Minister's Message: Living With Emptiness

Living with Emptiness (and an empty fridge)

When I opened the door to the Self-Serve fridge/Libre Frigo yesterday, it was empty. It’s the very first time I saw people opening it to find nothing on its shelves.

We started this fridge as a way of sharing with community from our abundance. We hoped that others would bring and put into the fridge from their kitchens as well. It’s a great idea. But offering free food seems easier than educating about how we all contribute to the wider good.

Giving free food to a family in need is easier than having the conversation to actually listen to their needs, to sit across the table and hear their story. Converting to healthy choices is more difficult than accepting the status quo. What do we hear from an empty fridge? 

We affirm a vision of food for all and are grateful for all that we do. 

SouthWest is where:

-we offer a place of belonging and room at all our table gatherings
-we benefit from a professional cook and a team of volunteers in the kitchen
-we transform the donations we receive from Harvest Montréal ($19,000 in value in a year) into community meals on Wednesday and Messy Church
-we support the Mini Market as a sustainable access to fresh fruits and vegetables, at cost, for the community  

SouthWest is about community helping community. We welcome all, we offer what we can and invite all into a circle of grace, hope and love. We follow the example of Jesus in our radical hospitality. 

SouthWest is also accepting emptiness, accepting that our financial and human resources have limits. Our energies cannot be everywhere nor can we do everything. 

The empty fridge may be a gentle reminder to us that it is only in engaging in conversation our membership, adherents and those receiving our services that we will find the way forward. We need everyone contributing with monies, ideas, time, focus and a vision of a generous table. 

Let’s put what we can in the community fridge but stay focused on sustainability: building a transformative community is a costly enterprise. It needs both vison and the means to fund that vision. This is our present challenge and needs all of our help. 

In Mary's song of praise she sings:

My heart sings praises to the Lord//God has filled the hungry with good things//
God has kept the promises made to our ancestors//and showed mercy. 
(extracts from Luke 1: 46-55)

May we feel our hunger God, our emptiness, so you may fill us with good things! 

Rev. David 

Harvest Montreal: Update

A few weeks ago (March 2nd) I mentioned Harvest/ Moisson Montreal in a Blog post. Recently, we received this letter acknowledging us as a partner in the battle against food insecurity on the Island of Montreal. We are grateful to Harvest Montreal for the nearly 3000 kilograms of food representing a value of nearly $20000 that we got from them in the fiscal year from April 2017 to March 2018.
We must also acknowledge the hard work of SouthWest staff and - mostly - volunteers - who make the trip to the warehouse to collect the food, load and unload the van, sort through the food when it gets to the Mission and quickly transform anything that would otherwise go bad. 
This partnership with Moisson Montreal allows us to operate a "Self-serve" fridge and pantry, to offer prepared foods at reasonable prices through our Community depanneur, as well as keeping costs down for our weekly Community meals and Meli-Melo.

Thank you!

Mini-marché April 25 avril

Word is getting out about our Welcome Wednesdays. The more people come for the community lunch, the more produce gets sold at the Mini-market. Ordering ahead is always your best bet if you don`t want to be disappointed. Lunch is served at 12:30. The market is open from 10:30 to 3:30. Don't forget your reusable shopping bags!

Want to Join a Collective Garden?

Hello to all,

The Dawson Boys And Girls Club's ‘’Un plant de tomate à la fois’’ project would like to invite you into the garden this summer!

Sharing, meeting, learning and educating while lowering your grocery bill with wholesome, fresh, local produce is what Un plant de tomate à la fois' collective gardens are all about !

How does it work?

Each garden has an official weekly schedule when gardeners meet to work (and harvest). That way, all garden tasks and responsibilities are shared between gardeners, including watering which is done outside the time frame. No more overwhelming work for one person only, casual nice ambiance and learning opportunity included ! An animator is also present to provide proper guidance and horticultural resources. Open to all, kid friendly (accompanied by a adult).

*You may consult the location and the weekly time frames for each of our gardens in the Sign-up form bellow. You may consult it without having to complete sign-up.

Questions, or not sure of your garden choice ? Write to plant.de.tomate@gmail.com or call 514-767-9967 ext. 235. We’ll be happy to help !

