It really is the most wonderful time of the year – especially when the good-hearted people from Parkminster United Church cook and serve festive dinners for the residents of our emergency shelter.
“It has become an annual tradition for Parkminster United Church, Waterloo. We’ve been doing this for 20 years. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of our congregation in 1958, every committee was invited to come up with a special idea. Our Outreach Committee (called Community and World Service Committee then) decided to provide several dinners for the YW emergency shelter. For all the following years, we kept up the tradition at Christmas time.”
Someone came up with the idea of selling tickets to the church’s congregation for “A Dinner to Which You are NOT Invited”. The tickets are sold for $5.00 but most people donate much more than that! As a result of the generosity of church members, they had more than enough to pay for turkeys and delicious food.
“We have many good bakers in our congregation and every year many bake three dozen cookies which we serve with ice cream for dessert, a big hit with the residents every year! We then ask staff at the emergency shelter to give us ideas on things they need. These have included, bedding, towels, mugs, bowls, bus tickets, gift cards, diapers, sanitary products, toothpaste etc.”
Every year, volunteers are a plenty, and they all enjoy the interaction with staff and residents!
“It is a blessing to be able to connect with everyone during this special time of year.”
Thank you to the: Outreach Committee, Parkminster United Church for all you do for our clients and staff. We appreciate it, and we are certain our residents do too!
Merry Christmas!
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