Christ Church Cathedral
168 Church St
Fredericton NB E3B 4C9
March 26, 2020
80 Hayden Street, Toronto ON M4Y 3G2
866-308-7973 pwrdf. org
Dear Friends of PWRDF,
On behalf of the Board, staff and partners of The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), I would like to extend our thanks for the recent generous donation of $13,957.50 from your church.
Your gift supports the work of PWRDF and its partners in preventive health, mother and child wellness, food security and nutrition, clean water and sanitation, Indigenous language and cultural reclamation, economic empowerment, and emergency humanitarian relief both here at home in Canada and in more than thirty countries around the world. For over 60 years PWRDF has worked to improve the lives of marginalized people around the world through development programs and relief efforts. We could not achieve the results and successes and helped so many without the generous support of our caring donors like you.
Thank you again for your support for the work of PWRDF and our vision of creating a truly just, healthy and peaceful world.
I am writing to update you about the status of the school and to request your prayers and support as Bishop McAllister School and Seminary face their greatest threat in my 23 years here.
On March 18th all schools in Uganda were abruptly closed due to COVID 19 for a period of 30 days. After several extensions, all schools in Uganda were closed indefinitely. It is now unlikely that we shall reopen before February 2021.
When we closed in March we suffered a loss of $15,600 USD in unremitted fees and an additional $8,200 already spent on food that had to be given away. While this was an enormous loss to us (about 7% of our annual operating budget), we hoped to be able to survive assuming that we would collect fees for the second and third terms of this year. Now as we face losing the entire year of fees the financial challenges on several fronts could jeopardize our entire ministry. Our teaching and non teaching staff have remained unpaid for three months and could remain without any income until February 2021. The school continues to have a basic operating staff, security, grounds keepers etc, and there are bills mounting each day that we are closed. Our annual operating budget is based solely on the collection of school fees, of which 27% comes from sponsorship. We are in need of funds to maintain and secure our property and facilities, to provide some small support to our teaching staff whom we will need on reopening and to make sure that we have funds at opening to purchase food and other necessities for a boarding school of 750 students.
With the encouragement of leaders and supporters in both Canada and the USA I am launching an Appeal, BMCK 2020. I know many churches and individuals are facing financial constraints just now, and I would not ever suggest christians should divert their support from their local churches, but only appeal to those who are able to support this one time effort. My target would be to raise $40,000 USD. $20,000 would be to cover current operating costs, including the maintenance of the schools property and buildings, and ensure the school was ready to open smoothly with food and other necessities unhand as soon as we are given permission to open. The additional $20,000 would be allocated for teachers and non teaching staff, providing them with a small living allowance per month. Gifts may be sent for BMCK to the Diocese of Fredericton. Lastly, the other way of keeping Bishop McAllister College stable is by supporting the student sponsorship program. This important program not only provides needy students an opportunity to go to school, but also provides a certain amount of financial stability for the school. Currently we more than 30 students enrolled in their first year who are seeking assistance. Many of these may be forced to drop out when school resumes, a negative impact both for the young student as well as the school.
I am so grateful for your partnership in this work, for our hundreds of successful graduates who are serving in all walks of life (priests, teachers, doctors, lawyers, including several working internationally in the field of computer engineering), for the Child Sponsorship Programme and for our able and loyal staff. We have grown from a small two room to a two stream school know in the province and country for our excellence in morals, discipline, teaching, sports and music thanks to God’s grace and provision.
COVID-19 has had devastating effects which, unfortunately, have had an impact on our diocesan fundraising campaign to buy and equip a mobile medical clinic for our companion diocese in Ho, Ghana.
What began in early 2020 as a solid plan to fundraise here and access Rotary Club funding for this $268,000 (CDN) international project has been stalled by the inability to hold fundraising events in the diocese as a result of the pandemic, and a run on Rotary funding for COVID-related projects.
Yet the people of the Diocese of Ho still have little or no health care. We heard recently from health care workers in Ho that there is little help, limited testing, and incomplete statistics to add to the international database of cases. But the virus has not spared the region, and people are understandably fearful and desperate.
Our Companion Diocese Committee has reworked the application to Rotary and, thanks be to God, it has been submitted. In the meantime, we must raise a good deal more money than we originally planned. We need $93,000, but the good news is we have already received $31,000 in donations — from the generosity of parishioners and parishes here, and a good many kind people in Grand Manan, where Companion Diocese chair Robbie Griffin has been unceasing in his efforts to get this project off the ground.
