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Outreach Projects

Our Church is a community of people called to love, honour, worship and serve God. We invite others to share our Christian Journey as we prepare to be an effective ministry in our City and the World by actively reaching out in love and concern to meet the needs of our neighbours in our church family, in our community, and beyond.

Outreach Projects

• Our Place Society
• Inner City Dinner
• Kairos
• Faith in Action
• Aboriginal Issues
• First†Metropolitan United Basketball
• Out of the Rain Night Shelter
• George Pringle Memorial Camp
• Soroti Project
• Angel Gift Project

Our Place

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 9am to 5pm, on all holidays and during the winter of 2008/09 it will provide emergency shelter at night when conditions dictate.

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.

Inner City Dinner

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, 385-9166 for more information or to volunteer.

Volunteers are always needed to help cook and serve these meals.

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

First†Metropolitan United Church participates in this national group of volunteers facilitating community education and action toward world justice. Telephone Janet Gray, the contact person, at 478-5066.

Faith In Action (FIA)

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. Telephone Sheila Hanna at 920-3662.

Aboriginal Issues

In response to the revelations brought about by residential school litigations and in support of Aboriginals in their quest for acceptance and justice, this group offers education through workshops, literature and times for questions-and-answers in those issues currently facing our First Nations. Interested? Phone Helen Mackay at 656-9415.

First†Metropolitan United Basketball

For many years, Metropolitan 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. Rick and Sheila Vickery at (250) 479-0164 for more information.

Out of the Rain Night Shelter

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:

1. to be present for an evening or a morning shift to ensure the provision of a meal, and
2. 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 phone Carol Fedrau-Ens and Ron Hunter at 920-0149.

George Pringle Memorial Camp

The camp provides opportunities for children, youth, adults and families to experience a closer relationship to God, themselves, other people and the natural world in a Christian setting.

There were two George Pringles, father and son, and both United Church ministers. George Sr. was a much-loved preacher in the Yukon, on the coastal mission boats and ministered in various churches including Centennial United here in Victoria. George Jr. was a champion athlete while at UBC and served as a minister in the Okanogan for a time but was tragically killed in 1943 while serving as a navigator with the RCAF.

When Victoria Presbytery established a church camp in 1950, they named it in honour of these men. The property is 18 acres (7.3 ha) of woodland and sheltered waterfront on Shawnigan Lake, 45 minutes north of Victoria. Facilities include winterized accommodation, a meeting space, kitchen and dining hall, a nature trail, an outdoor chapel plus a boathouse and wharf. The camp relies on the support of its volunteers for semi-annual spring clean-ups, for undertaking specific projects and for financial contributions.

The popular CREW program in the summer is for ages 14 through 16; there are several ADULT CAMPS including a Family Camp, a Parent and Child Camp and Prime Time for seniors in the fall, which offers a week of recreation and spiritual growth in a relaxing setting. In addition, the Campsite is available to groups and seminars year round in the off-season. For more information, phone 472-6877.

Soroti Project

The Soroti Project was founded in 2005 by volunteer nurses, two of whom were from Victoria. They had gone to Uganda where rebel forces were fighting, resulting in large numbers of internally displaced persons who were in need of medical care. A clinic was established in Soroti, about five hours from Kampala.

The medical clinic thrived, with a variety of services being provided to those who had difficulty getting treatment in local hospitals. The staff grew in number and was able to deal with a wide range of medical needs.

First Metropolitan saw an opportunity to help with this project by entering into an arrangement with a local thrift store. Church members volunteered at the store and a portion of sales revenues was contributed to the project. Funds were also raised though other church activities.

The project continued until July 2008, when the founding nurses decided to transfer responsibility to a relief agency, the International Midwife Assistance, operating out of Boulder, Colorado, the home city of one of the nurses. This was deemed appropriate as the project had grown too large for a small group to sustain, and it was felt that this arrangement would ensure continued service for those in need.

Donations in Canada can still be made through Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, one of the partner agencies supporting this project. Information is available on the web at: http://www.cpar.ca/. Donations should be mailed to:

Please annotate your cheque "Soroti Medical Clinic".

Angel Gift Project

First†Metropolitan participates in a project of the Victoria Presbytery to collect personalized gifts and greetings for over 910 members of the Inner City family each Christmas. Last year 95 gifts were contributed by members of this church. For more information, contact Dawn Williamson, Our Place Coordinator or Penny Bond, First Metropolitan Coordinator at 384-2538.