Community Engagement

Formerly known as the Primate’s World Relief and Development Foundation (PWRDF), Alongside Hope is the Anglican Church of Canada’s agency for sustainable development and relief. With the support of Anglicans across Canada, Alongside Hope partners with organizations around the world and within Canada. These organizations are working to increase healthy pregnancies and births, reduce gender inequality, relieve hunger and break the cycle of poverty in the world’s most vulnerable communities. Against a backdrop of climate change, Alongside Hope strives to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. St Thomas actively supports Alongside Hope through donations and participation in events and campaigns.

Chat & Chew is the name of a monthly lunch for seniors from the parish and the broader community. Featuring a homemade lunch and entertainment which varies with the season, we provide an opportunity for fellowship around a delicious low-cost meal among parishioners, residents of Braeside House, Ellwood House, and the surrounding neighbourhood. A large number of volunteers take on tasks such as calling participants, welcoming them to the hall, cooking, baking, setting up and taking down the tables and chairs, serving the meals, cleaning up, and delivering meals. This is done with great camaraderie and humour.

Since its launch in 2020 our Community Garden has become a true campus resource! Half of our plots are parish-held, and the rest are held by neighbourhood families. The Bloom Centre for Early Learning, a nursery school located in our church building, as well as some Ellwood House residents, also hold plots. Parish members and volunteers look after the St Thomas plots, while neighborhood families look after their own. A parish member has made and donated beautiful garden signs, and others have assembled a handy} storage shed.  The garden is deliberately not fenced.

All produce from the St Thomas plots goes to the Heron Emergency Food Centre (HEFC), our local food bank. For neighborhood families holding plots, there are no fees, but a condition of plot holding is that they donate at least ten per cent of their produce to HEFC. Over the years we have delivered hundreds of kilograms of produce to HEFC.

The garden also figures importantly in the life of the parish as a place to hold ceremonies and events, including the springtime Blessing of the Seeds and Seedlings, Thanksgiving in the Fall, Lemonade on the Lawn after summertime Eucharists, and our summer Saturday Farmers’ Market.

Perhaps the garden’s biggest achievement, however, has been its visible contribution to the Alta Vista community and the strong sense of fellowship that has emerged among our gardeners! New gardeners are always welcome!

St. Thomas supports Heron Road Emergency Food Centre (HEFC) in a variety of ways: collecting non-perishable food, providing fresh vegetables from our community garden, and hosting an annual fundraising walk. Some members of the congregation volunteer at HEFC, and we also have someone who represents St. Thomas who sits on their Board.

HEFC serves food insecure people in the Alta Vista, Heron Park, Riverside Park, Hunt Club East, Playfair Park and Mooney’s Bay neighbourhoods by distributing food on a weekly basis from space in the Heron Road Community Centre. HEFC provides an emergency supply of three days worth of food, with some supplemental food provided by donations. More information about this organization can be found here: https://www.hefc.ca/

SEOCHC offers a variety of programs and services to support wellness, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations.  St. Thomas supports SEOCHC with someone who sits on their Board. You can find out more about this organization at https://www.seochc.on.ca/