Where does my money go?
Some goes to Outreach. St Timothy's supports or has supported several outreach projects. Here are a few.
STOP 103 is a neighbourhood food centre located in Davenport West, a Toronto community that struggles with hunger, high unemployment and homelessness. STOP 103 provides programs and services that address hunger and poverty. Their programs build on the existing strengths of the community and encourage people to find a voice on the issues that matter most to them. St Timothy's collects food regularly for the food bank, and provides some financial assistance.
Moorelands Camp works with children and youth who live in poverty in Toronto to develop their self-esteem and life skills, and to assist them to become responsible members of the community. This is achieved through a summer wilderness experience at Moorelands Camp and year-round support in a variety of city programs. St Timothy's has raised funds to build a cabin, and provides camp kits for children each year. At Christmas, gifts are provided for needy families.
St George House provides a safe, supportive environment for people living with schizophrenia. St Timothy's provides a dinner once a month, and brings gifts for Christmas.
Each year our Outreach Committee makes donations to a variety of charities. A significant portion of the money we pay to the Diocese in our annual allotment (about 20% of our budget) goes to support outreach work in our diocese and beyond.
Some money goes to support work in the Parish.
Children: Money from our budget supports the materials needed for our Church School, Nursery, two youth groups, our junior choir, as well as our children's festivals on holy days.
Crisis ministry: Caring for people in the time of their greatest needs is one of the most important things that we do as a church. Our clergy respond to the needs as they arise.
Worship: Jesus calls us to love God and to love our neighbours. It is in our worship that we experience our love for God, and find our own hearts transformed that we might truly love our neighbours. Therefore, our worship services receive a lot of attention from staff, in careful preparation of sermons, worship materials, and music. We want our worship services to set the stage for people to be touched by God.
Music: Our music program is an integral part of our worship experience. As our music program grows, we want to make this an important part of our outreach into the community, providing an opportunity both in training in singing and in worship. We have recently taken a major step in expanding our music program, increasing the music staff to include both a choir director and an organist.
Diocese: St Timothy's is a part of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto (www.toronto.anglican.ca). Our financial support to the Diocese enables ministry from inner city to rural, in prisons and hospitals, among the poor and the wealthy, in Canada and around the world.
Maintenance of the building: While our first aim with our buildings is to provide a place where we can gather for worship and Christian fellowship, we also provide a valuable resource to our community for non-profit groups such as the Guiding and Scouting movements, and self help groups. Our building is also used by other Christian groups-St John's Romanian Orthodox Church, and a community young adult Bible Study. We are pleased to be a valuable community resource. Cleaning and maintenance thus becomes an important part in sustaining this.