“In spring 2021 the Today for Tomorrow fundraising team raised $7,340 in support of Say Yes! to Kids,” says Jane Scanlon, director of communications and stewardship development for the Diocese of Ottawa. “The campaign, and the Request for Proposals that followed, resulted in the largest one-time investment in youth-focused ministry and outreach the Canadian church has seen: $470,000 to 79 recipients. In the Diocese of Ottawa, seven projects received $33,300.”

In 2022, AFC will partner directly with parishes who want to raise money for their local youth programs. Instead of applying for a grant after the campaign, parish teams will apply up front and be the primary beneficiaries of campaigns they help to champion at the local level. “Any parish wishing to raise money to support ministry and outreach that meets the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of children, youth, and young adults is encouraged to apply,” says Scanlon.

“For all the grant recipients we met in 2021, we know the work to support the church’s champions for youth has only just begun,” explains Dr. Scott Brubacher, executive director, AFC. “In our midst are untold seeds waiting to be sown, green shoots ministries just beginning to take root, and still others, at a mature stage of development. They all need life-giving water to grow where they have been planted so that they can continue to serve their communities and energize our church.”

Brubacher says that energy is needed now more than ever. “As pandemic restrictions lift and churches begin to re-engage with parishioners, it is critical for churches to offer a range of in-real-life opportunities, outside of Sunday morning worship, where young people can reconnect.”

In 2021, Say Yes! to Kids grants supported youth drop-in centres, education and arts enrichment programs, seasonal camps, Indigenous reconciliation projects, weekend retreats, food security programs, and more. “The depth and variety of youth-focused ministry and outreach across the Canadian church—and in the Diocese of Ottawa, which is a leader in youth-focused ministry—is exactly what’s needed in a post-pandemic world,” says Brubacher. 

The AFC Board is committed to creating an abundant revenue stream that helps parishes overcome the financial barriers to launching and sustaining youth-focused ministry. “We have heard from youth leaders describing pre-pandemic budgets as over-stretched or non-existent,” says Brubacher. “For many, getting back to early 2020, where funding was already in short supply, feels impossible.” 

Stressing that these challenges are not a reason to despair but to act, Brubacher believes AFC can “shift the conversation” and lighten the mood with this nationwide P2P campaign. 

In the past decade AFC has awarded more than $1.5 million in youth-focused grants from coast to coast to coast. “We have seen first-hand that local churches know how to show up for young people. They possess the creativity and innovation to imagine more. What they need is a church that is prepared to resource them faithfully and abundantly.” 

Say Yes! to Kids runs from April 1 to June 30. AFC’s 2022 goal is to recruit 50 parish-based fundraising teams across Canada, including five in the Diocese of Ottawa, with an ambitious goal to raise $500,000 nationally. This will build on the 2021 effort which saw 12 diocesan teams raise $110,000. 

To inquire about becoming a fundraising team or supporting one of the teams in the Diocese of Ottawa, please contact Michelle Hauser, Anglican Foundation of Canada for more information. 

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Seven of those projects are part of the foundation’s Say Yes to Kids program. They will receive $33,300 in funding.

Across the country, the Foundation approved 79 Say Yes to Kids applications. The new executive director of the foundation, Scott Brubacher, said in a Zoom gathering that he believes the $468,345 grant total is one of the larges investments in children and youth ministry in the history of the Canadian church.

“I’d like to thank everyone in the Diocese of Ottawa for being so enthusiastic both in the fundraising this spring and in the creativity you showed in preparing your applications,” he said.

“This is truly great news,” said Jane Scanlon, director of communications and stewardship for the Diocese of Ottawa, thanking Brubacher and the staff and board of directors for the foundation for all the thought, creativity and positive energy that they have put into the Say Yes to Kids program, and for the AFC’s generosity. “Here at the Diocese of Ottawa we are thrilled to be the recipients of so many grants. These initiatives will have a big impact in our diocese,” said Scanlon.

Church of the Ascension in Ottawa is launching Rising Up: Art, Kids and Community, “Our program aims to bring together kids from our own parish with kids from our community to do some great, creative work around expressive movement, visual arts, and community building,” said the Rev. Rhonda Waters, who was on hand for the announcement. She added that a team of adult volunteers will make it a multi-generational project. It will start in Feb. 2022. 

Other projects that received funding were: 

• Epiphany Anglican Church Ottawa — Confirmation Choir    $3,800
• Kid-Safe Productions Incorporated — Ottawa Pandemic Burnout Help for Children & Families Through Drama, Spirituality & Music $5,000
• Ottawa Diocesan Youth  — Kairos Blanket Exercise Indigenous reconciliation $5,000
• Anglican Diocese of Ottawa  — Training for Spiritual Care in Secondary Schools Resilience & Mental Health $5,000
• St. Albans Anglican Church Ottawa —Not So Post Pandemic Gatherings Resilience & Mental Health $4,500
• Ottawa East Deanery & Epiphany Anglican — Acts of Kindness youth outreach project    $5,000

The Community Ministry St. Luke’s Table is also awarded a grant to help with renovations to better serve vulnerable people in the community — $15,000

Three bursaries were also awarded to Karen McBride, Robert Albert, and John Holgate.

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