All Saints’ associate incumbent the Rev. Chung Yan Lam and the pastoral care team conducted a survey of ASW parishioners asking how the church could best support them. Their thoughtful responses identified about 10 areas where additional support or conversation would be valuable.

To help bring these ideas to life, Donna Rourke was invited to facilitate a series of conversations and workshops. She brings both professional training and personal experience, holding diplomas in Gerontology and Palliative Care from Durham College and a certificate in Managing Conflict from Algonquin College. In an interview with Perspective, she shared that the topic is one of personal interest to her as well because she and her brothers are currently accompanying their mother as she navigates the complexities of the healthcare system. “Together, our goal is to help her age with grace—in the right place, which for her is the home of my youngest brother,” she said.

Rourke described the events that have taken place so far:

Exploring Ottawa housing options

The first interactive workshop, Housing Options in Ottawa, was based on a guide prepared by the Council on Aging’s Age-Friendly Housing Committee. The Council on Aging brings together older adults and community partners from across Ottawa to improve the wellbeing of seniors. The Age-Friendly Housing Committee, in particular, focuses on what are known as the four A’s of housing—ensuring that housing is affordable, accessible, appropriate, and available.

During the workshop, we invited participants to reflect on where and how they want to live as they age. “Aging in the right place” is not only central to personal wellbeing but also a cornerstone of an age-friendly community. We emphasized the importance of planning early—before a crisis forces a move—so that decisions can be made with peace of mind and a sense of empowerment. Ultimately, it is each individual’s decision where they want to call home.

Fostering connection and belonging

Our second event took a more social and experiential approach. Instead of a traditional workshop, it served as a model of the importance of connection and belonging—key elements of healthy aging. The goal was simple: to help participants feel less isolated and more engaged with their community.

Looking ahead: Resources to help you stay in your home

Our third session, Resources to Help You Stay in Your Home, was postponed due to an unexpected heating issue and subsequent flood at ASW but will be rescheduled soon. This workshop will explore a wide range of supports available to older adults who wish to remain at home.

Topics will include Ontario Health at Home, the Geriatric Assessment Outreach Day Hospital, safety and accessibility options, financial assistance programs, dementia-related supports, mental and emotional wellbeing, as well as food and transportation services. One parishioner will also share her family’s story about adapting their home to make it more accessible.

The goal of this session—and indeed the whole series—is to provide participants with knowledge, confidence, and encouragement to make informed decisions based on their own needs, preferences, and values.

Following the Rowe and Kahn model of Successful Aging, the Aging with Grace series invites participants to continue making positive lifestyle choices—embracing healthy eating, appropriate physical activity, active social engagement, mental stimulation, and the nurturing of spiritual life, however that looks for each individual.

Aging with Grace reflects the compassion and commitment that make All Saints’ Westboro a caring community. It is about learning, sharing, and walking together through the later seasons of life. While aging can bring challenges, it also opens opportunities for connection, reflection, growth—and, above all, grace.

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Janet Currie-Kelk, All Saints’ children and youth ministry leader, told Perspective that it was difficult to organize a traditional confirmation program that accommodated kids’ busy schedules of school and extra-curricular sports and activities. “It would be so much nicer to have a longer time frame for young people and have more flexibility,” she recalls wishing.

“The biggest thing about confirmation is that the young people feel supported by their community of faith, and [recognize] that this isn’t a graduation. This is a start of a new journey, in the sense that they’re taking their own responsibility for their own faith development.”

Currie-Kelk had been reading a lot about intergenerational ministry that suggests that keeping children and youth programming separate from the rest of the community “isn’t necessarily in the best interest of anyone’s faith development.” She and the clergy team asked, “How could we offer something to these young people that surrounds them in the community and provide them with the knowledge, the skills, and the experiences of living one’s faith?”

One of the ways of doing that is giving them a confirmation partner or mentor, which All Saints’ does.

And they found a program with the flexibility they were looking for — the passport idea — from an Episcopalian church in the U.S., which has been working with the concept for about 10 years and even offers customized adaptations for different denominations.

