Fairly Traded Coffee
Focus on Homelessness
Out of the Cold

 

 

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Fairly Traded Coffee

The church campaign for fairly traded coffee resulted in a significant increase in the number of small roasters and suppliers across Canada using Transfair / Fair TradeMark Canada beans. The Transfair/Fair TradeMark Canada logo on their coffee guarantees the consumer that the coffee has been grown by farmers who receive a fair price, who have organized themselves into democratic co-ops, and who are working towards environmentally-friendly production and processing techniques. Fair TradeMark Canada is continuing to try to persuade major supermarkets and coffee chains to stock the coffee, and your support is appreciated. It is the policy of the Board to use Fair Trade coffee at church events.

A Focus on Homelessness

In response to Goal 5 of the TSP's Remissioning Report, on expanded ministry within the community, the Mission Action and Service committee (MAS) has recommended homelessness as a focus for outreach. The Official Board has approved the MAS committee’s proposal to improve our understanding of issues related to homelessness, and to seek ways to affect public policy. The MAS undertakes to organize events and coordinate the efforts of the congregation in this regard.

Our intention is to develop strategies, in concert with community groups, that will lead to the adoption of meaningful policies at the municipal and provincial levels to respond to the needs of the homeless. In this context, the MAS committee has identified the ex-psychiatric patient and aboriginal communities as being among those in our neighbourhood who require special consideration.

An MAS task force is being formed to contact groups active with these two populations and to set up discussions. Consultations with community groups would also include feedback links to the Out Of The Cold unit at TSP, so that we may better minister to guests’ needs. TSP’s involvement in the OOTC program is responding to an urgent need, but efforts must also be directed on a broader front toward erasing homelessness. We welcome your active involvement with this work. For information, contact Marilyn Whitely or David Wurfel.

 

Out of the Cold

Position Description:  Out of the Cold Volunteer Coordinator

In early November, the Out of the Cold Program (OOTC) opens its doors to those in need of meals and shelter during the winter season. This year, the Tuesday night program is hosted by Trinity-St. Paul's United Church.

The OOTC program depends on volunteer support. From Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, we need about 100 people to prepare meals, serve them, clean up, socialize with the guests, help out with the clothing, the library, the health care, the community resource table, ... and there are many other things that we need to do at other times during the week. If you would like to get involved with one of TSP¡¯s outreach programs, we can certainly use you in the OOTC program.

An OOTC orientation program for possible volunteers will be held in October. The orientation will provide an opportunity to learn about the program in general and about the details of the various shifts. It will also provide an opportunity to sign up for specific shifts.

The central coordinating office for OOTC in Toronto runs several training sessions during the year to help volunteers deal with some of the problems that commonly arise. All Out of the Cold volunteers (and any one else who is interested) are encouraged to attend these training sessions.

Last year, our site introduced a lunch program that enabled us to give a bagged lunch to the guests as they left the shelter. All of these lunches were prepared by the First Narayever congregation, one of the seven that supports the OOTC shelter at the TSP/Bloor Street site. This year, the other six congregations are all helping out with this aspect of the program. Once a month, the Trinity-St. Paul¡¯s congregation will be responsible for making the bagged lunches for the Out of the Cold program. For those people who cannot volunteer on the Tuesday evenings when the program is being run, this is a great way to make a contribution. The lunches are simple: a couple of sandwiches, a piece of fruit and a drink; so even those with marginal culinary skills should not be shy about offering to help out with this aspect of the OOTC program.