Community Living Toronto staff present Reverend Paul Hutchison (far right, back row) and the St. Mark’s United Church congregation their award

By: David Scott

This year’s winner of Community Living Toronto’s  “Community Partner Award” was St. Mark’s United Church in Scarborough. This Award is given to a corporation, individual, or organization that has significantly contributed to our community inclusion  efforts.

The presentation of the award took place at the church’s regular Sunday service in front of the congregation on October 15, 2017. Reverend Paul Hutchison began by welcoming Community Living Toronto staff and Brad Saunders, Chief Executive Officer to the service .

There were 7 Community Living Toronto staff present who were acknowledged by Brad and Reverend Paul for their involvement in making the collaboration with St. Mark’s a tremendous success.

Our partnership with St. Mark’s began in 2008 with the “Circle of Friends” program, which has provided individuals an opportunity to expand their social networks and build meaningful relationships with their peers and members of the community for no charge.  St. Mark’s graciously offered us kitchen space to run cooking classes, which eventually became known as the Holy Chefs cooking program. This program  continues to run three times a year!

The church also has hired the cooking group on several occasions to cater lunches and events!

A Relaxation Group was later established and takes place in the sanctuary every Wednesday. This activity offers individuals the chance to relax, do yoga, practice breathing exercises and talk about worries and anxieties. These types of programs are so very important in helping people to express their feelings. In addition to these programs, some of the individuals can often be found at one of the many holiday parties, movie nights or community yard sales here at St. Mark’s, where they are welcomed, respected and included in the congregation.

One funny thing mentioned by Reverend Paul during the presentation was that Terry Dixon, who was the staff that initially ran the groups at St. Mark’s, had a participant attend the cooking course whose name was also Terry. Reverend Paul referred to the staff Terry as Terry 1 and the participant as  Terry 2. One day the cooking class was helping bring up boxes in preparation of the upcoming church yard sale. Reverend Paul was going down the stairs as Terry 2 was going up. He commented “Great job, Terry 2”, at which point Terry responded “Thanks, Reverend 1”.

Community Living Toronto could simply not do the type of work that they do without the unwavering support of Community Partners like St. Mark’s United Church. As well as supporting Warden Woods SWACA, St. Mark’s has also contributed to Scarborough Council activities. They generously contribute gift cards as prizes for the Bingo Bowling Extravaganza fundraiser. Kathy Lisle is on the Scarborough Region Council as well as a member of St. Mark’s and is an important link between the two organizations.

Reverend Paul, in his address to the congregation, reaffirmed their commitment to offering a safe, inclusive space for the people we support, and are willing to expand their partnership with us whenever and wherever possible.

Congratulations to Reverend Paul Hutchison and the entire congregation of St. Mark’s United Church in  being this year’s recipient of  Community Living Toronto’s Community Partner of the Year award!