I hope you are doing well and enjoying the changing of seasons. Here in the North End of Winnipeg the change of seasons brings some dread, especially for those who are homeless and don’t have a warm place to stay. Winnipeg winters are very cold and can be deadly for people in these situations.
I thank God that my family and I all have warm homes to go home to, and enough to eat. My biggest dread of the winter is having to move snow. I complain about it too much, but knowing people in much worse situations certainly helps me to have perspective!
FAMILY UPDATE:
Our son Ben is planning to return to school in January, and will be studying to be an Early Childhood Educator. He loves working at the Day Care he is currently at, and the beauty of this program is that he continues to work there while studying, gaining practical experience while studying the theory behind it. Hannah has returned to Hamilton to Redeemer University and is doing great there (although we miss her greatly). Owen is in Grade 12 and is enjoying his last year of school, and the benefits that go along with being in Grade 12 and being the oldest, biggest kids in the school.
Nicky and I are doing some landscaping around our home, since we had major issues with water in our basement last spring. This involves removing our beautiful large deck and gazebo and a fair amount of work. It is a large project that we aren’t really that thrilled about since the return is…just not having water in our basement…
STAFFING CHANGES
Over the last few years many employers have had a difficult time finding employees, this includes ICYA. This spring a few of us prayed for staff, as we had many unfilled positions and some were critical for our programs to continue. Since that meeting we have hired 7 new full-time staff and many summer staff, it seemed clear that God was providing for us and we are so thankful!
In my Staff Care role, this is a large addition to the team, and I pray that we will work well together to connect well with people in the North End of Winnipeg and build relationships with them.
In my role as Director of Community Ministry, we have hired two new Community Ministers. Rosemary Ellis and Carissa Penner are amazing additions to the team! Rosemary says she “grew up walking these streets” in the North End, she has experience in the sex trade and in getting out of it and out from under addiction. Rosemary has an incredible story of redemption and hope. She also has years of experience working with young people in Child and Family Services care and young adults aging out of that care.
Carissa has been a nurse for years and the last few she has been working in a Psych Ward in Selkirk. Instead of doing more physical care in this role, this job allowed her to sit with people, connect with them and help them through difficult times. She yearned to be able to do more of this, and to be able to share her faith with people along with the care. Carissa has volunteered at many different Inner City ministries and brings a strong faith and heart for people in this community.
These two are fantastic additions to the Community Ministry team, but not all news is good on the staffing front. Unfortunately, Melvina Guiboche has moved on from ICYA, so though we have gained two wonderful women to our team, we no longer have Melvina. Melvina has beautiful relationships with people and a wealth of experience and knowledge of the community including understanding what indigenous women are dealing with from personal experience. She will be greatly missed!
This leaves us with 5 Community Minister’s, plus myself which makes for a very full office!
GALA
We just had our annual fundraising gala, for the first time in 3 years! I guess I shouldn’t call it annual, although we have always had the Gala, just this time we got to do it in person. It was an incredible time to tell stories, premiere a new mini-documentary that we produced, reward some of our young people and thank the people who supported us to make this all possible. It was a very meaningful time.
REQUEST
If you are interested in supporting me financially in this ministry, you can go to the website and select my name. Whatever you are able to contribute makes a big difference and I would be so grateful to you for partnering with me in this way.