We've Been Having Fun in the Sun!
Welcome to my July Newsletter...
Hello Friends!
We are now into the heat of the Summer (literally) and I hope you are enjoying yourself, wherever that may be! The last couple of months at The Dale have been busy. I can’t wait to share with you all what we have been up to!
At the end of April, we had our first Open Stage since the Pandemic. We love Open Stage nights at The Dale - they are a time where our community gathers in a big room and people can sign up to sing, play a song, preform, or say a poem. It’s kind of like a big talent show. We have not been able to have an Open Stage since before Covid, for obvious reasons, so it was really nice to do this again and share our talents. We leave the church doors wide open, and people pop in for a listen and ask what we are up to. It is a great way to nature and build community.
As many of you know, we had our online fundraiser in May called It Takes a Village. This fundraiser took the form of a registry, where folks were invited to buy specific items that our community needs, each fitting a wide range of budgets. We also inserted a win, win, win element into the fundraiser by highlighting local restaurants, and asking people to buy meals virtually for our community (which provides us with meals and the businesses with money). It was a huge success as you all helped us raise $16,689! Thank you so much for participating!
In June, The Dale Girls travelled to Mississauga for our annual Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ) Conference. This is a chance for many churches in our denomination to gather for a business meeting, catch up, attend learning sessions, pray and worship together. We love connecting with many pastors who we have built relationship with for years, and catching up over lunch. This year The Dale was invited to have a booth where we could showcase who we are and what we do, tell people about our amazing community, and invite people to come and visit or chat with us for more information. It was so cool to be able to tell some new people about The Dale, and see some people who have known and supported us for a long time.
The rest of the Summer has been filled with art group in the garden, lots of outreach, welcoming groups of youth and their church leaders here to find out more about The Dale, gardening our plot in the Hope Community Garden, and generally just enjoying the warmth and each others company. We said goodbye to our German interns on July 3rd, and we miss them so much! We’ve also all taken turns going on short holidays and spending time with our family to rest.
Personally, things at home have been good and busy! Charlotte took the big step of getting potty trained recently, and we continue to get ready for her to start Junior Kindergarten in September. We also got a dog! An 8 month old Golden Retriever named Coco. He’s a cute handful!
Finally, my friend, co-worker, and housemate Olivia and I are doing a little fundraiser of our own RIGHT NOW! We made some art cards that are blank inside and are selling them in order to support our work here at The Dale and fundraise for our salaries. We are selling sets of four cards for $20 which can be mailed to you, or picked up locally. The fundraiser is on until Tuesday July 25th at 11:59pm. At that time we will place an order for any cards that have sold (we sold out of our initial first run of 20 sets of cards in two days!). So please contact me if you would like to purchase a set!
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” Pslam 18:16-19
Prayer Requests
As many of you have maybe heard on the news, there is a huge housing crisis in our city right now. Many cannot afford rent, especially refugees and those living in poverty with fixed income. Pray that the city steps in to make change and for those advocating.
Pray for youth groups that visit Toronto and The Dale in the Summer to see and experience Parkdale and the work we are called to here. I pray they feel welcome and have open eyes, hearts and minds to our community.
Phew! That was a long one. I could go on and on. I absolutely LOVE this part of my job, writing down what we have been doing like a journal and sharing it with all of you. We are so grateful that you’ve chosen to be part of the wider network of The Dale community and walk alongside us here. Peace to you, until next time!