblaws gives a percentage of the value to the organization. When we order more than $5,000 we receive a 3% discount. If we can purchase over $10,000 we receive a 4% discount. The cards are used like a debit card for grocery purchases at any of: Loblaws, Your Independent Grocer, Valu-Mart, The Great Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Provigo, Zehrs and Fortinos. The Gift Cards are available in denominations of $250, $100, $50, $25 and $10.

The cards are great for budgeting your grocery money; giving as gifts or as a thank you; helping out at the Centretown Emergency Food Centre (CEFC) or giving to your away-from-home-student-children a hand with their grocery bills. This year parishioners purchased over $600 of gift cards to give to the CEFC, thereby increasing the Gift card sales and also providing money for essential food for those visiting the Food Centre.

After over 5 years as coordinator of the Loblaws program, Barbara Dransch stepped down. We are extremely grateful for her (and her family's) weekly commitment over a 5-year period to this program in support of affordable housing. As of November 2009 the Loblaws Gift Card program is run by Peggy Lister with help from Kathleen Arsenault and Gloria Fox. Thanks to all three for their service. If you want to know more, or if you want to purchase cards, visit the Loblaws table during coffee hour.

In 2009, members of the committee were: Peter Anderson, Barbara Dransch, Gloria Gifford, Dorothy Howland, Claudette Kohut, Peggy Lister, Pat Love, Mary Frances Marshall, Monica Patten (chairperson) and Gay Richardson (secretary). Thanks to committee members and to all who continue to support this important work.

If you are interested in becoming more involved with affordable housing, either at St John's or with MHI, please contact: Monica Patten - Chair, St John's Affordable Housing Committee
Peggy Lister - Loblaws Gift Card coordinator
Sue Evans - Executive Director, MHI
Gay Richardson - St John's and MHI

AIDS Committee of St. John's Annual Report 2009

Through 2009 we continued to hold monthly services of prayer, meditation and remembrance including one Eucharist. In September we led St. John's participation in the Annual AIDS Walk. This year St. John's team raised about $3000.00 for local service organizations.

In November we hosted an education/awareness event at which the guest speakers presented to a group of about thirty parishioners. They reported on the current challenges facing people living with HIV and encouraged us to continue our efforts to promote social justice in this area.

A quilt panel in memory of John Begley (1955-2000) was designed, created and dedicated in the parish. It will be added to the Canadian AIDS memorial quilt. Our panel was also displayed at the service marking World AIDS Day. St John's clergy and our committee participated in that service on December 1st at the First Unitarian Congregation.

Our services are held on the last Sunday evening of the month at 7:00pm with fellowship and refreshments following the service. We are usually lay led and informal with lots of singing. We are a small group working on a big cause. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to join.

Contact: Mary Frances Marshall

Bridgehead sales are held monthly (except summer) at St Johns. We are members of a local 10-church network selling these products which are grown by small scale farmers in Asia, Africa, Central and South America. By buying fair trade Bridgehead coffees, teas, cocoa products, etc., you are supporting these farmers and their organic growing methods.

Last year's sales totalled $1,506.45, which represents a 25% increase over 2008 ! The profit from 2009 sales (purchase to sale price) for the network was $1,000.00 and was again sent to Oxfam Canada to support women's rights in crisis situations.

Thank you to those St Johnian's who support this ministry and to my husband Robin for his assistance at the sales.

Background
The Centretown Churches Social Action Committee (CCSAC) was started in 1967 by nine churches to respond to social needs in the Centretown area. Since then, CCSAC has undertaken many initiatives on behalf of the poor and isolated in our community. CCSAC's membership has grown to twenty-five member churches in the Centretown, Glebe, Ottawa East and Ottawa South communities.

Mission and Philosophy
CCSAC's mission is "To unite Christians of all denominations through joint participation in social projects and prayers." CCSAC's philosophy is based on Christian principles including service to others, respect and tolerance for those we serve, humility about our service and stewardship of the resources provided to us.

Current Activities
At the present time, CCSAC's major program is the Centretown Emergency Food Centre which has been operating for more than thirty years and which served nearly 9,000 clients in 2009. Once per month, clients (living in the area bordered by Lyon Street, Wellington Street, Billings Bridge and Main Street, including Lees Avenue) receive a three to four-day supply of groceries and referrals to other community resources. In 2009, the CEFC served 8,637 people, of whom 664 were children. There were more children this year than last. The per-client food costs rose to nearly $10.00 a person.

