Friday January 23, 2009

1) Congregational Forum - 'Weathering the Economic Storm' - January 25, 2009

This Sunday -- January 25 -- following the morning worship service, the monthly congregational forum will focus on "Weathering the Economic Storm", and will be led by Graeme Hepburn, who is an active member of the St. Andrew's community and a trained economist.  Come with your questions as we all seek to learn more about the troubling economic times that we are facing in the world today.

2) Robbie Burns Celebration -- Sunday January 25, 2009

Before heading off to the congregational forum, please make sure to enjoy your annual fill of highland dancing, Burns poetry, shortbread and haggis in the Great Hall.   This year marks the 250th year since Burns' birth.  To paraphrase that great Scots poet --

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae haggis, that none should eat,
And sae the Lord 'no thankit'.
 

(Which proves why ministers should not be poets.)

3) SAGA Meeting Tonight

SAGA will meet on Friday, January 23.  Pot Luck dinner starts at 6:30 pm in the Great Hall and the program starts at 7:30.  SAGA is also organizing a trip to the Pacific Mall in Markham on Saturday, January 24th to see the Chinese New Year decorations and enjoy a Dim Sum lunch (cost is approx. $10).  Contact Robert Sheng at 416-269-7828 or by email at egdown@eol.ca.  Everyone is welcome!  

4) Books for 'Out of the Cold'

Stephanie Schaeppert, who is a member of our congregation and a volunteer in the 'Out of the Cold' programme, would like to encourage everyone to bring in their used books (preferably paperback novels in good condition) for the use of our OOTC guests.  If you have books that you would like to donate, please bring them to the church and they can be sorted and distributed for the Monday night and Tuesday morning guests.

5) New members 

The congregation will be receiving new members on Sunday, February 22nd.  Introductory meetings for those interested in pursuing church membership will be held on Thursday, January 29 and/or Thursday, February 5th.  To indicate your interest, or for more information, please speak to Rev. Ingram, one of the elders, or Judy Neal in the church office.

6) Nursery Caregivers Urgently Needed!

Our nursery is growing.  St. Andrew's now has between 4 and 7 beautiful babies and wonderful toddlers on any given Sunday and, following "Leading with Care" rules, requires 2 caregivers every week.  If you enjoy the company of babies and toddlers and would be interested in spending an hour or so (on a rotational basis) reading stories, playing games, etc, please contact Barbara Sargent at barbara.a.sargent@ca.ey.com or telephone Barbara at 905.420-3100.

Your help is appreciated!

7) Online Donations

We are pleased to announce that donations to the Church, and to ministries such as the 'Out of the Cold' programme, can be made online.  To learn more, please click on the button below!

8) Thanks to the Major Donors at "A Moveable Feast 2008"

Building on the event’s success in 2007, Crystal Asher, Nicole Bergot, Tassie Cameron, Leigh Gravenor, Liz Hodgson, Cathie James, Grazyna Krupa, and Margaret Sims organized the Moveable Feast Event which was held in December, 2008.

The organizers -- both of the event and of the OOTC programme -- want to extend a very heart-felt thank you to all the people and organizations who generously donated to the success of the event.  We raised a net of $ 17,992 to benefit Out of the Cold.   (Gross Revenue was $23,318.   Thanks to the generosity of our donors, expenses were held to only $5,326, providing an amazing 77% net revenue.) While there are too many donors to name each one in this newsletter, the organizers want to recognize the contributions of some of the large donors to the event.

• Ritchies Auctioneers (www.ritchies.com) and Steven Ranger of Ritchies for donating use of Ritchies auction house space for the event and the Ritchies’ staff, especially Matt Ritches and JJ Enriques, provided invaluable assistance on the day of the event.

• Rodney Bowers – Chef and Owner of the restaurants The Rosebud (669 Queen E) and The Citizen (730 Queen E) donated all of the passed appetizers for the event.

• John Stormont – Chef and Owner of Harvest Café and Fine Foods (1856 Queen St East.) donated the Oyster and Seafood Station for the event.

• Kaelin McCowan owner and head roaster of Detour Coffee donated a coffee station and a silent auction item of fresh roasted coffee delivered for a year.

• Identica Branding & Design for design of the invitation and donation to the auction.

• Beer Barons Inc. for the donation of Weihenstephan beer for the event.

• Judy Neal of St. Andrews for all her work in ensuring auction and event payments were processed and dealing with innumerable event items both before and after the event.

• Kit Redmond for buying tickets for all her staff at RTR Media and making A Moveable Feast her company’s Christmas party.

• Photographer Andrew Sainsbury, dedicated volunteer and Out of the Cold head cook Robin Young, former Morningside producer and Out of the Cold volunteer Gloria Bishop, and Shannon McKinnon (one of event organizer’s from 2007 who helped set up the auction even though she was carrying her twins who were born later in December) for their long hours of help on the day of the event.

• For the second year in a row, the articling students from the law firm Miller Thomson LLP donated their time to volunteer at the event.

• Amazing auction items were donated by over 50 different donors, including art, books, tickets, gift certificates, one of a kind experiences and merchandise.  Special mentions go to Anse Chastenet in St. Lucia, artist Menno Krant, Food Network’s Paul Finkelstien, author Michael Ondaatje, Tatar Gallery, HBC, Medcan Clinic, Random House, restaurateur Cory Vitiello of The Harbord Room and restaurateur and sommelier Anto Potvin of The Niagara Street Café.

A huge thanks is extended to all of these wonderful partners!

9) Faces of Faith - Toshio Ushiroguchi-Pigott

Toshio is a relatively new member of our congregation, but has already become a valuable asset to the Tuesday morning 'Out of hte Cold' breakfast crew.    Please click here to read Toshio's contribution to "Faces of Faith".