The need for this mobile medical clinic is great and the hand of God is surely on it. In January, Robbie, Cheryl Jacobs (chair of the spiritual development team and my secretary) and Lilian Ketch (Mothers’ Union member) visited Ho on a fact-finding mission. They did a needs assessment, asking 14 different communities in the rural area of the Volta and Oti regions how their communities could be best improved. They met with teachers, parent groups and church groups. In every community, the primary need was health care.
But near the end of the trip, the group was dismayed. It seemed all the pieces were not fitting together. Then, suddenly, everything fell into place — attitudes changed, answers were provided and support offered. Now again, with this pandemic, when it seemed all was lost, money continued to trickle in, and Rotary opened up new grant opportunities. We, the Companion Diocese Committee, truly feel God is pushing this project ahead, and we must do our best to see it to fruition.
What I am asking is that you consider a donation to this most worthy cause. It’s not for us. We are well cared for. It’s for the two million people in the Diocese of Ho who enjoy virtually none of the health care services we do here at home.
To donate, click this link and choose Diocese of Ho Mobile Medical Clinic from the drop-down menu. E-transfers are also accepted: send to this e-mail: [email protected] . Or you can mail a cheque to the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton, 115 Church St., Fredericton, E3B 4C8. In all cases, be sure to note the project: Diocese of Ho Mobile Medical Clinic. Tax receipts are available.
I appreciate your attention and time to this appeal. May God bless you as you consider this request.
Sincerely,
The Rt. Rev. David Edwards
Bishop of Fredericton
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3-5, NIV)
We give all glory and honour to the Lord for your partnering with us. Without your support and especially your prayers, our ministry would never have been possible or impact our generation. We give our heartfelt special thanks to all of you for your sacrificial giving.
Emmanuel Community Kitchen Project (Soup Kitchen)
dav
Yes, in response to the effect of the pandemic, we are cooking for about 200 people. Every other week we cook for the congregation at Emmanuel Church and the people who work at the dump. In between, we cook for other people in need around Coxen Hole.
sdr
A website has been set up to publish the progress of the project and collect financial donations for food. It is capable of taking not only single donations but recurring donations as well. It will also be linked to our blog. To see weekly updates and support this project please go to: www.tttfmicro.com
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Please click on the link to see a small video of the project.
Please pray that all the resources will be obtained and any obstacles overcome to establish this project for the benefit of individuals and families on the Bay Islands who are impacted by Covid 19.
Impact of Covid 19
We continue to face Covid 19. To update you on Honduras, at the moment we have 18,082 cases, 479 deaths and 1,875 people who have recovered.
We in Roatán have 108 cases confirmed at the moment, 3 who have recove and we are expecting more confirmations in the next few days. These cases are located all over the island of Roatan.
The authorities are very concerned about the increase of cases, and at this point are calling for help from other countries. Here is the information if a Doctor or Nurse is willing to come to support Roatan.
By Amy Eader Beasley
Want to come to Roatan for diving or fishing? The island is requesting help from doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, from around the world, who have (preferably) experience with COVID-19 and are willing to volunteer their services. Please complete this form and you will be contacted: https://forms.gle/ja8CtoHGA1Dx3JgaA Housing will be provided at a resort for volunteers. And we will take any volunteers that come through this post diving and/or fishing on Maxina (with proper biosecurity measures) on your down days.
Roatan Emmanuel Episcopal Church
At Emmanuel Episcopal/Anglican Church we continue to be closed.
We hope we can open our building soon, but the most important thing is to do it safely, according to the government regulations and those of our Diocesan Bishop and his team in the Episcopal Church in Honduras.
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Please pray that we can continue to be safe from the Covid 19 virus, and we pray the same for all of you.
Projects at Emmanuel Church
Just before the pandemic arrived in Honduras, we had started with the stucco of a side wall of the church, a small project that we had to stop due to government regulations. A few weeks ago we resumed work on it in order to finish the project and most importantly give some work to two or three people so that they could put bread on their table.
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sdr
However, we will not be able to continue for long, since the resources we have are very few. We pray that God will provide the necessary resources for small projects and in this way provide a little work to some of the members of the Church.
If you as a person or as a Parish would like to help people with work, we have some small projects that we can develop at Emmanuel Church. Please contact us at: revnelsonmejia@yahoo.com
“To God Be The Glory!” While 2020 may not have turned out to be the year we anticipated, much was accomplished in 2019, for which we are greatly appreciative. While the Library was our biggest accomplishment, much progress was made in other areas. The Dining Hall, a project started over 15 years ago was finally…
Christ Church Cathedral