TO SIGN-UP :

Sincerely ,

The Un plant de tomate à la fois team

Réal Bonneville | Coordinateur

Repaire jeunesse Dawson

666 rue Woodland, Verdun, QC H4H 1G1 carte

t: 514-767-9967 ext.235

Mini-Market April 11

Every second Wednesday you can buy fresh produce at the Mission at very competitive prices. The fruit and vegetables are delivered that morning and the market is on from 10:30AM to 3:30PM. Most items are sold by weight so you can buy as little or as much as you need. Join us next Wednesday, the 11th of April. Click on the button below to see what will be on offer this week.

Empty Bowls Fundraiser

The Mission is participating in the Empty Bowls fundraiser event organized by Maison d'entraide Saint-Paul-Émard on Saturday, April 7th.

The Mission is providing 200 bread buns to go with the soup and cheese that will be sold at Saint-Jean-de-Matha church.

The fundraiser goes like this: for $25, you buy a bowl made by a local artisan. When you come and pick it up, it's given to you with soup inside. Eat the soup, bring the bowl home. Voilà!

The Maison d'entraide St-Paul & Emard is at 6831 rue d'Aragon. The event takes place there Saturday from 11AM to 3PM.

Mini-Market March 28

Every second Wednesday you can buy fresh produce at the Mission at very competitive prices. The fruit and vegetables are delivered that morning and the market is on from 10:30AM to 3:30PM. Most items are sold by weight so you can buy as little or as much as you need. Join us next Wednesday, the 28th of March. Click on the button below to see what will be on offer this week.

Support Needed for Breakfast Club

Our Breakfast Club, which feeds about 70 Verdun Elementary School kids every school day, is short of a few items this month: orange juice (big cartons, not individual boxes), brown paper "lunch" bags, and plain Eggo waffles (or store brand). Items can be dropped off at church on Sunday, or at Meli-Melo between 12:30 and 2:30 Sunday at the Mission.

They are also still in need of volunteers. Even if you can only give your time once in a while, please contact the office to be put in touch with Breakfast Club coordination. 514-768-6231.

Minister's Message: Thanks to Harvest Montreal

I wrote a thanks this week to Geverny Hajjar and the team at Harvest Montreal/ Moisson Montréal. Geverny coordinates our monthly pickup of donated food items. We benefit from partnership with this organisation that recovers many tons of food from across Montréal that would normally find its way into a garbage dump. Each month Darlene lends the 'Silver Bullet' to Frank and Léonore who load it to the brim with meat, non-perishable foods and fresh produce. I wrote a thank-you specifically because I saw many ways these donations touched individuals, groups and our community meals.

Kitchen Dream Team Welcome Wednesday

Since the food donations were brought back last Friday this is in part what I observed:

- Children of Breakfast Club loved the ham that was served one morning! 
- Community Celebration/Méli-mélo had an abundance of food prepared by our kitchen co-ordinator and the dream team in the kitchen. The grapes and tortilla chips were a hit.
- some food baskets were delivered to seniors.
- the 'Libre Frigo' was well stocked and many families enjoyed the bread and fresh produce.
- the lemons, sausages and brussels sprouts were being transformed into tasty elements of the upcoming Welcome Wednesday meal.

Wonderful sights and sounds!! 

I wrote: « Veuillez donner ce mot de gratitude à toute l’équipe de Moisson Montréal en notre nom. Merci! »

I remember the story of the child who shared his lunch with Jesus who then blessed it to nourish thousands (John 6:1-14). Generous giving should always be appreciated and a word of thanks in in order, to donors of all kinds and in varying quantities. "Thank-you" keeps the blessing moving along.

I want to gratefully acknowledge :
- a recent gift from the Teen Haven Foundation, Verdun.
- our local Legion # 4 that continues to donate dry goods for the pantry.
- SouthWest's food drive on the first Sunday of Lent of non-perishable food, shared between the Mission and Manna food bank.

Rev.David

Sharing the Loaves and Fishes

Sharing the loaves and fishes,
You gave us an image of solidarity with the hungry, O Lord.
Sharing yourself in the bread and wine,
You called all to the table, O Lord.
Give me the hunger to be a part of the feeding
And the healing of this world.
Nourish me with your Grace,
So I may work with joy to serve your children.
Open my eyes and my heart
To recognize those in poverty
And increase my awareness
Of the structures and systems
That need to be changed
So we may all break bread together.
In your name we pray for the end of hunger.

Education for Justice (internet resource)

March Calendars: Where to Eat, Where to Cook

Once again, prepared by our partners at Verdun sans faim, here are the Food security calendars for this month. One of them shows community meals in Verdun; The other shows collective kitchens and emergency food help.