Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla, and I'm sitting
down here with two folks from Trinity's congregation
to talk about something that at Trinity we call
the Care Fund. And this is a sort of ministry
that extends from Trinity's Care Ministries,
where we provide support for people experiencing
all kinds of different challenges. So we're going
to talk about what the CARE Fund specifically
is and how we use that to help serve our community.
So thank you so much for joining me, folks. Pleasure.
Yeah, so maybe I'll just get you to start by
doing a little bit of an introduction for yourself.
Yeah, do you want to start us off here? Sure.
My name is Anne, and I'm a parishioner here,
and I've been coming to Trinity for about four
years. Okay, great. Thank you. Great. My name
is Andrew. I've got two daughters and a wife,
Adrienne, and we've been attending for about
three years. Okay. Very cool. And so maybe just
starting off, really basic, what is the CARE
Fund? Sure. So the CARE Fund, I'll kick it off,
is a fund that's been established by Trinity
to really provide financial assistance to individuals
or families that have a specific financial need.
And it's not directed at just members of Trinity,
but the broader surrounding community. And it's
really meant to address a very specific need,
not a longer -term need, but to meet people.
where they're at with maybe a financial obligation
they have that they can't meet. And as you mentioned,
Kyle, it's... part of a much broader care ministry.
So, uh, we do like to think of, of, um, you know,
whether other areas within the church they can
get connected to, to, to provide broader support
and care to what they might be going through.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it is, it's part
of the care ministry. So it's, it's a financial
piece that sort of partners with, you know, like
Stephen ministry or like meal train or things
like that. Exactly. Sort of give a holistic sort
of level of care. That's right. Yeah. Okay. Um,
and. And how did the CARE Fund come about? Sure.
Trinity has a long history of benevolence where
we... as a congregation, give to people in need,
help them in times of crisis. And I think over
the years, it's been in a variety of ways, some
formal, some informal. Perhaps the longest standing
sort of benevolence ministry that I know of at
Trinity is the Christmas Wish Fund, which I think
has been going for decades, which is really a
delightful opportunity to bless people at Christmas
time when they might have some extra... Maybe
it's difficult to meet sort of the needs of the
season where you may want to buy a small gift
for your children and whatnot. So the Christmas
Wish Fund has been supporting, not supporting,
just been generously giving without strings attached,
small sums of money to people around Christmas
time. But a couple of years back. Jan and Brent
Serson, who were involved in a variety of ministries
and very aware of the particular needs of a lot
of people, suggested that we formalize additional
benevolence opportunities where we would give
to people in particular times of crisis. And
I just have to say that... giving at Trinity
in these sorts of ways has been going on for,
you know, probably as long as Trinity existed.
But to have a formal structure allowed us to
sort of pool together the church's, you know,
the collective financial resources that people
might want to use and then give that to people
in need as times of crisis have arisen. So we
make an appeal to the congregation once a year
around Christmas time. and ask that people would
give to the CARE Fund, which now includes both
the Christmas Wish as well as any of the other
opportunities that we take to give to people
throughout the year. And so with that appeal,
in the last... Three seasons, three years, we
have actually received almost $15 ,000 in generous
giving from people within the congregation. And
then we use that money throughout the year to
support both Christmas Wish as well as any of
the particular needs that arise. Right. Okay.
So it sort of started as this like... seasonal
thing right because we know obviously christmas
is a time where there's lots of financial need
and a time where people are sort of thinking
about giving generously right um but then saying
okay well people don't just have needs at christmas
right right so how do we continue to support
those needs year round exactly okay yeah Um,
so how exactly does that work? How does, yeah,
how does the care fund work? If someone has a
need, um, or like what kind of needs does it
support? How do all the pieces come together?
Yeah. So the, the, the requests come in through
a really a variety of ways. Okay. Sometimes individuals
themselves might, might come to the church or
another ministry leader might bring forth a specific
request. Um, and, and they, they come directly
into it really into the church office and the
church staff. Um, Reflect on it and find out
if there's other ways that might be better served
to meet their need. As we mentioned, there's
a lot of care offered through Trinity. If it
is a financial need, they might be addressed
right at the office. Things like meal cards,
if it's food insecurity or transportation services.
