Open Air Coffee Hour with Local Councillors / Café-rencontre plein air

FRANÇAIS CI-DESSOUS

This invitation comes from Marie-Andrée Mauger, one of our borough councillors. The piece of land being discussed is right up the block from the church. Come by on September 21st and have your say!

On Saturday, September 21st, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., join Sterling Downey, Luc Gagnon, and myself in the green space at the intersection of Ouimet and Clémenceau Streets in Crawford Park for an open-air coffee hour. There are plans to develop a public place in this overlooked spot which connects to Queen Elizabeth Park via a pathway. It's a forgotten jewel that needs some TLC! We'll also canvass local residents on the possibility of a "Play in the Street" initiative for Foch, Lloyd George, and Dunver Crescents. Join us to share your visions for Crawford Park. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Le samedi 21 septembre entre 13h et 15h, Sterling Downey, Luc Gagnon et moi-même vous invitons à un café-rencontre en plein air dans l’espace vert angle Ouimet et Clémenceau dans Crawford. Un projet de placette publique est envisagé dans cet espace oublié qui connecte au parc de la Reine-Élizabeth via un sentier. Un joyau de Crawford à mettre en valeur. Aussi, avec la volonté des résidents, une initiative «Jouer dans la rue» pourrait voir le jour dans les croissants Foch, Llyod-George et Dunver. Venez nous parler de vos idées et souhaits pour le secteur Crawford. Au plaisir!

Chez Doris seeks donations

As you may have heard in the news, the downtown women’s shelter Chez Doris is in dire need of donations of clothing for the growing number of homeless women who use their services. In particular, they are seeking new women’s underwear in all sizes, as well as footless leggings. They will take used clothing as long as it is clean and undamaged. The same goes for bedding.

If you have items to donate, let’s collect them in the trusty box in the church entrance (yes, the one with the Christmas wrapping!) and I will bring them to Chez Doris towards the end of September.

Amy

The History Project 1

UPDATE: Thanks to Sandra Allen and others, we think we have all the names! This was a UCW luncheon for senior members given by “junior” members, in December 1995.

Front row: Louise Smith, Myrtle Buchanan, Bunny Craig, Gladys Bush, Mary McDowall(?), Phyllis Dearn (?), Marg Bowker

Back row: Vera Leszkowicz, Agnes Ackerman, Jean Gillebrand, Hazel Long, Jean Gallup, June Pettes, Pauline Anderson, Doris Purcell, Lina Ludlow, Iris Allen.

Here at SouthWest, we have a lot of history! We can trace it all the way back to 1899 with the founding of Verdun Methodist Church. A lot of paperwork was recently sent to the National Archives, but we still have heaps of photos lying around that are not labelled. The image above just says “1995” on the back, but none of the ladies are identified. It was taken in our church hall (Crawford Park United at the time) and the matching corsages suggest the ladies were being honoured for something. With your help, I’m hoping to put names to as many faces as possible. Call or e-mail the office if you can help! 514-768-6231. southwestunited@gmail.com

Also, a few weeks back, along with an interview, I ran a wedding picture of Dorothy and Dennis Brown, with Rev. Jones at Verdun United. It seems that wedding couples were often posed in a similar way as they signed the register. The picture below recently came to light. Can anyone identify the couple? Do you have your own wedding photo to add to the collection? I’d love to hear from you.

Amy

Breakfast Club needs a stove

Having our office and Mission located in Verdun Elementary School for twelve years, we formed ties with the staff and students there, ties that remain even though we are no longer a daily presence. Our commitment to VES can be seen in the School Supplies drive undertaken this August.

The Breakfast Club program at VES was always a partnership between the school and the Mission, and we are happy that it will continue in the space. Although we are no longer there, feeding schoolchildren is still a cause the SWU congregation feels strongly about. We will continue to support the Breakfast Club as we are able.

That said, we’ve been informed that one of the two stoves the Breakfast Club uses is kaput! They are looking for a donation of a second-hand stove in working order, preferably with delivery, but that can be discussed. Their wish list also includes new or next-to-new cookie sheets.

If you or someone you know is getting rid of an old stove, please get in touch with the SouthWest office. 514 768-6231.

Thank you.

Bingo September 7th

As promised, SouthWest Bingo returns this Saturday after the summer break, and the usual suspects will be back and as competitive as ever! 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).

SouthWest Bingo takes place the first Saturday of each month. Here are upcoming dates:

September 7
October 5
November 2
December 7

School supplies: Thank you for your generosity

Once again, the SouthWest congregation has shown it may be small but its heart is big. A call to donate school supplies was answered enthusiastically over the last few weeks. On Thursday I met up with Natalie Lalonde (“Miss Natalie”) at Verdun Elementary and turned over three boxes of notebooks, duo tangs, pencils, crayons, markers, glue sticks and much more. We may no longer have the Mission in the school, but the relationship with the children and teachers of VES continues. Blessings on everyone who made this happen.

Amy

Collecting School Supplies

We are collecting school supplies to help out teachers and families at Verdun Elementary. Please leave donations in the big box at the church entrance or call the office (514) 768-6231 to arrange to drop supplies off during the week. If you’re not sure what to bring, you can never go wrong with duo tangs, pencils, large glue sticks or Crayola markers! Amy will bring everything over to VES the first week of September.

