The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and its parishes have provided support to help do that in various ways. And the parish of St. Barnabas, which is also located in downtown Ottawa, has played a key role by welcoming their neighbours into their space.

After the fire, St. Luke’s Table quickly relocated to the Bronson Centre and continues to operate from that location while St. Luke’s is being renovated and restored, but Belong Ottawa is only able to use the space on weekdays. Last winter, when the program received some additional funding to open on Saturdays, the Rev. Canon Stewart Murray, Incumbent at St. Barnabas invited them to use the parish hall. With that funding renewed this winter, they will again be able to open on Saturdays at St. Barnabas.

Murray told Crosstalk that St. Barnabas is very happy to host St. Luke’s. As a parish in the downtown core, he and parishioners witness the growing need for the services the community ministries offer to help people struggling with issues such as poverty and addiction. He says he has occasionally had to call the police or ambulance when he couldn’t rouse someone sleeping near the church. “I think at least they can get connected to services through St. Luke’s. They can come and they know it’s there.” It’s good to feel like St. Barnabas can be part of offering help beyond providing for immediate or basic needs, he said. The hall was built in the 1990s so it is up-to-code and accessible.

Robinson said that Belong Ottawa does provide a meal to the people who come to St. Barnabas on Saturdays, but staff have observed that what people are most hungry for is social connection. “They’ve probably all got some sort of housing like a rooming house or supportive housing or their own apartment,” she said. “It’s really about loneliness and breaking isolation….

That’s what Belong Ottawa does, as much as anything, and I always say it’s almost as important as anything….. Because we know loneliness is really bad for health.” She and the staff have always known that intuitively, she added, but noted that post-pandemic there is much more research that backs that up.

St. Barnabas also hosted women from Belong Ottawa’s The Well last winter for two afternoons a week when they were displaced during post-flooding repairs at St. John the Evangelist. “They were really kind and generous to us at St Barnabas because they opened up to us and said that we could offer the women-only programming during the week while we were displaced from The Well,” said Robinson.

This winter, St. Barnabas will be helping another Anglican Community Ministry, Cornerstone Housing for Women. The parish will be hosting women from Cornerstone’s nearby MacLaren Street residence two afternoons a week while that building is undergoing renovations to address a mould problem.

Martine Dore, Cornerstone’s director of programs and services, said that the first part of the renovation required closing down the community room and kitchen at MacLaren. “It’s the only place in the building where women can gather as a group to eat together, to cook together, to play bingo, to have fun, to have conversation. For many of the women, they don’t have a TV in their room, so that’s where they come and watch TV with their housemates.”

St. Barnabas is just down the street, so they reached out to ask if they might be able to rent some space where the women could come together, have tea, celebrate community, play games…” St. Barnabas invited them to come to the church to discuss the possibility with Canon Murray. Dore and the manager of MacLaren went not knowing that they would arrive at the end of a mass and the usual a teatime that follows. “They invited us in and they were the most welcoming group of people. It made us feel so comfortable and confident that we’d made the right decision.”

The women from the MacLaren residence have started meeting at St. Barnabas two afternoons a week. “We have the space for a couple hours and our residents come down and it’s wonderful. … One day our wires got crossed and we ended up coming with some of our residents at another one of St. Barnabas’ teatimes. And the residents had the exact same experience Alison and I did, where they were welcomed into the community to have tea, goodies, and it was just such a wonderful experience for us all.”

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During the week, participants will continue to meet at the Bronson Centre, where the Anglican Community Ministry has re-established itself until its facility in the basement of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, which was damaged in a fire in the church in October, can be restored. But the Bronson Centre space was not available on the weekends, so those who depend on St. Luke’s for meals and important social connections and support had to spend their days on the weekends elsewhere.

The Rev. Canon Stewart Murray, incumbent of St. Barnabas, told Crosstalk that he had originally called the Rev. Dr. Canon P.J. Hobbs after the St. Luke’s fire to offer the space in the St. Barnabas Parish Hall. The Bronson Centre location was closer to St. Luke’s, but when St. Luke’s Table received a grant for an additional Out of the Cold program for Saturdays, Hobbs contacted him.

Rachel Robinson, the executive director for Belong Ottawa (the new name for the merged Anglican day programs Centre 454, St. Luke’s Table and the Well) said the team at St. Barnabas was very welcoming and that everyone was excited about the new program. It will offer breakfast and lunch as well as social recreation from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The program got started on Feb. 4, just in time before Ottawa’s daytime temperatures dropped to -30 C the following weekend.

St. Barnabas facilities volunteer Warren Halligan shows St. Luke’s Table program manager India Bedson (both centre) and the staff around the parish hall and kitchen.

Photo: Leigh Anne Williams

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