Caring for Seniors
Seven Oaks is a seniors’ care facility in northeast Toronto. Like much of Toronto, this neighbourhood is multicultural. Seven Oaks reflects that diversity: several different languages are spoken there.
Seven Oaks, which is operated by the city of Toronto, employs a chaplain to provide spiritual care to the residents regardless of their religion. The chaplain relies on volunteers to offer pastoral care in different languages. In addition, religious tracts in several languages are provided to meet the needs of all residents. At Seven Oaks the chaplain is vital in alleviating the isolation that many might feel.
A few years ago, the Tamil population at Seven Oaks increased to 80 residents, among them Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. Pastoral-care volunteers for this ethnic community lived some distance from the home and had difficulty visiting often. There were no materials in the Tamil language and the chaplain had no funds to purchase any.
With a small grant from the Mission and Service Fund, worship books in the Tamil language were bought for the residents. The M&S grant also contributed to the travel costs of Tamil-language volunteers so they could visit the home.
Your gifts to the Mission and Service Fund help bring friendship and spiritual support to these seniors. Your M&S gifts are needed so we can continue caring for the elderly in many centres across Canada.
We are a united church! This week, remember in your prayers the congregations and organizations that we support in Toronto Conference.
The M&S Fund unites us across the church in doing God’s work.
© 2008 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca. Any copy must include this notice.
United Church Launches Emergency Appeal for Haiti
The United Church of Canada announced Thursday January 14th that it is launching an emergency appeal asking its congregations for donations designated for earthquake relief and reconstruction in Haiti. People see a need, and have a desire, to reach out as brothers and sisters in Christ to show compassion to those in dire need.
If anyone from our Pastoral Charge would like to make a donation you may do so through our local Pastoral Charge Outreach Program. A receipt will be issued for donations of ten dollars or more if requested. You may place your donation in an envelope marked Outreach – Haiti Appeal.
