Bishop Snell’s Legacy Pays-it-Forward Through COVID-19 Response
Fulford, Garnsworthy, Maguire, Snell. Say these names in the Anglican church, today, and the adjectives flow: frugal, kind, eccentric, warm-hearted, and generous. Their legacies to the church speak of faith, compassion, and generosity. They continue to connect past, present, and future benefactors of the church.
At AFC we celebrate the spirit of these unique individuals daily, as do the grant recipients, who send us letters of gratitude on a regular basis. In 2020, during a global pandemic, the collective granting power of AFC’s Trusts continued to pay-it-forward in ways their benefactors could never have imagined. Here is just one message from AFC’s pay-it-forward mailbag:
Dear Judy:
On behalf of the churchwardens, we wish to thank you for the money that we received from the George and Esther Snell Trust.
We could fill a binder with what has taken place in this past COVID-filled year. But for today, here is just a snippet of the programs and services provided by St Michael and All Angels to the community in the past year… made possible through the financial generosity of George and Esther Snell.
The economic impact of the global pandemic brought a greater stress upon people in our community and, as a result, on our 30-year-old Beeton Cupboard Food Bank. With the help of Bishop Snell, we have ensured that to date, 75 households a week (that number keeps increasing) never go away empty-handed. The cupboard is four times larger than it was. The Anglican Foundation of Canada made this happen.
The Snell Trust grant also helped us to increase ministry programming and reach families and individuals in the Wychwood/Hillcrest community and beyond. When the world turned upside down, your support enabled us to continue offering: Messy Church (family ministry), online bible study, Fantastic Friends in Faith (junior youth group), Prayer Shawl ministry, the Green Door web series, the Underground Café, Fabulous Fridays, and the Out of the Cold lunch program.
With your help, and thanks to the generosity of Bishop Snell and others, we will continue to do innovative and creative ministry work in 2021 “loving your neighbour as yourself.”
We are grateful for AFC’s support in what God is doing in and through our church, and we are excited to continue showing the world Christ’s love.
Archdeacon A. Paul Feheley
Parish Priest
St. Michael & All Angels Church, Toronto
Jenni King Feheley
Director, Community Building & Spiritual Engagement
St. Michael & All Angels Church, Toronto
If you have ever received a grant from the Anglican Foundation, you know first-hand how the generosity of other Anglicans made it possible for you to reach a little further, to imagine more than you could have on your own. That’s the pay-it-forward energy at work. And it feels even better to give it than to receive it. That’s the greatest donor benefit of all!