They consulted with parishioner Patricia Bays, who has had a long involvement in Christian education and is the author of This Anglican Church of Ours, who was impressed, and so they decided to adapt it for the local context in the diocese of Ottawa.

The passport concept allows a user to prepare for confirmation or simply engage in Christian education programming at any age at their own pace. And it takes confirmation beyond books into experiential learning with lots of room for questioning and reflecting.

There are three broad categories of learning — Foundation, Spiritual Practice and Community in Action. All Saints’ held its first foundational session in the fall — a group discussion of the question “Is doubt okay?”, which drew about 25 people and included parishioners who weren’t involved in confirmation but were just interested in the topic There are four more sessions:

• What do you believe?
• Scripture Mad Dash
• One Church, Many Expressions
• Circle of the Church Year

They intend to hold these core sessions each year, so anyone who wasn’t able to attend won’t have to wait too long for the next one.

The passport includes room for the participants and make notes and record their reflections.

The Spiritual Practice category includes three core requirements:

• Anglican traditions
• Holy Week – (participants must join for at least one day)
• Attending worship service at All Saints’ Westboro at least once a month.

Then participants can choose three of these:

• Prayer and practice
• Praying with Psalms
• Indigenous Spiritualities
• Bible Story-telling
• World Religions
• Labyrinth Spiritual Practice
• Forest Church
• Humanics Santuary and Sculpture Park
• Sacred space
• Lectio Divina
• Vespers
• Crafting circle

Community in Action — How can we love and serve our neighbour?

• Holy Troublemaking
• Suffering — Where is God?
• The Ministry of the Rest of Us
• All Saints’ Westboro Community Space Volunteer

Currie-Kelk says this is a draw for the youth. They talk about Jesus as the ultimate Holy Troublemaker or an activist for Black rights such as Viola Desmond. These issues “tend to also have a very large impact on their faith development. So, faith isn’t just Sunday morning, it’s living it. Whether that’s helping in a food bank, or going on a mission project, or volunteering within other community events.”

Once participants have completed all the requirements, they can be confirmed.

The program is just launching, but Currie-Kelk says that the response so far has been enthusiastic. “We printed 50 passports to start with and we gave them all away.”

All Saints’ is happy to share the templates and their experiences with other parishes that are interested. Incumbent Archdeacon Kathryn Otley has shared information about the program with other diocesan clergy.

Above— Pages from the passport with room for notes and personal reflections.

L— Janet Currie-Kelk is All Saints’ children and youth ministry leader.

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Tens of thousands of Canadians will take to the streets for CNOY with events taking place in 200 cities, towns, and communities across the country. By walking together in the chill of the night, participants will better understand the experience of being on the streets during a cold Canadian winter, while raising funds to aid the work of Cornerstone Housing for Women in providing much-needed support.

The family-friendly Westboro Village walk begins and ends at All Saints Anglican Church, located at 347 Richmond Road. Participants will walk a 2km or 5km route, can warm up with hot drinks at rest stops along the way, and will be able to celebrate their efforts together at the finish line. All those who raise over $150 (or $75 for youth) will also don CNOY toques as they face the cold night.

This is Cornerstone Housing for Women’s seventh year taking part in the Coldest Night of the Year, and they’re aiming to raise $100,000 for their work with people experiencing hunger, hurt, and homelessness in Ottawa. Organizers are expecting about 250 walkers from 50 teams.

“With the frigid temperatures we’ve had, this walk really brings home the importance of shelter and safe housing for women in our city,” said Cornerstone’s new executive director Anne Marie Hopkins. “This will be my first year walking in the Coldest Night of the Year, and one month out I can already feel the community spirit of our neighbours, friends, donors who want to make a difference in women’s lives. It always feels so incredible to see the way Cornerstone’s supporters show up for us. I’m ready to bundle up and make a difference on February 28th.”

Cornerstone Housing for Women has been serving Ottawa for 43 years, and the funds raised in the Coldest Night of the Year will benefit their clients in a time of the year known historically for low levels of giving.

