Welcome Wednesday featuring Mini-Market (Feb. 14)

One thing our chef can reveal about next Wednesday's community lunch: there will be chocolate! It's Valentine's Day after all. The menu will be inspired by the hot sun of Mexico with a main course featuring cerdo con molle (pork with rich dark molle sauce). As always there will be a vegetarian option, and of course, plenty of dessert!
Lunch is served/ le dîner est servi/ El almuerzo está servida @12H30

The mini-market on the same day will feature a variety of fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Please see the order form attached below. Send it in to Sheila or Maurice ahead of time if you want to be sure to get the produce you want. Market is open from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bakers wanted!

Southwest is planning a bake sale on Sunday, February 18 following worship. The ladies are preparing sandwiches so you can purchase your lunch if you want to, then stock up on baked goods. We always like to try new goodies, so if you have a specialty, please consider donating a batch. Worship is from 10AM to about 11AM, sale will start around 11:30. If you need help getting your baked goods to church, contact Darlene, halfyard1960@gmail.com

Ash Wednesday

At SouthWest, we don't always do things in a traditional way. Take the lead-up to Lent, next week. In the Christian tradition, Tuesday is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday, when traditionally families ate rich, fatty foods to sort of "stock up" before the fasting of Lent. The extent of "fasting" varies among Christian groups, and often means giving up meat, or sweets, or alcohol - or all three - for the forty days leading up to Easter. In modern times we may give up things other than food: everything from cigarettes to social media.

Regardless of what you give up, the day after Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, is traditionally the first day or deprivation. I'm not sure when it started, but at SouthWest we like to do a mash-up of those two days on the Wednesday. So we invite all and sundry to enjoy pancakes and sausages in the church basement, followed by a simple celebration with ashes to officially start us on our Lenten journey. Rev. David will be back from vacation and we hope to see many of you out, weather permitting. After all, it's a SouthWest tradition!

Wednesday, February 14, pancakes at 6PM, followed by celebration.
1445 Clemenceau, Verdun

February Bingo

Our Bingo date at the beginning of January had to be cancelled due to winter weather. We're hoping for better luck this coming Saturday, February 3rd. Right now the forecast is for cold, but clear.
Cost at the door is $5, which gets you your first bingo card and a ticket for the (cash) door prize. Additional bingo cards can be bought for 50 cents. Doors open at 12:00, play begins at 1PM and refreshments are available (donations gratefully accepted). Please note that this is in the basement of the church, at 1445 rue Clemenceau in Crawford Park. Good luck!

Mini-market January 31st/ Mini-marché 31 janvier

Winter wears on, but the fresh fruits and vegetables at SouthWest's Mini-market are a colourful reminder of summer.  Visit us at the Mission next Wednesday, January 31st, between 10:30 and 3:30 and get your produce for the week, at great low prices. And for a special treat to get you through the long winter evenings, why not try some of Sheila's home baking? You can also browse in our Community Dépanneur which includes shelves of preserves and a freezer full of soups and single-serving meals. Don't forget to join us for a tasty lunch at 12:30 prepared by the Dream Team Cuisine supervised by chef Léonore. We are becoming well-known in the community for these Welcome Wednesdays.
If weather or a disability prevents you from getting out, you can still place your market order using the downloadable form below and calling or e-mailing Sheila or Maurice. 

L'hiver est long, mais les fruits et légumes frais disponibles à notre Mini-marché rapellent les couleurs de l'été. Passez nous voir mercredi prochain, le 31 janvier, entre 10H30 et 15H30 et achetez vos épiceries pour la semaine à des prix qui font sourire. Gâtez-vous en goutant des patisseries maison de Sheila. Jetez un coup d'oeil également sur notre Dépanneur communautaire, consistant d'étagères de conserves et d'un congélateur plein de soupes et de plats délicieux en portions individuelles. Et bien sûr n'oubliez pas de prendre votre place à table à 12H30 pour un dîner préparé par le Dream team cuisine sous la direction de chef Léonore. Tous les deux semaines, Mercredi m'attend à SouthWest!
Si le mauvais temps ou la mobilité réduite vous empêche d'être parmi nous, vous pouvez toutefois placer une commande en téléchargeant le formulaire ci-dessous. Les livraisons sont possibles sur le territoire de Verdun.

