From the Kitchen

Baking supplies

Certain pantry staples we use a lot of at the Mission: flour, sugar, oil, oats, etc. Because we know there will be no waste, we are able to buy them in bulk, which makes them considerably cheaper. One kilo of flour costs us as little as $1. A pretty good deal, right?

We would like you to make the most of these special prices too!

You can now pre-order flour and sugar (organic cane sugar, better for your body than the usual refined white sugar) at the same time as fresh fruit and veg from mini-market: check out the order sheet!

What other items could the Mission supply? Fresh yeast, baking powder, corn starch? Tell us, and we will try and source those products for you at the lowest possible price.

 Dishcloths wanted!

More and more kitchen activities are going on at the Mission, and we often run low on clean dishcloths and rags. If you have any at home you don't use, we would be happy to provide them with an opportunity to serve the community: we will gracefully accept your donation :)

Also needed are small Mason jars (125 ml to 500 ml), and the lids to go with them. 

 Léonore

Community Promises

As water will be poured Sunday on Simone Béatrice Gabrielle Major we will add our promises to those of God's Grace and Unconditional Love! 

Son père, Jean-François, sa mère, Geneviève, sa grande soeur Marie-Rose, sa marraine (et grand-mère), Ginette, son parrain (et Oncle), Guillaume, et la communauté SouthWest vont crier à haute voix: 

Bienvenue dans la Famille Chrétienne! Welcome to the Christian Family! 

Husking corn on Saturday morning so that we can be ready to feed those coming to Community Celebration Sunday (we call it Meet ‘n’ Mix/ Méli-mélo) is also about our promises. (See the invitation further down) It symbolizes that what we say at the baptismal font needs follow-up in practical hospitality. 

Promises are lived out in the everyday with concrete actions flavouring relationships: As we welcome all into the circle, As we swap clothes Sunday, As we sing together with joy, As we pour water on Simone...

Here's a prayer that can be sung during our actions as keepers of promises:

Draw the circle wide.

Draw it wider still.

Let this be our song, no one stands alone,

Standing side by side,

Draw the circle wide. 

(More Voices 145, Gordon Light)

Traçons un grand cercle.

Traçons le plus grand.

C’est notre seul chant,

Nul n’est solitaire,

Debout solidaires,

Traçons un grand cercle.

As community living out promises we shout: Alléluia!!

Rev. David 

It Could Happen to You!

Last year at this time, my partner bought two raffle tickets from Dawson Boys & Girls Club. One of them was the winner. The prize? Round-trip airfare for two to anywhere WestJet flies. We chose London and spent an unforgettable 10 days there last spring.

Lucky for you, Dawson is offering the same thing this year. Tickets have just gone on sale for a December 9th drawing. A $20 raffle ticket could win you the trip of a lifetime. And if it's not you, at least you'll know your money has gone to a good cause: supporting all the programs offered right here in Verdun by Dawson Boys & Girls Club.

Contact information is below. Good luck!

Amy

Repaire jeunesse Dawson Boys & Girls Club

666 avenue Woodland

Verdun, QCH4H 1V8

Renseignements / Info. 514-767-9967 #230

We're proud of our Breakfast Club!

SouthWest partners with Verdun Elelemtary School to provide Breakfast Club at VES. This fall to date 37 children have registered and the numbers grow each week. At the beginning of the school year a “shout-out” on Facebook was sent out as Breakfast Club was in need of milk and food supplies. Thank-you to Bill (102) Buchanan for your generous donation to Breakfast Club as well as support from the Verdun Community: IGA Champagne for milk (though there was a cow in Hemmingford on standby from a generous farmer! LOL),  and Bagel St. Lo for dozens of bagels. A healthy start to the morning and school year for our Breakfast Club Kids. Kudos to our co-managers, Sue and Sheila!

In Touch

SouthWest In-Touch Ministry provides an opportunity to support each other as community, as a church family and to reach out to those in need of temporary support.

In order to provide assistance, we depend on a network of volunteers who are willing to share their time and abilities to help others. If you are able to volunteer occasionally, please let us know. We are not asking for a large time commitment - drivers, talkers, listeners, cleaners, prayers, people helping people - just a commitment.  Contact Darlene.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

Celebrating Grandparents

Celebrating Grandparents

Last Sunday was Grandparents Sunday. 