The extremely capable Coordinator, Kerry Kaiser, continues to work miracles, with the help of a large number of dedicated volunteers.

CCSAC provides major support for the Food Centre, contributing approximately $35,000.00 to the Centre in 2009. CCSAC is the Centre's best source of funds, volunteers, food and encouragement. Several CCSAC members donated the proceeds from special projects to the Centre in addition to their regular support. CCSAC again this year hosted a Volunteers' Dinner, held at St. Giles.

The Food Centre's Annual Report provides more details.

The year of 2009 involved administration rather than outreach. CCSAC continues to seek an activity that requires its support. In the meantime, CCSAC finalized its incorporation process, supported the EFC Board's efforts to ensure medical insurance for Coordinator, investigated Directors' liability insurance, set up the website, and produced new brochures.

CCSAC participated in the Community Consultations held September 18 and 21, 2009, for the Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee and the City of Ottawa, and continued its participation as the "Faith Representative" (the term was chosen by the City) for the City's Consultative Committee on Parking. It also presented at the City's budget deliberations.

Inspired by the "East of Elgin" initiative for isolated seniors by St. Theresa's, St. John's, and Knox, a similar approach was investigated by CCSAC members in the Glebe: the Isolated Seniors Initiative in the Glebe. Again this year, the St. George's Christmas Dinner was held at Knox. These are concrete examples of how CCSAC can work as a coordinating mechanism as well as a vehicle for ideas to be explored and applied.

CCSAC members helped out at the Hartman's food drive, which was dedicated to the CEFC, raised funds at various events, and gave generously. In addition, CCASC members reported on, or heard presentations from, a number of partners and connected initiatives such as the Citizens for Public Justice Campaign to Eliminate Poverty.

Proposed Activities
CCSAC 's capacity to act as a coordinating vehicle for the centretown churches is likely to become increasingly useful as the economic downturn and the declining membership at the churches negatively affect all the member churches' capacity to act independently.

CCSAC believes that increasingly churches will need to act in concert to fulfill their mission of social justice.

CCSAC members are very concerned about the anticipated consequences of the economic downturn on the centretown population it seeks to serve, as well as on all the organizations working in this field. As a result, the Board is holding $43,000.00 in reserves against an emergency. In 2010, there should be serious reflection on what best to do with these funds.

CCSAC will need to consider its mandate and its role very seriously this year. It could consider formalizing membership in CCSAC, perhaps set a minimum for contribution to CCSAC, and ensuring that there are representatives in attendance from all the members. CCSAC's relationship with clergy could also be reviewed and approached from another perspective. For example, the representatives could include in their responsibilities updating their ministers on CCSAC and CEFC needs. Members and adherents of congregations who have interest in social justice can then be referred. Another idea is participating in a daytime meeting as a "think tank" of just clergy, facilitated by CCSAC, to deal with specific questions in a limited period of time.

One recommendation from the Consultation on Poverty was to assist people to work their way through applications for existing programs. Centre 454 provides help with these types of applications and the representative at the consultation indicated that more of this help is needed in the city. Perhaps this is an outreach that CCSAC can consider.

Let us pray that with God's help CCSAC can be a force for social activism in the centretown.

Circles of Support and Accountability is a community-based reintegration program, based on restorative justice principles, that assists people (who we refer to as Core Members), who are deemed at high risk to re-offend sexually, in their effort to re-enter society after a period of incarceration. A "Circle" involves a group of three to four screened and trained volunteers who commit themselves to support and hold accountable a Core Member who, because he is held to the end of his sentence, is returning to the community with little or no support available to him and often with much media attention. CoSA has operated out of St John's Church since 1994 and, we are proud to say, without a single reported re-offense. We are working with nine Core Members and have a volunteer base of about 35 people from all walks of life and ages.

