First†Metropolitan United Church is active in inner-city outreach through its sponsorship of The Our Place Society (formerly The Open Door Inner City Ministry and The Upper Room Society). Our Place is affiliated with the United Church of Canada as a Community Ministry, and has a long history of support from our congregation.
Our Place has been operating from its new building at 919 Pandora Street since December 2007. It is open five days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on all holidays and during the winter it provides emergency shelter at night when conditions dictate.
Services and Programs
Services and programs provided at Our Place are extensive. Transitional housing is provided to 45 residents until they can move on to more appropriate accommodations, whether it involves treatment or more independence. Meals are provided to residents and drop-in members of the inner-city family. Other services include hygiene and clothing, healthy snacks, computer access, library, medical support, counseling, literacy, choir, advocacy, recreation and pastoral care. The approach is to provide a hand-up, not a handout and "unconditional love in a non-judgmental way."
First Metropolitan provides both financial and volunteer support to Our Place, including leadership through the Board of Directors. Donations of clothing, food and toiletry articles are also much appreciated.
More information can be obtained from the Our Place office at (250) 388-7112 or from the web site at: www.ourplacesociety.com.
Our Place has been operating from its new building at 919 Pandora Street since December 2007.
First†Metropolitan United Church continues to serve over 240 roast beef dinners each month, for nine months of the year. All inner city people are welcome to our Fellowship Hall on the Friday before social assistance cheques come out.
Volunteers are always needed to help cook and serve these meals. Phone Tara Channell, (250) 385-9166 for more information or to volunteer.
Volunteers are always needed to help cook and serve these meals.
The nights are long, wrapped in a wet sleeping bag, shivering from the damp and the chill, sleep comes fitfully—five or ten minutes every hour. A tree, a park bench, a doorway… these provide some shelter but safety and warmth and not common experiences for homeless youth.
First†Metropolitan United Church is one of several venues which offers night shelter for street youths each evening from November to April. It aims to provide warm, safe shelter for homeless youths aged 16 to 25 years. The coalition includes Beacon Community Services (lead agency), Cool Aid, St. John the Divine, St. Saviours Anglican, as well as First†Metropolitan United.
Volunteers are needed in two capacities:
- to be present for an evening or a morning shift to ensure the provision of a meal, and
- to donate the soup, muffins, eggs and other ingredients that make for healthy eating.
We also launch a yearly financial appeal to ensure that we meet our commitment of $5,000 towards the operational expenses of the coalition.
To volunteer or contribute in any way, please call the site coordinators, Leslie and Bob Wilson at 250-590-4586.
Faith in Action is a group of people from many different faith communities in Greater Victoria with a shared concern for the poor and vulnerable in our society. Our focus is to advocate for BC income assistance programs and other anti-poverty initiatives that recognize the dignity and worth of all citizens. All who share this vision of a just and sharing community are welcome to join with us.
By consultation, collaboration and consensus, Faith in Action works:
- To educate our members and faith communities about the needs of the poor.
- To provide resources, forums and venues that enable persons of faith to participate in finding creative solutions to identified problems and issues.
- To engage in an on-going conversation with all levels of government about the need to humanize the policies, services and programs that assist the poor.
- To communicate what has been learned to the news media and in the public arena.
Contact Sheila Hanna at (250) 920-3662 for more information.
Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
First†Metropolitan United Church participates in KAIROS, a dynamic church-based social justice movement.
KAIROS works with its members, partners, and a cross-Canada community based network in the following areas:
- Ecological justice
- Solidarity in Canada
- Human rights and trade
- Grassroots action for global justice grounded in the local community
Visit the KAIROS in action page for program plans and annual reports. A daytime group meets monthly from 10 to 12 noon at First Metropolitan United Church on the third Thursday of the month. An evening group meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday from 7 to 9 pm at Christ Church Cathedral.
Contact Janet Gray at (250) 478-5066 for more information.
Minister of Pastoral Visitation and Outreach
Gordon Cann was born in Louisbourg, NS and graduated from Mount Allison University with a B.A. Before going on to Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax, he served as a lay preacher for a year at Grace Methodist Church, Bermuda. He has a M. Th. from Atlantic School of Theology.
Ordained by the Maritime Conference, he was settled in the Newtown-Waterford Pastoral Charge (a five point charge near Sussex, NB). He was an assistant minister at Danforth United Church (now Eastminister), Toronto and Westboro United Church, Ottawa. Then, he was minister at St. Andrew’s Norwood, Saint-Laurent (Montreal), Knox, Lower Sackville (Halifax), McDougall and Ebenezer in Edmonton. He retired in 1999 and moved to Sidney in 2003.
He is married to Ann (Morrison) and they have four children and nine grandchildren.
Between January 2007 and March 2008, he was interim Pastoral Care Minister at First†Metropolitan. He is known for his gentle sense of humour, his compassion and his dedication to the needs of our homebound members. He and Ann have been members of First†Met for five years.
For many years, Metropolitan United Church served as the home of the Metropolitan Basketball Teams. Newly renamed the First†Metropolitan United Basketball Teams, upwards of 12 to 17 teams practice weekly in the Fellowship Hall and play at a local high school. This service is an “outreach” to the community, giving neighbourhood youth an outlet of healthy activity for six to seven months of the year.
Contact Rick and Sheila Vickery at (250) 479-0164 for more information.
Also posted in For Youth | Tag(s): Activities, Sports |
Out of the Rain provides a vital service to the youth of this city who need shelter on winter nights. The team providing this outreach program Tuesday nights from November to April is looking for a food coordinator who will coordinate a weekly food roster (soup, muffins, hard-boied eggs, assorted raw vegetables and dip) with church volunteers. He/she will also recruit, as required, food contributors from outside the church and shop for food items that are purchased. To learn more about this rewarding opportunity which starts in October 2010, please contact Carol or John Newhouse at 250.598-5434 or Leslie or Bob Wilson at 250.590-4586.