I thought of my grandparents and their influence on my life, the inheritance of genetics, stories and family histories. So many grandparents have stepped into roles of support for their grandchildren. There are also many are surrogate grandparents bonded to children by unconditional love.

We call them by many names:

Big Mama and Paw-Paw, Memaw and Pop-Pop,
Grams and Poppie, Nanna and Grandpa and many more. 

Let’s give thanks for grandparents and bless them:

We bless you
for gifts of love, time and patience!
We bless you
for the sacrifices you make for us! 

For helping raise us, sharing your faith,
For praying for us and keeping a strong light shining
In a world full of darkness.

Amen.

Rev. David

Council news

SouthWest Council met on Wednesday September 13. We voted and agreed that the remaining funds of the Mission Support Grant 2016-2017 will be used to hire contractually based on available funding, a SouthWest Kitchen Coordinator. Congratulations to Léonore Pion, who has been hired untilJanuary 2018, as SouthWest Kitchen Coordinator. To continue our vision of food for the body, mind and spirit, Rev. David and a team have been diligently applying for funding, grants, and support from various organizations.

From the kitchen...

Chickpeas are one of those +++ ingredients: cheap, protein packed hence wonderfully filling, they can be tossed into any salad or casserole. Let's admit it though: there's nothing that exciting about this close-to-tasteless legume, and once you've made humus a couple of times, or thrown a handful in your veggie soup for a few weeks, you may think you're done.

Here's a decadent recipe to reconcile you with chickpeas---and with dessert time, if need be! We served this yummy healthy brownie at this week's community meal, and... let's say it went down very very well :)

Gluten and Lactose-Free Chickpea Brownies

Yields approx. 12 brownies

 Ingredients

-       375 g dark chocolate

-       100 g sugar

-       2 cups chick peas (1 can)

-       4 eggs

-       1 heaping tsp baking powder

-       1 tsp salt

-       1 Tbsp vanilla extract

-       Preheat oven to 350o F, grease baking pan(s).

-       Melt together chocolate and sugar in a double boiler.

-       Blend together all the other ingredients in food processor.

-       Mix together chick peas and melted chocolate. Transfer to baking pan, bake for 35 minutes. Do not unmold until completely cool.

News from SouthWest Kitchen

It has been a productive week in the kitchen.

From last Friday's trip to Moisson Montréal Frank and I brought back what felt like tons of peaches and blackberries. There's been a lot of simmering going on in the kitchen, and unsurprisingly there are now plenty of jars of blackberry jam and poached peaches available at our 'dépanneur'!

Also made this week: creamy (yet creamless) celery soup, $4 per liter

Meat and tomato sauce, $6 per liter

We do our best to offer members of the community good quality foods at affordable prices. Good Food Family has a great supply of frozen meats and fruits, eggs, cheese and other items. From our kitchen supplies, we can offer cheap flour and sugar---that's the magic of bulk-buying! Ask us, and we will prepare a bag for you.

Unbleached flour: $1 per kilo

Organic cane sugar: $2.50 per kilo

Do you have dishtowels you don't use?

Consider giving them a second life in our kitchen: as cooking activities are multiplying at the Mission, we need more and more.

We are also looking for the rings that go over the snap lids on Mason jars---you cannot purchase them on their own!

Léonore, Kitchen Coordinator

Gratitude

Maybe it`s the colder weather and extra blanket on my bed.

Maybe it`s the abundance of harvest in field and garden.

Maybe it`s the return to school and the end of summer.

Maybe it`s the feeling alive each precious morning

Maybe it's the loneliness and pain of many around me.

Maybe I simply choose thanksgiving over anger and scarcity, over bitterness and dismay.

I give thanks, and say this doxology of praise:

For food in a world where many walk in hunger;

for faith in a world where many walk in fear;

for friends in a world where many walk alone,

we give you humble thanks, O Lord.

(VU 551, Anonymous words)

Tu nous rassasies alors que beaucoup ont faim ;

nous tiens en la foi pour combattre les peurs ;

tu mets des amis, précieux, sur nos chemins ;

Dieu, merci du fond de nos cœurs.

(trad. David Fines, 2006)

Rev. David