2009 was a milestone year for CoSA-Ottawa, and indeed, for all 16 CoSA sites in Canada. Let me tell you why. In January 2008 our second only national conference was held in Calgary to discuss 1) the feasibility of forming a national coalition and 2) of collaborating on proposal to Public Safety Canada's National Crime Prevention Centre for funding to conduct a study on CoSA. We were delighted to have St John's Monica Patten attend the conference to speak about her experience, as President and CEO of the Community Foundations of Canada, of the challenges faced by her organization when it's coalition was formed. After 18 months of intense collaboration of writing the proposal, the fruits of our efforts were finally realized and the project began officially October 1, 2009!! This project promised that we would increase our numbers, further enhancing community safety, and become more organized in our program delivery to allow the research team the means to measure, both qualitatively and quantitatively, how CoSA works, if it works, how it could be improved, etc. This funding ($1.5M/yr for five years to be shared among all CoSA sites) has allowed our program to flourish: our coordinator, Susan Love, has finally been increased to full-time and we now have the means to hire part-time staff to assist in program development including Susan Haines and Karen Langford, as program associates, Adina Ilea, as Data Coordinator, and Allyson Chisnall, as bookkeeper. We also have a new admin office at 303-200 Isabella St (near Bank St) which we share with our new community partners the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (www.ccjc.ca). We invite everyone to drop by and visit us for a chat or to borrow a book or DVD from our library. It seems we've finally arrived!!

I would like to take a moment to assure those of you with any concerns about the safety of our program. We require that, when in the church, all of our Core Members are accompanied by one of their volunteers or a parishioner who knows that they have a history. We are all so appreciative of the hospitality that St John's extends to our CoSA members for Circle meetings, training sessions and special events. We would like to express a special thanks to Emmy Verdun and Carl Schriver for their tremendous help over the past year. We are planning to hold an information session in the church likely in the spring for anyone who is interested in learning about CoSA. For more information, please contact Susan Love at slove@cosa-ottawa.ca.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the downswing in the Canadian economic climate, the community shop has held its own and continued to do as well.

The volume of vouchers has risen slightly as needs have grown more dire - however, donations have kept pace for which we are most grateful.

Our volunteers are an absolutely wonderful group of people who not only work hard but always go the extra mile for our clients. We are totally in their debt.

This year we invested in a couple of dehumidifiers which has made quite a difference to the damp in the crypt. We also have an air purifier, purchased during the 'nasty smell' period. After suffering for almost three months it was finally repaired. We are happy to report that there was no flooding during our very wet fall.

Grateful thanks to Melodie for all she does, which is above and beyond... and thanks to everyone involved in this ministry.

The Foot Care Clinic at St. John's was established in October 1989 in response to a perceived need for affordable foot care. Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), from Carefor, a community health service organization, provide the foot care. The volunteers from St. John's, Jo Cassie, Peggy Lister and Marietta Stenman look after everything else. This includes making appointments, setting up prior to each clinic and cleaning up afterwards, bookkeeping, paying Carefor for the RPNs' time, ensuring the necessary supplies are on hand and collecting fees. The fee for a 20-minute appointment is $20 with the first appointment for a new client being scheduled for a 40-minute session at a charge of $40.

The Foot Care Clinic is held on the second Thursday of each month. Twelve clinics were held in 2009 for a total of 210 client appointments. In 2009 there were 42 clients who attended the clinic on a regular basis. The clinic is open to all - senior and non-senior, parishioner and non-parishioner alike and could easily accommodate additional clients on a regular basis.

Many thanks to St. John's for the use of the facilities and to the office staff and the custodial staff for their consistent co-operation.

Integrity Ottawa is a Christian group of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered (GLBT) persons and supporters. Integrity Ottawa operates primarily within the geographic boundaries of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and provides ministry to and for the GLBT community, those questioning their sexual identity, their friends, and family. The ministry is threefold:

• To provide pastoral ministry through fellowship in services, meetings, social events, and individual care.
• To provide a ministry to the Anglican Church of Canada through promoting a better understanding of the theological and pastoral issues surrounding GLBT Christians.
• To provide outreach ministry to the GLBT community by proclaiming a vision of inclusion and compassion, and providing a safe and healing space within the Church.

Integrity Ottawa holds a regular monthly Eucharist on the first Sunday evening of the month at the Church of the Ascension on Echo Drive. As well as staffing a display during annual diocesan Synod, Integrity took its ministry to the streets on Pride Day in August, its delegation proudly carrying the banners of four different parishes which reach out to the GLBT community.

