AFC Awards $189,000 in May 2021 grant cycle
MAY 27, 2021, TORONTO, ONTARIO—The Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC) has announced $189,000 in funding to support new projects across Canada in its May cycle of awards. AFC’s board of directors met via Zoom on May 19-20, 2021 and awarded grants to 27 applicants.
In addition to church infrastructure and restoration disbursements of $117,500, AFC provided $30,000 towards ministry and education projects that benefit Indigenous people across Canada, $19,000 for theological education and bursaries, and $17,500 in program and infrastructure investments that support children, youth, and young adults.
“Thanks to the generosity of our donor family, AFC can continue to say Yes! to the creativity and compassion of Canadian Anglicans,” says The Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Rois, Executive Director, AFC, “and we are committed to funding for impact notwithstanding this global health crisis.”
Grants for this cycle include:
Five Oaks Education Centre, Paris ON
Creating connections through access to reliable wireless
Five Oaks has a history of being a safe and sacred place for meaningful conversations and interactions. This project of enhancing the wireless Internet to the entire footprint of the Centre is the next logical step in Five Oaks’ mission: “To be a sacred place where people, as individuals or in intentional community, come apart to look deeply into their own lives and the world in light of faith and values, and find their calling to participate in Spirit’s healing work in creation.”
Ecumenical Campus Ministry, Lethbridge AB
Kerber Friendship Program
In the 2019–20 academic year, the Kerber Friendship Program (KFP) was launched at the University of Lethbridge in response to a survey that revealed a significant number of students were struggling with loneliness, depression, and anxiety. KFP connects students who lack supports with volunteers in the community who commit to regular contact and fellowship. When the university went on-line in March 2020, volunteers provided ongoing support for students finishing their terms under difficult circumstances. Now in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, KFP’s role in encouraging overall student well-being is more important than ever.
Anglican Parish of Christ Church, Kitimat, BC
Foundation Repair
Founded in 1956, the Anglican Parish of Christ Church, Kitimat serves one of British Columbia’s most diverse communities. It is a boom-and-bust town that people from over 50 countries and from all provinces and territories call home. Christ Church is active in the community, and routinely connects with those who are isolated, caring for the aged, offering grief support, giving to those in financial need, uplifting families with children, and offering pastoral care to all people. This grant from AFC will help to make much-needed foundation repairs to the basement of the church building, helping this space to become more useful as a multi-purpose room to serve community groups, activities, and other fresh expressions of ministry.
St. Cuthbert’s Leaside, Toronto, ON
Bayview Garden
The Bayview Garden project at St. Cuthbert’s, Leaside will improve the accessibility of all the land surrounding the church for the benefit of parishioners and non-parishioners alike—and their pets—in an urban setting where public and accessible green space is scarce. With new signage, the church hopes to communicate more effectively with the surrounding neighbourhood. The existing and new shared spaces will allow for a range of structured and unstructured uses, including family recreation, individual and group contemplation, outdoor worship, prayer, and music.
St. John’s Anglican Church, Fort Smith, NT
Parish Hall Accessiblity and Energy Efficiency Retrofit
St. John’s is an historic congregation that considers the entire town of Fort Smith its mission field. The parish hall is used on an almost continuous basis for weekly Bible studies, 12-step programs, fellowship and outreach projects, an ecumenical men’s breakfast, community dinners, a community social for young moms, youth events, and ongoing work with the United Way of Northwest Territories to launch a community kitchen. This renovation project will involve replacing the single-pane windows with energy-efficient ones, installing an accessible washroom, enhancing the insulation in the walls, and replacing the floor and ceiling tiles. This is truly a rural parish hall that serves the entire community, in every respect.
St. Brice’s Anglican Church, North Bay, ON
Heaven is Above – Parish Hall Re-roofing Project
Nearly every day of the week the parish hall at St. Brice’s in North Bay is bustling with compassionate volunteers committed to serving neighbours in need. From the Thursday morning food bank, where community members are welcome to stay for a snack and warm beverage, to the weekly Take Home Meal service for people who have been discharged from the hospital or are isolated, to the Friday Teen Lunch Program where over 100 high school students receive a hot lunch and the warm hand of friendship, this is a church that truly lives its motto to be a “welcoming and nurturing community.”
