2007 trip to Winnipeg Inner City Missions

July 2007 Youth Mission Trip

• On Saturday July 21st at around 11 am our time, 14 youth and 6 adults from Knox arrived in Winnipeg for a week of mission work with Winnipeg Inner City Missions (WICM).
• The past year this group was busy with training and orientation events and lots of fundraising activities.Each participant was paired with a Prayer Partner in the congregation to hold up and affirm the work they will be doing.

• During the summer of 2005, Knox sent a youth mission delegation to Winnipeg to serve in their native ministry at Anishinabe Fellowship Centre, part of Winnipeg Inner City Missions. The trip was a huge success and we have made some lifelong friendships with our brothers and sisters in the west. Throughout the last year we have prayed for them, sent care packages and we’ve fundraised dollars to support their wish to purchase a TV and VCR/DVD player and stand. They have been strong in their faith and God has been good to them. They have recently received funding from government sources and through the Presbyterian Church in Canada to build a community centre large enough to offer programming and resources that their community desperately needs.

Fundraising Activities

• Funds raised will go toward travel and accomodation expenses for the participants, as well as building materials, plants, soil, shrubs, and VBS materials at Flora House and Anishinabe.
• In fall of 2006, before the mission team was even finalized, Senior High students sold McMillans and Elmira poultry products to begin the fundraising activities for the trip. Knox LOGOS volunteers hosted a dinner before the January meeting of the Presbytery of Waterloo-Wellington. The meal was served LOGOS style with teens acting as “table parents” for our Presbytery guests. Proceeds of the meal were donated to the mission trip.
• The Senior High group hosted the annual Pancake Suppersupport on Shrove Tuesday and made $500 in support of the mission trip. Great pancakes!
• On March 4th Knox welcomed singer-songwriter Steve Bell for an evening concert. Youth and adult volunteers helped setup the sanctuary for the concert, ushered guests, sold tickets and CDs. It was a great event! Thank you to everyone who came ou we raised $1000.
• Pledges to the annual Senior High FAST Fri. Mar. 23 to Sat. Mar. 24, totaled over $3000. Thank you to all who supported our youth and adult volunteers with pledges, visits, and prayer support. For those of you who are not familiar with the FAST: youth participants eat their last meal at lunchtime on Friday and fast until Saturday at 4:30pm. During the FAST the youth have an pportunity to hear about world missions from youth and adult perspectives; to learn about current and past Aboriginal issues; to participate in a midnight candlelight service; play and pray together and support each other.
• Senior High also sold Easter Chocolate thank you to all who placed orders. In June they sold hotdogs and hamburgers at the annual Sunday School picnic as a fundraiser as well as helping out with events for the day.
• Ruth Millard ran two “Stamp for a Cause” fundraisers on May 9th and 10th. Participants paid $20 each for the materials and hands on instruction to make 4 different cards. Ruth runs monthly stamper nights at the church and donated her materials and time so that all proceeds would go to the mission trip.
• Reuben St. Louis held a benefit concert on June 16th that raised $900. The concert even drew in visitors who were just passing by, heard the music and came in! Reuben is a singer / songwriter as well as Youth in Mission (YIM) Co-ordinator for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. In January 2007, Reuben became the new Conference Co-ordinator for Canada Youth 2009 which is the national youth conference for the PCC.
• The final fundraiser was a car wash on Sunday July 8th. After the service the team cleaned and shined cars and vans in the church parking lot.

Prayer Shawls

• “Group C”, one of the women’s groups at Knox, contacted Rev. Margaret Mullen to arrange a special project. The Women’s Missionary Society (WMS) publishes a newsletter called Glad Tidings and in the December 2006 issue there was an article on Prayer Shawl ministry. The women in Group C decided to knit prayer shawls and/or teddy bears to send with our youth group when they go to Winnipeg in the summer.
• Concrete items such as these remind the recipients that there are people out there who care about them a great deal and want to give them something to help them. As each shawl is being made, the knitter says a prayer for the recipient even though they do not always know who might recieve it.
• Thanks to Ellen Yessis for supplying patterns and prayer sheets for the knitters. For more information about Prayer Shawl ministry, visit the website: www.shawlministry.com. The prayer shawls were dedicated on the Sunday when the mission trip participants were commissioned.

Thank you

The group thanks you for:

1. Financial support that will go to pay for building materials, supplies, and accomodations.
2. Your prayers for the planning, fundraising and other preparations.
3. Your support and encouragement during the preparations.