“Our new name and new logo is the result of a collaborative effort between staff and participants,” said executive director Rachel Robinson. “Collectively, we chose a new logo with a bold look and three coloured arches that represent the three day programs and capture our mission to be an inclusive, safe, and nurturing community for all.”

“The essence of our day programs has been to offer a place to belong to people who otherwise can often feel very unwelcome within our greater community,” said the Rev. Canon Dr. Peter John Hobbs, director general of the Anglican Community Ministries.  “Now, the long tradition of our Anglican day programs will continue under a name that is so fitting for the work that we have done over the last decades and as we turn now to the future of our service to the community.”

The new name and logo will be on signs at all three locations and all communications from the programs, including a new Belong Ottawa website.

Robinson emphasized that the aim and heart of programs have not changed. The mission is still to be an inclusive community where no one is marginalized, and everyone is valued and supported. The programs will continue to provide safe spaces to connect people and create community in all three locations. They will continue to address basic human needs and foster dignity, wellness and hope for all.

The three programs have been working closely throughout the pandemic and have had one executive director since 2020.

Robinson has said that the experience of the pandemic demonstrated the power of the three programs pooling resources.  They initiated outreach, delivering food to rooming houses and people on the street as well as helping them stay connected and offering showers, laundry, washrooms and social support.

That integration helped the programs respond and adapt quickly when a fire damaged St. Luke’s Anglican Church in October and St. Luke’s Table was displaced out of its facility in the church basement. The next day, staff were able to deliver food prepared at the Well to people who normally came to St. Luke’s Table.

The launch of the new name and logo were originally planned for fall 2022, but it was delayed as the staff pivoted to cope with the temporary loss of the St. Luke’s Table location, which will reopen after the building has been restored.

Robinson told staff at the diocese that the programs could not go back to the way they were operating before the pandemic. “We can’t if we want to be prepared for another crisis,” she said. “There are more people to help. We need to keep the channels among the three programs open so we can be flexible and move staff and resources to where they need to be. We don’t want to lose that. We want to fortify it, so we are better prepared for whatever the future holds.”

The merger extends to streamlined governance. Instead of three separate management boards Belong Ottawa will be reporting to one board composed of about nine individuals both from the Diocese and the community at large. The board, in turn, is appointed by the Community Ministries Committee of the Diocese.

-— with files from David Humphreys

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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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