If it happens to be a larger financial need,
then that's... That's where the CARE Fund committee
comes into play, and there's four or five members
of this committee that would reflect on it, pray
over the request, and really look for ways that
we can help meet them where they're at. Unfortunately,
there's obviously a lot of need out there, so
we can't say yes to everything, but thankfully.
The church has been blessed with many generous
donors, and we've got financial resources available
where we can extend support and care and provide
that assistance that people are looking for.
Yeah. So it sounds like there's like also then
a variety of different kinds of needs and like
things that are being met through this care fund.
Right. So you mentioned like, you know, sometimes
it's like meal cards or like grocery gift cards.
Sometimes it's help with transportation. Sometimes
it's larger things. So things like, you know,
helping with rent or helping. I think we have
done like replacing like an appliance, like a
washer dryer situation. Yeah. Yeah. Like so whatever
expenses that might not be covered by someone's
plan. Right. Yeah. So a lot of extending. circumstances
that we just want to be open minded on and really
provide that holistic care. Yeah. And then you
mentioned also like the process of the committee
is sort of, you know, coming together to like.
look at you know what are the situations around
this fine this financial need and like praying
over it um but then i think sometimes people
are like oh we'll pray about that and then not
do a thing but but i think often we are we're
we're we are prayerfully thinking about how we
support people in in action right yeah it becomes
a reflective process too where you start maybe
even brainstorming thinking what other services
are available right there's a lot of support
in the community. And, uh, you know, I don't
know what they all are, but you know, the, the,
there's a lot of connectedness that, uh, we can
be thinking of either government support programs,
uh, food banks. So, um, yeah, it starts with
a request and, and hopefully through that process,
we're able to help more and more people. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. And getting them connected to some
of these other services. That's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So in the care fund so far, like
what, what has that sort of looked like? Are
some stories or examples that you can share.
Sure, I'd be happy to. So I could even mention
that over the course of the past couple years,
we have been able to give Christmas wish to about
30 different individuals or families each season.
And with respect to the specific needs that arise
throughout the year, on average, maybe about
15 individuals or families. So it's quite significant.
Yeah, per year of what we've been able to do.
And a couple interesting stories there. One family
who are newer to the country, but permanent residents,
been here several years. And one of the family
members was undergoing heart surgery. And that
member was also kind of the... key supporter
and, you know, transportation, driver, et cetera,
et cetera. And, you know, there's a lot of needs
in the family. And so for this person to be having
surgery and away, there were going to be some
significant needs that we were able to help them
with, giving some like Uber gift cards to be
able to support transportation. And food was
going to be an issue too, though they do access
community and government supports. You know,
typically we might have, well, we did suggest
that this family could make use of the meal train,
another one of our ministries here at Trinity.
But there were some significant reasons why that
wasn't going to work out very well. So in the
end, we were able to support with grocery gift
cards, right? So it's just an example of sort
of, adjusting the services that we offer according
to the need. Another interesting story, another
family that was new to the country An individual
was taking school to be the training to be a
personal support worker and doing all of her
schoolwork on her phone. And it was causing a
big commitment, right? So it was causing eye
strain and some difficulties and it was really
hard to get through. So we, you know, first we
look at other opportunities to see if there was
maybe a computer that could be gifted to her.
But in this case, we ended up giving a gift card.
that was specifically for Best Buy, and the individual
was able to buy a basic laptop and was so grateful
to be able to do her schoolwork and her studies
on the computer. And so as a result, we're really
helping people to establish themselves in life
in moments of crisis where... Like Andrew said,
we're sort of looking to help people with sort
of one -time needs or unexpected needs. And the
two stories I mentioned were people sort of new
to the country, but there's been lots of occasions,
too, where people within our community. have
come up against a crisis. And so could we support
in that moment in order to kind of get them through?
