The Prodigal Trilogy

http://www.jasonhildebrand.com/prodigal_trailer.htm

You are Invited: Thrift Fashion Show!

When?
Monday, April 4th, 7pm.

Where? 
Bingeman's Park, Marshall Hall

Why is this awesome? - All proceeds go to MCC's Circle of Friends program, to help end the cycle of homelessness.  Also, you get to see your friends from Thrift and MCC strut their stuff on stage.  This will be very embarrassing for most (at least for me!), therefore, fun for you.

What else is awesome? - Everything is on sale!  You can literally buy the clothes off our backs.

How are tickets? - $20!  Consider it a donation and you won't think twice!

Also, this shirt will be on sale:




Hope to see you all there - we want to pack this place out.  Bring your friends, family, neighbours etc... it's for all ages!

It could never happen at home: Reflections on Japan.

Humanitarian aid. Relief agencies. State of emergency.  These are not things I have ever associated with modern Japan as I know it.
To be brutally honest, there's a part of me that believed that humanitarian disasters only happen in so-called 'developing countries' or places of tumult and war; places where non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have set up shop: World Vision, Oxfam... and MCC.   But a humanitarian disaster could never happen at home.  And for me, Japan is my second home - where my parents grew up, where my wonderful aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents still live, where I worked and played for three years after university.  Japan is a stable, prosperous, modern society; moreover, one that has invested more than most nations into preparing for just such disasters.

In my mind, Japan was off-limits to humanitarian crises.

And then I woke up on the morning of Friday March 11 to see on the news what we all saw.

Quietly Generous

It wasn’t until after my grandfather died that the family learned all the ways he’d helped folks. Grandpa was pretty easy going and quiet, a very gentle and fun presence in my life. During WWII he was farming full-time and hired a few of the local men that didn’t want to leave their young families, paying them with meat, milk and eggs. The farm wasn’t big enough to need any hired hands, let alone 2 or 3, but he understood wanting to avoid the war and stay home with your family.

He would occasionally stop by a family that was living hand-to-mouth a couple roads over - a single mom with a bunch of little kids to feed and clothe - and convince them to take a box of meat saying it was too much for his freezer and would just go bad. They’d be helping him out if they could use it. (One of the children remembered thinking my grandpa wasn’t very smart since he seemed to have the same problem with extra meat over and over!)

Still others had stories of loans with no interest and no repayment schedule or pressure. Questions were about how their venture was going and how the family was doing rather than when the loan would be repaid. He had a genuine interest in helping enable people look after their families.

Grandpa never talked to any of his children or grandchildren about how or why he did these things. He was a young adult when the great depression happened and he understood making do and doing without.

We weren’t surprised by what he’d done but we were surprised by the volume of stories and people whose lives had been changed by his generosity. His trust and faith in people and his interest in quietly helping improve lives is a story that lives on in our family. Thanks for your example Grandpa!

World Water Day 2011 - March 22

The Fast Flowing Current of Inequity 

“Why is it always First Nations who are made to wait and put at risk?   Why are we not treated equally; the same as everyone in Canada?”  

Deputy Chief, Gerald Mattinas, Attawapiskat First Nation

As one wades into the murkiness of ‘First Nations and Water’ in Canada, it becomes clear very quickly, that there is a problem.  Health Canada reports close to 125 First Nations across our country that continue to live with boil water advisories; toxins ingested daily through water supplies; while other First Nations are living without any sort of water treatment.

Mennonite Central Committee Ontario (MCCO) continues to paddle upstream with a number of the 28 First Nations in Ontario, one fifth of the communities in Canada, struggling with dirty water.  Much of our work over the past two decades has called MCCO into the middle of crises seeking potable water; Attawapiskat First Nation is a community in trouble, and needs our support.

It was almost a month ago today, that Attawapiskat First Nation, a remote community of over 1,300 members, produced a Press Release warning community members, and others, of the dangerously high levels of Trihalomethane, or THM, detected by Health Canada in their drinking water.  Community members were told that to drink, bathe, shower or even breathe in the steam produced by this water could have dire consequences for the health of all those in community.    

While Bill S-11, ‘An Act Respecting the Safety of Drinking Water on First Nation Lands’, has enjoyed inspiring presentations from more than 20 First Nation leaders and political bodies and water experts, it is now clear that from coast to coast, all have disagreed with Bill S-11.  While the Bill it attempts to establish a national regulatory body around drinking water for First Nations, it fails to stop ‘the dripping tap of complacency’ by not addressing matter of adequate consultation, financial and human resources; infrastructure, and source water protection.  Many are calling for a new process where First Nations are partners in the creation of any such legislation.   

Mennonite Central Committee Ontario continues to listen and advocate with First Nations, hoping the Federal Government will hear the voices of the Aboriginal community, who continue to swim this fast flowing current of inequity.  Recognize World Water Day this year by talking about the inequity of clean water in Canadian First Nations in your community, church family or work place. 

For more info, email Lyndsay: lyndsaymk@mennonitecc.on.ca

"Bill S-11 was developed in isolation.  Let us put it on hold for awhile and review it together to develop something that will work. Then, we can

further the partnership by sitting together to design the regulations."

Grand Chief Stan Louttit, Mushkegowuk Council, Senate Presentation, March 2, 2011

All Creatures Great and Small

The Animal Kingdom amazes me! Last week, I saw an owl for the first time in my life. I was walking through the trees, searching for birds, when all of a sudden, I felt two piercing yellow eyes on me. And looking up, I saw this. This little guy, a Northern Saw-Whet Owl was cozy in the cedars on my Uncle's farm.

It was a humbling experience to see such a small bird, yet with such a strong and quiet power. It almost felt wrong whipping out my camera and invading the Saw-Whet's habitat. His eyes grew wider as I drew closer. That was my cue it was time to leave and let this creature be. But for those few moments of taking in my feathered friend I was up-close and personal with God's awesome animal Kingdom. It also makes me wonder at how long this owl was watching me before I noticed him. And...what other beautiful creatures that we share Creation with do I neglect to notice?

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

- Genesis 1:21