by The Rev’d Christine Wilson
St. Augustine’s Hudson Street Hub and the Community Pastoral Resource Centre at St.
Faith’s are pleased
to share news of our latest initiative.
As many of you may know for the past few
years the Community Pastoral Resource Centre at St. Faith’s has been providing compassionate
support, advocacy and referral services for people in need in Kerrisdale and
Marpole. We offer a place where people
can meet with a care advocate who will
make warm referrals to the appropriate dignity resources for housing, food,
health and security and provide support in making those connections.
In Marpole, where there is a considerable
number of vulnerable and fragile people, in 2013 St. Augustine’s Anglican Church established the ‘Hudson Street Hub’, expanding its existing outreach ministry
-- offering low cost clothing and goods, hosting a Food Bank depot, offering
three community meals per week, hosting recreation/socialization programs, and
providing workshops and clinics related to the day-to-day issues of people in
need.
The St. Augustine’s Hudson Street Hub and St. Faith’s Community Pastoral Resource Centre regularly support each other’s ministries and cross refer
clients. Because the Hub and the Resource
Centre have ministries that are complementary, we have embarked upon a Community
Support Ministry Collaboration Project for which we have received a 2016-2017
care+share grant to strengthen our intentional ministry together in order to
share God’s love and
hope with the most vulnerable members of our community.
Our latest initiative has been to establish
a year round depot for access to free clothing and housewares. Every Thursday and Saturday St. Augustine’s opens its “Second Hand Rows’ thrift shop where people can
purchase low cost, gentle used clothing, housewares, linens, books, movies and
more.
We have arranged with Second Hand Rows for our
Community Pastoral Resource Centre to offer vouchers which can be redeemed for
up to $25.00 worth of merchandise for people in need who are not able to afford
the cost.
You can support this ministry by making
donations of gently used clothing and housewares which may be dropped off at
St. Augustine’s on Thursdays
between 10am and 1pm and Saturdays between 11am and 2pm – and encouraging your friends and
neighbours to do the same. (8670 Hudson
St. at 71st Ave.)
We are very grateful to the volunteers at
Second Hand Rows and to St. Augustine’s Hudson Street Hub for making this wonderful new initiative possible.