For more information or to join the walk: https://en.cnoy.org/location/ottawawestboro

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The Rev. Chung Yan Lam, associate incumbent at All Saints, suggested that looking at where tax dollars are spent is useful when examining priorities. For example, while the right to clean drinking water is universally accepted, even today not all Canadians have access to it.

Scott Cooper, CPJ director of communications, presenting the organisation’s election plan, suggested the best approach when speaking to candidates in each riding is to “ask good questions that get to the bigger picture and evaluating responses with evidence and the lived realities of those most impacted.”

In a series of questions focused on social justice, the plan recommended asking candidates to provide their party’s position on “increasing the percentage of affordable, non-profit rental housing units and investing in related necessary infrastructure.”

On climate change, they suggested asking how each party will ensure that a transition to a low-carbon economy genuinely leaves no one behind.

On migrants and refugees, there is a question about what measures will be taken to combat discrimination and racism.  Full details including tips for evaluating answers are available at cpj.ca

A sort of unofficial keynote was struck by Judith King Matheson of Outaouais Wellness Learning who made an impassioned plea to get out the vote. Ordinary grassroots folk can make a difference, she said, by raising awareness.  “A lot of us are not even aware of what’s happening in our own backyards.”

The gathering broke into six small groups, first to reflect on the foundation for the faith of each of the participants and then to answer the question, “What is this election about for your community?”

Answers ranged widely from Canada’s sovereignty and the need for protection against the U.S. to health care shortcomings, interprovincial trade barriers, to the future of Canada Post.

For some it was about the roots of homelessness, the cost of living, income inequality, inadequate resources for retraining and education.

The CPJ’s election plan noted that Canada has been playing catch-up on affordability and the right to an adequate standard of living.  “We are now losing affordable units faster than we can build new ones.”

Based in Ottawa, Citizens for Public Justice is a national organisation that seeks to use research, analysis and public debate to influence government policies. Similar Faithful Election Conversations to the one at All Saints are being held across the country.

Attendees were invited to support the campaign of CPJ and other Christian organisations of Jubilee 2025: Turn Debt into Hope! — a global movement to end the mounting debt crisis.

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“Some of our volunteers have been here for five, ten years….We get to know the people who come,” explains Martine Doré who co-ordinates the operations and efforts of 40 volunteers. “Some people just want to come get the food and go, and that is 100% okay. Some people are here because they are seen, acknowledged, appreciated. I had one gentleman say, ‘Oh my God, you remember me? Maybe I make a difference in the world.’ People feel welcome when they come here, and they walk away with more than just food— a sense that ‘This is a place I can go. I’m respected. They understand my unique barriers, they try and work with those barriers.’”

The Rev. Chung Yan Lam, All Saints’ associate incumbent, told Crosstalk that the food bank is an integral part of the church’s ministry, and the parishioners are deeply committed to it. All Saints’ has partnered with First United Church to share the building, and Lam says that parishioners from both congregations form the food bank’s most steady base of donors. There is always a basket of food near the altar. “When we are participating in worship…breaking bread together, we remember those who are without,” she said. They call all the visitors to the food bank neighbours.

Although Westboro is an affluent part of the city, Doré said there are hidden pockets of deep poverty. The neighbours who visit the food bank come from subsidized seniors’ residences, emergency housing shelters and shelter overflows in the area. There are also many newcomers to Canada. Staff and volunteers make frequent use of a translation app so they can communicate with people who speak a myriad of languages.

All Saints’ role providing a home for the Westboro Region Food Bank is vital, Lam points out. Without the space in the church, including heat and light and water utilities, it would be too expensive for a food bank to pay for any space in the area. This is an important point for the federal government to weigh as it considers a proposal from the finance committee to end tax-exempt status for churches, she says. “We need people to understand that the Westboro Region Food Bank is an arm of what we do here. All Saints’ Westboro needs to be here so that we can do this work.”

