Outreach is at the core of who we are as a faith community. We are ready to participate in outreach projects when we have identified a particular need. We would like to be recognized as a “compassionate church”.
St Mark’s, in partnership with the Suzuki Foundation, made our grounds pollinator friendly in 2019! Our garden bed is the inside of a canoe. The canoe reflects our Canadian heritage with our indigenous and European explorers who used this essential and versatile boat throughout the wilderness. We also recognize and celebrate our continued use of canoes for fun and recreation. The wildflowers bear nectar and pollen throughout the growing season, all of which are attractive to and essential food for bees, hummingbirds, moths, flies and butterflies. These animals are effective pollinators which help to fertilize our fruits and vegetables – essential for our survival!
We are consistently responsive to the community in these ways:
- We continue to support the Christ Church Food Bank with our large Costco trips throughout the year. I ask that the next time you buy your six bananas that you imagine a cart filled with 540 bananas or imagine the comments when we check out with over 500 rolls of toilet paper!!!People are always impressed when we tell them that we are shopping on behalf of St. Mark’s Church for the food bank. In addition to our Costco trips, we have used gift cards to purchase food store specials throughout the year. As well, the food bank has reaped your rewards when you have donated when we have held our ADVENTage Calendar Food drive and our 40 Days of Lent Food Drive. The people at Christ Church are overwhelmed by the support that they receive from St. Mark’s.
- Throughout the year we support Agincourt Community Services by making $250.00 donations to their lunch programme. That money is enough to provide lunch for the clients for one day in the week.
- At the beginning of the school year and again after the Christmas break juice boxes and granola bars were delivered to the 3 schools in our catchment area. As well, socks and underwear were purchased for the children at Eastview. A plea for socks was made by Eastview and we again supported their request.
- Christmas time saw Outreach erect our mitten tree and then magically watch it become laden with hats, mittens and scarves and even some socks. Again, the bounty was delivered to the three schools in our neighbourhood. Any adult items were given to the Warming Shelter on Scarborough Golf Club Road.
- Again, at Christmas time we supported Juliette’s Place, a shelter for abused women in Scarborough, by purchasing socks, underwear, pajamas and 2 new outfits for the 15 children who would spend Christmas at Juliette’s Place. Each mother was also given a $50.00 gift card and a Blessing Bag, which contained toiletries, a scarf and socks. It is only through your financial support that we are able to do this each year and we are grateful for your help.
- The University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus, is building an Indigenous House, which is designed to be a safe space for staff and students alike. When built there will be a Tree of Life on one of the walls and it will symbolize the support offered to this initiative. Each leaf on the tree will have the name of anyone who has supported this initiative. On your behalf, Outreach donated to this initiative so the St Marks name will appear on one of the leaves. The monies for this endeavour came from our Embrace the Spirit fund.
- We reach out to the community through events such as our Annual Yard sale, which includes donations to families in need, the Bike Safety Rodeo and Community Movie Nights which are extremely popular.
Thanks 4 Giving St. Mark’s. Strength, Courage, and Guidance for all, as we work toward making our community and our world a better place.