Breakfast Literacy

In honour of International Literacy Day (Jan. 27) we had a team of volunteers come in this morning from RECLAIM literacy. Alphabet pancakes were on the menu!

Our Breakfast Club team was delighted with the gift of a new grill from RECLAIM Literacy (Joy Fyckes, Executive Director) and Literacy Quebec (Marg Legault, Executive Director)

Our Co-manager Sheila reports, "We now have 53  children  signed up with the Breakfast Club. On average we have 40 children per day who either walk or come by bus. The kids enjoy coming very much and are well fed with most coming back for seconds. Every Wednesday we have 2 volunteers from the company VORTEX in Pointe Claire which alternate from week to week. George O’Reilly and Sue Mooney volunteer every Monday and Friday, Kathy O’Halloran generally Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Frank DeMontigny every day. "

Sheila, Sue (Co-Managers), Joy Fyckes (RECLAIM), Austen (volunteer) Frank (volunteer) and kneeling, Marg Legault (Literacy Quebec)

Frank is usually the first to arrive at the Mission in the morning and he is the one who clears the snow and/or ice making our entrance safe for kids and adults alike. Thank you Frank!

Sheila continues, "We always have fruit and yogurt for the kids and each day we serve something different such as grilled cheese, eggos, cereal, oatmeal, croissants, scrambled eggs and toast and pancakes and from time to time some surprises. The Breakfast Club gives the children a good start for a busy day."

At the end of Thursday's Literacy breakfast, each child received a loot bag from RECLAIM containing a box of alphabet Kraft Dinner, and a bag of Alpha-bits cereal, with the written message: "Breakfast time or dinner: when you practice reading you're a winner."

Meet 'n' Mix/ Méli-Mélo

The next community celebration at the Mission is on Sunday, January 28th. Along with the usual lunch and activities for the whole family, there will be a baptism this month! Join Rev. David in welcoming Madison April Lapensée, daughter of Jean-Luc Lapensée and Karyn Labrecque into our community of faith. Doors open at 12:30. All are welcome.

Living Into Right Relations with St. Columba House

Right Relations REEL Discussions

Interested in deepening your understanding of indigenous peoples and their cultures, and the obstacles we all face in building right relationship?  Join us for a new monthly series of films that will help us learn and explore.

Sunday, January 21, 2 – 5:30pm

Screening of the NFB Film “Reel Indians”

St. Columba House, 2365 Grand Trunk (Charlevoix metro)

Freewill offering to support Montreal Urban Aboriginal Health Centre; more info or to RSVP: rightrelationsqcpres@gmail.com or 514-932-6202.

Bingo !

Our Bingo games on the first Saturday of the month are world-renowned. Okay, that's a small exaggeration but they are very popular with those "in the know"! We are right back in the swing in 2018 and that means the game is on for this Saturday, January 6th.  Cost at the door is $5, which gets you your first bingo card and a ticket for the (cash) door prize. Additional bingo cards can be bought for 50 cents. Doors open at 12:00, play begins at 1PM and refreshments are available (donations gratefully accepted). Please note that this is at the church, 1445 rue Clemenceau in Crawford Park. Good luck!

And the Winners are

Congratulations to Rose and Giovanni Occhipinti, and Chynna (St-Amour) Brown, who were among the winners of baskets and goodies from the Kitchen raffle on December 20th.  Thank you to everyone who bought tickets. Thank you also to Léonore and various kitchen crews for preparing the yummy foods to raffle off, and to Kathy for putting the baskets together! A total of $462 was raised!!