Integrity Ottawa continues to be grateful to St John's, which administers the Integrity Ottawa Fund.

Multifaith Housing Initiative is a grass-roots, volunteer-led, charitable organization whose goal is to raise awareness about the affordable housing crisis and to mobilize faith communities to help address this crisis in a variety of ways. No longer can food banks cover the growing gap between people's income and the increasing cost of rental housing.

Given that there are about 35,000 households in Ottawa who cannot afford to rent housing adequate to their needs, it is not surprising that MHI has identified the actual provision of safe, well-maintained housing to be the most effective strategy it can use to convince people of faith to work together to address this problem. MHI's Board of Directors represents a strong and unique interfaith team with representation from Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faith traditions who together share a commitment to alleviating the needs of the poor and working towards a more just society. St John's is active in MHI with Sue Evans as Executive Director and Gay Richardson as Secretary of the Board. Bishop John Chapman is one of MHI's patrons, as are four other Christian leaders, three Jewish rabbis, the Imam of the Central Mosque and a leader of the Hindu community. St John's is one of over 40 faith communities who have joined MHI and St John's Affordable Housing Committee works in close partnership with MHI.

MHI's Affordable Housing
In February, 2005, MHI purchased its first affordable housing - a multi-unit building comprising 2 bachelor and 3 one-bedroom apartments on Kent Street, made possible because of a $150,000 interest-free loan.

In late 2007, residents began moving into Somerset Gardens, an affordable condominium, built on St John's parking lot. Ten of the 119 one-bedroom units are owned by MHI and are rented to lower income households. To assist with the purchase of ten units, a number of donations and loans were provided by members of St John's. As well, the Affordable Housing Committee donated $12,000.

In October 2008, MHI became the owner of 27 units of affordable housing on Blake Blvd in Vanier. To support this purchase, MHI launched a fund raising effort, Bricks for Blake, in which individuals and faith communities were encouraged to purchase one or more "bricks" at a cost of $27 per brick. St John's donated $2,700 to this fund raiser.

2009 Activities
In May, MHI sponsored the Tulipathon walk and raised over $11,000. In June, there was an Open House of Somerset Gardens followed by a reception at the MHI office. Finally in November, in conjunction will National Housing Day, MHI sponsored an interfaith prayer service, held at St Basil's church.

With the addition of 27 housing units on Blake Blvd in Vanier in October 2008, MHI resources became exceedingly stretched. During 2009, five of the two-bedroom units were converted to three-bedroom units, a size very much in demand. As well, numerous repairs were necessary to Blake and initially there were challenges regarding tenant turnover. With the support of the Tenant Relations team, the tenant population is now becoming more stable.

Staff and Office
In the second half of 2008, through grants from United Way and the Community Foundation MHI was able to hire staff and then in early 2009 to establish an office space. Currently Sue Evans (member of St. Johns) is Executive Director. However, a year's experience has shown that we need three staff members who are working at least half time: Executive Director, Housing Program Manager and Office Manager/book keeper. In late January, MHI's Human Resources Team began a search for experienced people for the latter two positions who would enjoy working in a dynamic, multi-faith environment on this important human rights issue. However, because MHI is growing and hopes to generate a total of at least 100 units, we will be approaching the United Way about increasing these positions to full time. MHI is also in the process of seeking a permanent home for its office.

Involvement of St John's
Several members of St John's have made major donations to MHI's work and several have provided loans at no or low interest rates to assist with MHI's housing purchases. People at St John's have also been generous sponsors of walkers in the annual Tulipathon and a number of Johnians continue to be supporters of MHI as individual members with a donation of $25 or more.

Recently some Johnians have come forward to help with painting,cleaning and the many small repairs needed at Blake and Kent. A special thanks goes to Mel Lee who moves, stores and delivers furniture for us -something much appreciated by tenants who are moving into our units from the city shelters. These wonderful contributions help to lower our overhead.

If MHI is to continue to grow, it will need more volunteers and ongoing financial support. The rents that low-income people can afford to pay cannot cover property management and mortgage costs. If you have an interest in helping with building maintenance and repairs, support to residents, communications or fund raising, please let us know. To assist financially, please consider joining MHI by contributing $25 or more. Cheques should be made payable to Multifaith Housing Initiative. Income tax receipts are provided for all donations of $15 or more. MHI brochures are available at the Welcome Table or in the hall outside the Christian Education area. As well, MHI welcomes donations and low interest loans in support of the purchase of affordable housing.

