On June 10, 2015, Emily Wall, Project Manager for the Anglican Foundation of Canada contacted diocesan communications to let us know that the Parish of St. Agnes, North Vancouver had been confirmed to receive a $15,000 grant to upgrade their kitchen. Specifically, this grant is to aid the Senior’s Lunch prepared and served by Sharing Abundance, a compassionate service food ministry with oversight provided by St. Agnes’ deacon, the Reverend Lizz Lindsay and her partner in the ministry, Bette Geddes.
The monthly Senior’s Lunch serves between 30 and 50 restaurant quality lunches. It isn’t just food for the body as often there are speakers scheduled offering interesting addresses on a variety of topics. The most well-attended luncheon of the year is the Christmas lunch which features a Christmas Carol sing-a-long. The Reverend Stephen Muir, rector of St. Agnes' anticipates that Sharing Abundance will be one of the main users of the renovated kitchen. According to Rev. Lizz Lindsay, Sharing Abundance currently supports: a Community Kitchen at St. Hilda’s, Sechelt; Weekly Community Meals at North Lonsdale United (dinner on Tuesdays), West Vancouver Baptist (dinner on Thursdays), Branch 118 Lonsdale Legion (lunch on Wednesdays); Senior’s Monthly Lunches at St. John the Evangelist, North Vancouver (first Friday), St. Agnes' (third Friday).
St. Agnes’ grant processed through the proper channels with the initial request made to Diocesan Council in March, 2015. Council endorsed the proposal and sent it to the Anglican Foundation to meet the April 1, deadline.
The kitchen upgrade project is an ambitious one. The current kitchen is 20 years old and in need of extensive repair and upgrade due to the heavy use it receives from church functions, community groups, and the aforementioned Sharing Abundance food outreach ministry. The design stage has required significant community and outside professional involvement, including: all members of parish council, Rev. Lizz Lindsay and Bette Geddes of Sharing Abundance, consultations with two general contractors and an electrician, in addition to information received from the sales staff of a number of kitchen equipment supply companies
The plan is to gut the existing kitchen and replace the appliances. All work surfaces will be stainless steel for ease of cleaning. The two consumer electric ovens will be replaced with a commercial quality gas range. The dishwasher will be replaced with a pass-through model to reduce risk of injury due to lifting and bending. The flooring will be commercial grade non-slip material. The kitchen upgrade project has already received donation of a double convection oven and a large commercial kitchen refrigerator.
The St. Agnes' kitchen renovation planning team initially hoped to do the work in the summer of 2015, but a Parish Council decision in early June 2015, has delayed work for a year to provide more time to sort out the finances and give the congregation time to become familiar with the plan, and also make donations supporting the project. St Agnes' has a building fund, and that fund will match every dollar pledged to the kitchen upgrade project which is currently estimated at $60,000. According to Rev. Muir this method of fundraising has worked very well in the past.
In terms of seeking funding the St. Agnes' team is hard at work. They were turned down last year for a New Horizons Government of Canada grant, but have recently been advised of this year’s July 10 deadline, so they will assemble another grant application for $25,000. They are also applying for Canada 150 funding. If all this funding is approved they can afford to replace the flooring in the Parish Hall with a durable material made from recycled rubber. Currently similar flooring is in place in the bottom floor daycare and according to Rev. Muir “ it’s great – easy to clean and looks good”. With more funding they may be able to proceed with upgrading the washrooms so that they meet modern accessibility standards.
If the funding is in place there is a possibility of doing the renos in December of 2015, however, that’s not the best time to engage contractors and organize permits and inspections. The hall and kitchen area are heavily booked 10 months of the year so July/August will remain the window for renovations with completion tentatively planned for September 2016.
The first Senior’s Lunch at St. Agnes following the news about the grant was Friday, June 19. The Sharing Abundance team served a delicious New York strip steak sandwich with sautéed mushrooms and an Iceberg lettuce and blue cheese salad followed by cherry cheesecake. It was an absolutely glorious day but despite the weather there were approximately 50 people present to enjoy the meal.
Following lunch, the group were treated to a forty minute presentation by diocesan Director of Stewardship and Planned Giving about one of his life’s passions and that is the support of the Church in El Salvador as a member of the board of Foundation Cristosal and the charitable work that his home parish of St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale continues to do in that country.