Like all of the branches of the Ottawa Food Bank, WRFB is facing challenges to stretch limited resources to meet increasing needs. Doré said there has been a 90% increase in visits to the Ottawa Food Bank partners since 2019. “Even the same amount of money doesn’t go nearly as far when you think about the increased demand, the escalating costs of food, diapers…” she said.

Visitors to the Westboro Region Food Bank come once each month to receive a three-day supply of food and essentials such as diapers and feminine hygiene products. Doré said that the previous day they had to divide the few diapers they had between two households. During March and April, they are running a special appeal for these much needed and vital but less frequently donated items.

“The fruits and vegetables we got Friday only served our Monday food bank neighbors. We had to buy $200 worth of fruits and vegetables to serve everyone today because at the end of the day we were left with about six red peppers, a couple of cucumbers.”

All Saints’ makes such purchases from the Westboro Region Food Bank’s trust fund. “The church has a trust fund that is allocated and designated for the food bank to purchase the extra food in order to maintain a certain standard,” Lam explained. “Many people during COVID especially appreciated how this food bank was giving a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Donations to the Westboro Region Food Bank are also designated towards the purchasing of food to supplement declining supplies from the Ottawa Food Bank and various administrative costs to keep the food bank running smoothly. Lam noted that organizations such as the Legion and the Westboro Business Improvement Area fundraise and have been strong supporters.

In the fall, the Westboro Regional Food Bank moved to serving people by appointment. The system helps them organize the food distribution, and they have found that it is less stressful for those coming to the food bank. Lining up together tends to increase anxiety about whether there will be enough food. Lam says there is an orderliness to the appointment system that reduces tension. Visitors feel that they are seen and have a place and time that is reserved for them by name.

Doré says they still take walk-ins as exceptions if a visitor is new or unable to make appointments. “We don’t want anyone to leave a food bank hungry,” she says.

The number of appointments per day fluctuates, but it is common to have 28 to 30 appointments in a day, which represents a much larger number of people because each household may have multiple members or sometimes multiple generations living together. One household they serve is a family of 12.

All Saints’ also has a New-to-You thrift shop in the church. “Within this more affluent area, [people] donate very lightly, gently used items…. We can then offer them to people in need, as well as we sell it to people who want to buy less, recycle and reuse, and so it’s able to do that for us,” Lam said. The shop is one of the instrumental ways for the community at large can support the sustainability of the Westboro Regional Food Bank. All proceeds from the New-To-You Shop are used to support the parish’s operational costs in order to continue being a compassionate presence in Westboro, she explained.

The two ministries complement each other. Lam said that volunteers pay attention to what the neighbours who come to the food bank might need. If it is a cold day and someone doesn’t have a hat or scarf, they take them up to the shop and give them something. Good neighbours, indeed.

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Trying to change those numbers is the motivation behind an ambitious fundraising effort at All Saints’ Westboro. On Saturday, Nov. 16, the church will host a music concert and reception with the aim of raising $15,000 for the Multifaith Housing Initiative (MHI) Dream LeBreton Project.

“We can all play an important role in helping ensure that everyone in Ottawa has a safe, affordable place to live,” says concert co-organizer Marcie Taylor. “We’re calling our event ‘Housing with Heart’ because we want to offer love and support to those in our community who are experiencing homelessness.”

The event, which will run from 4 pm to 6:30 pm, will feature performances from local musicians ranging from jazz to classical to contemporary music. Following the concert, attendees are invited to a special reception with curated charcuterie and conversation.

“In addition to wonderful music, delicious food and fellowship, the evening will also provide an opportunity to learn more about the work MHI is doing to create more permanent housing in our city,” says co-organizer Barb Gillie.

MHI is helping build a new affordable housing development beside the city’s new main public library at LeBreton Flats.

While MHI will ultimately operate 133 units in the new development, its capital campaign is focused on 30 units designated specifically for Indigenous households. The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa made a major donation of $75,000 for this part of the project earlier this year. Of the people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa, an estimated 32 percent are Indigenous, even though they only represent four per cent of the city’s total population.

To find out more about the Nov. 16 concert or to purchase tickets, go to allsaintswestboro.com, or call 613-725-9487.

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