It is through the commitment of many volunteers over the past eight years and the generosity of donors and lenders that MHI has made a small but significant start in addressing the need for affordable housing in our city.

The Pastoral Care Committee coordinates pastoral care activities within the parish. Members ensure that pastoral care is available to parishioners and friends of the parish when required. This can take the form of home or hospital visits or practical assistance of some kind.

On behalf of the diocese, the Pastoral Care Committee ensures that a team visits Anglican patients at the Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus on Wednesday mornings. One member of the pastoral Care Committee is going to join this service in early 2010.

The Keep In Touch Ministry continues to be active under the direction of Kitty Cocks. People unable to attend church on a regular basis are telephoned three times a year.

On Saturday, May 9, 2008 an "end of life" workshop was held for 85 people from our parish, the diocese and other local Christian churches. Dr Louise Coulombe spoke about palliative care for the morning session and staff from May Court presented in the afternoon. Lunch was provided and all of this for a cost of $10. per person.

For 2010, we have lined up a couple of great workshops and will be publicizing these in the spring.

Members of the team include Dana Fisher, Naomi Kabugi, John Zegers, Marietta Stenman, Kitty Cocks, Cathy Hannah, Frank Kajfes, Beverly Sawchuk, Denise Torunski, Sue Evans, Pat Love and Pat Bowen. Please contact us for assistance or more information about becoming a member of this group.

Thank you.

The 50th Anniversary of PWRDF - PWRDF continued its 50th anniversary celebrations with the launch of a number of national programs: The double CD One Voice, has been a runaway success with more than 5,000 copies sold to-date. The 50 Leaders project will train 50 Anglican youth over the next five years to be a voice for justice, change and leadership in our church. The 50 Refugees project, for which the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson is the patron, has already identified about 25 of the 50 parishes who will sponsor families from Colombia, Burma, Eritrea, Iraq, Sudan and Sri Lanka. PWRDF is challenging parishes across the country to hold 50th anniversary events to celebrate the four anniversary goals: Celebration, Awareness-raising, Education and Fundraising. The goal is 50 anniversary events in each ecclesiastical province by June 2010.

In 2009 St. John's sent $11,968.91 in contributions to PWRDF. Even more impressive, they came from 63 donors, an amazing show of support to our overseas development and relief work! As of this date in early February, the Diocese of Ottawa and its parishes have sent approximately $292,000 to PWRDF in 2009. Funds continue to pour into the PWRDF National Office for Haiti earthquake relief. To-date, over $500,000 has been raised for Haiti thanks to generous donations by Anglicans across the country.

The PWRDF Committee held its annual Poverty Supper on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26th, 2009. Ms. Faduma Abdurahman from the Catholic Immigration Centre in Ottawa, was our guest speaker. She spoke about the many challenges facing the immigrant community, especially around health issues and HIV/AIDS.

On June 21st, 2009, PWRDF organized a special worship service in honour of PWRDF's 50th Anniversary. We welcomed Zaida Bastos, PWRDF Africa Program Coordinator, who gave the homily. Zaida spoke to us about PWRDF's work in Southern Africa, with a particular focus on Mozambique which she had visited recently. She shared the wonderful results of an organization supported by PWRDF through COCAMO - the Caixa das Mulheres de Nampula (CMN), a rural finance union for women, run by women.

I would like to extend profound thanks to all the parishioners at St. John's who support the life-giving work of PWRDF year after year. I would also like to thank the members of the PWRDF St. John's committee who provide such great support in all our activities: Ron Chaplin, Joan Fulthorp Jubb, Beth Lorimer, John Mallett, Krister Partel, Gay Richardson, Don Smith and the Rev. Naomi Kibugi. We welcome and encourage new members to our monthly meetings.

The Refugee Assistance Group (RAG) sponsors refugees from overseas and assists newcomers to Canada in the parish and beyond.

