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The present chair of the Missions
Committee is Margaret Miller, with
Karen Doherty as vice chair and
about half a dozen other members.
The committee meets approximately
monthly and distributes
approximately $48,000 to
people who need support both
locally and around the world.
One initiative of the Missions
Committee is our annual Ten Thousand
Villages International Craft Sale.
This is a once-a-year event, held
under the auspices of the Ten
Thousand Villages organization of
the Mennonite Central Committee. We
just had our 6th such event and
raised over $6,200 for the Ottawa
Ten Thousand Villages, most of which
goes to the artisans who make the
crafts for our enjoyment, and $742
going to the Stephen Lewis
Foundation through the Deep River
Grannies to help those grannies in
Africa supporting children with
AIDS.
In 2005 there was an extraordinary
initiative for Missions. As a result
of an extensive Miracle Sunday
campaign, a large sum of money was
raised for several purposes. One of
these was to provide strong support,
in the form of an approximately
$20,000 start up fund to a
community-based AIDS orphan support
program in Malawi, through the
auspices of the Presbyterian World
Service and Development Fund, of the
Presbyterian Church in Canada.
The Committee continues to receive
pleas for help in many places around
the world and we as a congregation
strive to do we what we can for
these people, while maintaining the
needed support to ensure the
continuation of our own church
community.
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