Michelle Hauser

“Five or six years ago I felt nervous attempting to partner with schools too. Reaching young people is challenging due to the decline in trust of the church universal and fears about what might be taught. My advice: Trust that God will and does show us the way.”

“We are so grateful to the foundation for this grant and helping us to do more to reach out to young people who are not already connected to our parish. The wagon ride was so much fun. We had hot chocolate and cookies and a much-needed chance to visit after a long winter of isolation.”

“In my sermons I have honed-in on the message that we’re sowing seeds, and we don’t know where God wants them to land.” Faithful champions for the program have emerged: “Many parishioners volunteer, and many more share in that sense of pride that comes from seeing the kind of outreach we are doing.”

Our hope is that this campaign will be both empowering and energizing: enabling our churches to harness the power of peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising to grow sustainable revenue streams for youth programs, while connecting them with other churches across Canada that are growing a brighter future for young people, today.

After a warm breakfast, those who attend SLT can draw from a range of essential support services, which include a hot shower, help with laundry, the use of a personal computer, dry socks and a top-up on winter gear, fresh fruit from one of SLT’s community fridges, and connections to more specialized resources.

“There have been past years when AFC’s combined disbursements of grants and loans have hit the million-dollar mark,” says Dr. Scott Brubacher, Executive Director, “but this is the first time in the Foundation’s 65-year history that we have reached that threshold on the strength of the grant program alone.”

In recent years, AFC has also become a major partner in innovative ministry and spiritual formation projects, funding visionary programming that reflect an increasingly missional church.

“Amid all the food and fun, my grandparents’ Christian faith was always the motivating force, and we all knew it. Grandma’s language never failed to express her total gratitude for the spiritual gifts that we had been given. Her favourite Bible verse was: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.”

“In addition to my work with patients in a hospital setting, God has led me to minister to people at end of life in their homes as a hospice volunteer. Bringing words of comfort and the sacrament to the bedside to those who have faithfully served the parish for so long, is something about which I am truly passionate.”