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Previous | Next Kitchener, Ont.
Church builds bridges to community with thrift store
In my mind, it all started with a garage sale. It is amazing what God uses to guide us to help relieve poverty in our community. I always thought that churches who have ministries helping the poor had to be located in the inner city. Ours isn’t. Glencairn Mennonite Brethren Church is located in a new suburb on the outskirts of Kitchener, Ont. The “garage and bake sale” was supposed to raise money to renovate the church basement and create new Sunday school classrooms. Everyone contributed something, and there was a large turn out of buyers, but it only resulted in a modest financial success. This may have discouraged some; however, the pastor and those who worked at the various booths were excited by the number of people from the community who came and were willing to spend time in conversation with the church volunteers at the booths. The neighbourhood was introduced to the church.
A couple of years later, a group of people from the church decided it was time for another “garage sale”. They asked the members to bring in clothing and small household items. This time they did not even try to make a profit. The items were carefully arranged on tables and signs were posted on the church property advertising a “garage sale give-away”. Many people came out of curiosity. “Are they really giving stuff away?” Organizers and volunteers were touched by the number of people who came and who appeared to truly need such a service.
After a couple of more “garage sale give-aways”, organizers felt God asking them to do more. There were people in the community who were struggling financially. Although the “give-away” helped once a year, it did not help them during the year or when they needed food.
Thus, the “Bridges Store” was born. This would be a room in the church for food items and used clothing that would be open to the community once a month. A committee was created, volunteers signed up and the Food Bank affirmed the church location as a satellite food bank depot within the Kitchener area. Church members were encouraged to bring in used clothing and staple food items for the Bridges program, and the overwhelming response filled the store.
To introduce this new source of assistance, a food care package was created with the fixings for a meal and a brochure stating the hours of operation and the conditions under which the Bridges program could be accessed. These were distributed to low income apartment complexes in the community. The word spread, and people began to come.
I didn’t realize how broad the impact of Bridges was until I was asked to substitute for the church secretary one week. One of the duties was to update an address list of all the people using Bridges so that they could be sent an invitation to a turkey dinner just after Thanksgiving. The list contained over 200 families. Some were single mothers with one or two children, some were singles and a few listed up to nine people living in one apartment. Some families using Bridges were refugees from Kosovo and other countries. Some were people who had worked at factories that suddenly closed leaving them without jobs to support their families. Many of the addresses were not from the community but from several miles away on the other side of Kitchener. I was told the concept of the Bridges store was somewhat unique in the Kitchener area. In most cases, when a person called the Food Bank with a request for food, a box of food was put together and delivered to the person’s home. People who need assistance preferred to come to Bridges and choose the food items they needed. The ability to “shop” for items they wanted rather than receiving a box of standard items was worth travelling large distances, often by bus. People return to Bridges because they appreciate the respect they are given by the friendly volunteers.
A growing number of volunteers meet over 450 people who use the Bridges store when it opens twice a month. They have extended the original services to offer a supervised play area for the children, giving mothers a break to have coffee and a treat along with conversation with the volunteers. I look forward to “spring cleaning” when I comb through my closets for clothing that can be donated to Bridges. Occasionally, even people from the community who have heard about Bridges stop by during the day to donate boots, coats and other clothing. God has blessed the Bridges program, and it has truly become a bridge from our church to the community and even a bridge from the community to the community. – Marylou Burkard
December at Bridges
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December was an amazing month for the Bridges ministry. The centre was open on two Saturdays that month. From past years’ experience, we did not anticipate too many clients to access Bridges, because often other agencies like the House of Friendship have special food hamper programs available before Christmas. We wanted to meet a lot of our clientele, however, because Christmas is a great opportunity to share Christ’s love and good news.
Normally, we serve 25–28 families on any given Saturday. We served 37 families the first opening and 49 on the second opening of Bridges. Although we always order more than enough from the Food Bank, both times we got completely cleaned out.
Our coffee room was filled to capacity most of the time. We opened our doors early since the weather was extremely cold. I am always surprised about the openness of the ones that are sharing their lives with us, and it is easy to let Jesus become part of our conversations.
As a result of donations of new toys from the youth groups of the four area churches, it was my joy to give these gifts to the families. A grandmother took a longing peek at the gifts on the table and, because her kids were grown up, didn’t take one. Her adult daughter, however, asked her if she would like a toy. Her eyes lit up, and without hesitation, she nodded yes and took a stuffed animal. She hugged it to herself and wouldn’t allow anyone to put it in a bag. It seemed to me this was her gift from the Lord. Did He know perhaps that in her childhood this was her heart’s desire? – from a report by Doris Falkenburger, the Bridges Committee
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Last modified October 6, 2001.
© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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