In late January we welcomed the Darjee family from Bhutan to Canada and to St John's. Amit, Lachi, Susmita and Susit are facing the challenges of making their new life here most successfully. Many thanks to all parishioners who have welcomed and helped them during their first year in Canada. An unexpected blessing for us has been their active participation in the parish. This is a Joint Assistance Sponsorship, with Federal Government funding and St John's "hands on" day to day support for a two year period. Three other Bhutanese families from the refugee camps in Nepal arrived in Ottawa in 2009, with government funding but no support group. All have been helped to some extent by RAG members and several have become regular attendees at Sunday service.

With respect to our other two sponsorships 2009 has been another frustrating year (and tragic for one family) of waiting for the long overseas process to happen. Both are Afghan families; the Hashimi family application was submitted in fall 2006, the other, for Nazanen and her seven children, in late 2007. The Hashimi family was interviewed by Canadian Immigration officers and medicals completed in April, but remains in Peshawar, Pakistan. awaiting word on travel dates. Nazanen and her family were also interviewed in late summer, and DNA testing to establish the mother child was requested by the Canadian Immigration officer. The testing was paid for by St John's as an integral part of the sponsorship costs, the first time we have had to do so, and completed in November with positive results. Refugees live in poor and dangerous conditions in Peshawar, and we learned just how dangerous this year when Nazanen was located and attacked by members of the family she had fled Afghanistan to escape. She managed to flee again, but with only four of her children. Her application is now being treated more urgently by the Visa post in Islamabad and medicals were done late in December.

RAG members continue to provide a variety of support to other newcomers to Canada, be they refugee claimants, government sponsored refugees or just people new to Canada. We meet them in a wide variety of ways and the support and friendship also covers a wide variety of activities, from advice on dealing with bureaucracy and schooling, help in finding housing and furniture, support and witness at refugee board hearings and assistance during pregnancy even into the delivery room. Over the year we have worked with newcomers from Iran, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Bhutan.

Citizenship is a major milestone for newcomers and this year we celebrated with Mary Okan and Bronica as they became Canadian citizens. St John's sponsored Mary and her family from Sudan in 2003.

For the last four or five years, RAG has held a dinner to raise awareness and raise some funds. This year the dinner was in early May with an Africa Great Lakes theme and Ghanian and Burundian dancers. About 90 people attended, many of them newcomers to Canada and the event raised about $1,000. In September RAG partnered again with the Rotary Club of West Ottawa to offer "Mums for Thanksgiving", raising about $400 for the refugee fund.

RAG meets on the second Monday of each month and always welcomes new members. Kyra Abbot and Dave Stephen, Dominic Cardy, Jill Courtemanche, Mitzi Campbell, and Bob Riley joined RAG in 2009, helping out greatly in a very busy year. 2010 looks to be even busier, so if you would like to become involved please talk to one of them or any of the other members of RAG, who currently are: Rosemary and Peter Anderson, Tom Belton, Joan Bishop, Rick Clippingdale, Kitty Cocks, Melodie Conlon, Alice Doell, Lynne Green, Bizunesh Kenea, Naomi Kabugi, Claudette Kohut, Tony Lovink, Gay Richardson, Therese & Don Smith, Gillian Wallace, and Barbara Wright.

St. John's is proud to be the home of one of the Diocese's most treasured ministries. Every Monday to Friday the staff of the Well/La Source welcome women and children in need of shelter and nourishment - both food for the body and food for the spirit. Pat Connolly and Janet McInnes lead a caring, wonderful team of staff and volunteers who serve the most needy in our neighbourhood. Our relationship with the Well at St. John's is very important to us and a group representing parishioners and Well staff meets regularly to share successes and work through any issues together.

This year the Committee consisted of Maura Beecher, Pat Bowen, Jan Calder, Darlene Carew, Ann Chaplin, Pat Connolly, Adèle Finlayson, Dana Fisher, Naomi Kabugi, Kirstie and Janet McInnes. We met regularly and discussed a variety of common issues, as well as beginning work on some guidelines to assist St. John's and the Well with our work together. This gave us a chance to talk about such issues as the garden and worm farm which the Well is working on with Graham Smith; the use of common spaces; smoking issues; communications questions; custodial services, training that could be shared between the Well and Community Shop volunteers; parking; pandemic planning; and painting and other accommodations issues. Our conversations were inspiring as well as practical and it is wonderful to see the joint spirit of service that ministry to the Well clients inspires in both groups.