Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Much-needed food bank at Calvary Baptist Church’s Grace Pascoe Care Centre open on Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m.

By REV. RUTH BARTLETT

I know, I know…it’s so cliché. But it’s so true!! What we dream, what we imagine, is far more plausible when there are others working alongside us to get it done. Without teamwork I wouldn’t be writing an article a couple of weeks after the reopening of the Grace Pascoe Care Centre (GPCC) Food Bank on May 26..

Calvary Baptist Church has been home to GPCC for decades but had to close during the pandemic. Shortly after the start of the pandemic, I was hired, and started introducing myself to other people, organizations, and churches in the neighbourhood. It was clear from those conversations that the Food Bank was a key part of the community, and the church began to contemplate how to get it going again.

Enter Community Centre 55 (CC55). I had met Debbie Visconti and Gene Domagala in my conversations. Together, with Carol Wilson and other CC55 team members, they started helping us prepare to reopen.

Meanwhile, other connections began to form. Our Annual Christmas Dinner was delivered to community members via CC55, Grant AME’s Food Bank, and other organizations. The Bluffs Food Bank reached out to us to see how they could help. One of our volunteers, attended meetings with Matthew Kellway and other community members, which resulted in ‘East Cares’. Through a classmate I connected with Christine Myles, of Myles Unlimited, who moved her operations into the church building.

CC55 continued to work with us as a church to clarify what needed to happen to reopen the Food Bank. We divided the GPCC Director position into Community Outreach Director and Food Bank Director. We were so grateful to connect with Adrienne Scott who is now our Community Outreach Director (and directing operations of the Food Bank until we have a Food Bank Director).

I don’t know whether this is your experience, but in times of stress I tend to focus inward, drawing from my own strength, instead of the shared strength of others. My faith is a huge well of strength, but part of being on a faith walk is being surrounding by a community. We draw strength from one another as we go about the work set before us.

It reminds me of a popular prayer I’ve heard in many Christian services:

“Glory to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.”

While that is true for an individual, family, faith group, or organization, how much truer is it when we team up to do the good God has in store for us? By working together, we can dream to do even more for the good of our community.

The GPCC Food Bank is open at the parking lot entrance of 72 Main St. on Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. If you are interested in the position of Food Bank Director, please email gpcc@calvary-baptist-church.ca

Rev. Ruth Bartlett is with Calvary Baptist Church on Main Street at Benlamond Avenue.

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