Complete figures for 2021 are still being tallied, but the Diocese’s Today for Tomorrow annual appeal received a wonderful surprise gift just in time for Christmas — a $100,000 donation!
For the first time, the campaign produced a gift guide offering opportunities to help others by supporting seven diocesan Community Ministries — Centre 105, Centre 454, Cornerstone Housing for Women, Ottawa Pastoral Counselling Centre (OPC), Refugee Ministry, St Luke’s Table, and The Well—as they serve people living precariously, struggling with poverty or challenged by mental health issues. It was advertised in Crosstalk and promoted through diocesan social media, but the guide was also advertised in community newspapers and the Ottawa Citizen.
It was the ad in the Citizen that caught the eye of the woman who generously decided to donate $100,000.
The donor prefers to remain anonymous, but she kindly agreed to speak with Crosstalk about her gift.
“I received a bequest a few years ago which I had never expected to receive, and which I didn’t really need, so it was just put away in an investment account. But I started to get these little messages, I think, from the Holy Spirit, saying ‘You don’t need that. You need to give it away,’” she recounted.
“So, I said “Okay, where do you want me to give it?” And from time to time, He’d say, “I’ll let you know.’”
When she saw the gift guide ad in the Citizen, she thought that might be what she was looking for.
“It was interesting because the ad said the Diocese of Ottawa and I, being a Catholic, assumed it was the Catholic [diocese]. I didn’t find out I was mistaken until I phoned the phone number, and the message said, “You have reached the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.”
She said she thought and prayed about it, asking “’Do we still want to do this?’” to make sure she was getting the message correct.” The answer that came to her was, “Yes, they are doing God’s work.”
She added that the person she spoke to asked which services or ministries she’d like to donate to. “I said ‘Well, all of them, of course, I don’t know which ones need it the most.’”
The generous benefactor also shared that some of her motivation to give was based on her own earlier struggles. “When I was a young woman, I was a single mother and I had five kids to raise and support, so I understood what it is like to be poor,” she said.
Jane Scanlon, director of stewardship and communications for the Diocese, thanked the donor on behalf of the Diocese and all of the community ministries. “This generous donation will make a big difference in the lives of many vulnerable people” Scanlon said.
She adds that “2021 was a year of unprecedented generosity. Thank you to everyone who supported Today for Tomorrow in 2021, which looks like it will be the most successful year for our diocesan annual appeal to date.” Stay tuned for complete news of the campaign in the March issue of Crosstalk.
St. John, Antrim — Deanery of the Southwest