Save those milk bags!

Summerlea United Church in Lachine has an amazing ongoing project of weaving mattresses for the homeless out of plastic milk bags. Between January and June of this year they delivered 25 mattresses and five smaller seats to the Open Door Shelter on Park Avenue. Although they have a lot of groups helping them collect milk bags, they can never have enough, as it takes 450 bags to make the large mattresses and approximately 160 for the smaller cushions (that’s 12050 milk bags used in just the first half of 2019)!
The SouthWest Community can help by saving the bags whenever you buy 4 litres of milk. All brands and colours of bags are welcome, as they just make the mattresses more colourful. Drop them off on Sunday or call ahead to bring them by during the week. When we have collected a good number, Amy will deliver them to Summerlea.

Two Summerlea volunteers with a milk bag mattress.

SouthWest Stories: Dennis and Dorothy Brown

“We were introduced by his old girlfriend.”

Dorothy Brown is recalling how she met her husband Dennis, over sixty years ago. They were just kids: fifteen years old. Nevertheless, they have been together ever since.

Both grew up in Verdun, and attended Verdun High (which is currently the Champlain Adult Education Centre). Dorothy attended Verdun United Church as a teen, when her family lived around the corner on Egan. Dennis lived on Claude street until the age of ten, when the family moved to Moffat.

“I thought everybody had rats until I moved to Moffat,” he says. In his early home, “you could hear them running up and down the halls all the time.”

The happy couple, 1962.

Dennis and Dorothy – interestingly, her maiden name is also Brown - were married by Rev. Jones at VUC in 1962.

“I remember the day very well,” Dennis says. “We listened to the Alouettes game in the vestry while we waited for you.”

Dorothy admits to arriving half an hour late for her own wedding despite the short distance she had to walk. “All the neighbours were out in the street,” she says. She had to stop and talk to each one as they admired her dress and wished her well. She was 20 years old; Dennis had turned 21.

Dennis started working at Trans Canada Airlines as a mail boy, but before long had moved into purchasing. He stayed with the company as it became Air Canada, and retired as a Manager after 34 years.

Although Dennis had to travel a lot for his job, he says he rarely got a chance to visit the cities he flew into. “I saw the Eiffel tower out the window of my hotel room.” After he retired, they drove across Canada and visited “cities where I’d only ever been in airports,” Dennis says.

Having worked for an airline, Dennis still gets passes for travel. That helped them afford a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia about three years ago. They flew to Sydney, then took a Pacific Ocean cruise with stops in New Zealand, Tahiti and Bora Bora, and ending in Vancouver. A highlight, according to Dennis, was swimming with sharks and stingrays off Mo’orea, an island near Tahiti.

The couple has two daughters, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The daughters, Carolyn and Lisa, were baptized at VUC, and Dorothy attended with them for a time, but then the family moved to Lasalle and life got busy.

Dorothy worked at the Montreal Star as a clerk for five years when they were first married, then left to become a full-time mom and homemaker. She volunteered at her children’s school in the library and the lunch program, and got involved with the Girl Guides of Canada. She continued volunteering when she became a grandmother, becoming known as the “pizza lady” at their primary school.

Dorothy says it’s when she lost her mother in 1996 that she felt a strong need for a church community again. They decided to give Crawford Park United a try. At the time, Rev. Nerny was leading both the Crawford and Verdun United congregations. Within a few years he would retire and Rev. David (Lefneski) would take over both churches.

By 2005, both churches were in severe financial difficulty. Dennis by this time had taken on the responsibilities of Clerk of Session and was on the Official Board. He recalls two years of meetings, meetings, meetings before the decision was reached to merge the congregations and sell the VUC building, the larger of the two. The stained glass windows now found in the back and sides of the SouthWest sanctuary came from Verdun United. The distinctive wooden pipe organ was built specially using some of the proceeds from the sale. The choice of the name SouthWest signaled a new beginning. Dennis has continued as Clerk of Session and is still on the board – now called Church Council.

Dorothy was never an “official” member of the UCW at Crawford or SouthWest, but over the years, she always seemed to be helping out with church events, whether cooking, setting up or serving. These days, Dorothy is in charge of the church kitchen. She is hoping to bring back a once-a-month meal at the church, and maybe a Holly Tea during the Christmas season. She coordinates the Bingo that is on a break for the summer, but will be back in the fall on the first Saturday of each month.

Dorothy is not shy to say more help is needed. The congregation is getting smaller and people have less energy. She also recognizes that some may not have been made to feel welcome in the past when they tried to volunteer. Today she says, “If someone wants to help, I say, ‘pick up a cloth’! I’m never going to say no,” adding, “I also think saying thank you is important.”

Verdun Triathlon this Sunday

There will be road closures in the Crawford Park area on August 11th because of the annual Verdun Triathlon. Lasalle Boulevard will be closed from the Natatorium to Fayolle Street, and Fayolle will be closed at least up to Truman. Champlain Boulevard should be open for driving to church on Sunday. Bus routes may be disrupted. Check on stm.info.

Find out more about the event here.