And what we found by doing this is not only does
it meet that practical need, but it gives people
hope, right? Like, you know, someone's listening
to my story and they're going to actually help
me to get through it. And that even if it doesn't.
address all of the needs that we have in life.
Just knowing that in this moment, someone was
there for me, I think it's been a powerful way.
We've heard really tangible appreciation for
what we've been able to offer here and there.
Yeah. Yeah. Because it is like, obviously the
financial support to get the practical, tangible
thing is super important to like help people
get that through, get through that moment. But
it is that like wraparound support that I think
is, is equally important. Right. Right. That
it is not just, okay, here's a laptop or here's
some food. It's like, okay, no, here's people
who care. There's people who like want to walk
with you. That's right. And I think we, Like
we talk in our sort of committee group about
how relationship is most important. And so we're
not trying to just give some money to attend
to a need. At the same time, we want to connect
people to the other ministries and opportunities
and services and supports, both within Trinity
as well as beyond. the relationship is even more
important right for sure for sure yeah and i
think that connecting people to the other systems
and support networks and that sort of thing also
sort of ties in with what you said about like
a one -time need in a crisis situation right
that it's not the care fund is not there to be
a like monthly top up right right which is totally
needed in some situations but that's just not
a thing that this fund is able to provide right
but we can connect people with food banks or
with like osap or like whatever it is that they
need to be able to get that support right yeah
it's not purely meant to be just transactional
we don't think of it just as okay here transaction
done it is about you know establishing connectiveness
and making sure that That we expand the areas
of care that people, ourselves included, look
out for different types of support throughout
our life journey. And that's the key, developing
relationships and building community in the way
we minister to one another. Yeah, for sure, for
sure. Yeah, so we've mentioned a couple of different
sort of support systems. So one, we've talked
about the meal train a couple of times. So maybe,
Andrew, can you just explain what it is? is the
meal train. Uh, sure. Yes, I can. Um, yeah, the
meal train is, is, is similar in nature of kind
of a, a, a temporary lift to a situation and
maybe someone has a new baby or they're, they're
in the hospital and, and, uh, it's a community
of, uh, people that attend Trinity that sign
up to be a part of the meal train. Um, and so
if you have, uh, a need, you'd flag it to the
office staff. And it would be directed to the
coordinator of the meal train who has a number
of volunteers that will make meals or source
meals or come up with maybe gift cards for a
meal. But another very tangible way to... to,
to, to show care and support people in a, in
a meaningful way. Yeah. Okay. So we got this
meal train. Um, I don't, I don't know that we've
mentioned it, but one of the other things that
I think comes up in the committee meetings often
is like Stephen ministry. Um, and yeah, they're
providing like counseling and peer support and
that sort of a thing. Um, but then also we do
have done some connections to like outside services
and stuff as well. Do you want to like talk about
sort of how that piece has worked? Well, it's
not uncommon that people come, with financial
need around rent, paying for their housing. And
so we have worked to become more aware of the
community and government services that are available
to help people through that. And so... You know,
we we will do what we can to connect people into
the public system so that we're not filling in
a need when in fact there's a government support
for that. And then if there's maybe a gap or
a moment of crisis that can bridge someone, then
we can try to fill in between. So that's another
area that we've tried to connect community wise.
Yeah. And I think like one of the pieces that's
really important for me and all of that is that
like it's really partly about. but like expertise
as well. Right. That like we. obviously care
that that's, that's kind of our job as Christians
just to care, but like, we can't, I don't know
how all of the social systems work. I don't know
how to get somebody housing support, like the,
or like what, even what is the best time to sort
of help people in that process. Right. But like
other people, this is their whole job. Right.
Right. And so getting them connected to those
experts. Yeah. So we've tried to actually find
some people who are experts in some of those
other areas to support us in making our decisions
well. But, you know, there may be congregational
members watching this podcast today. And if they
have expertise in some of the social issues that
are challenging for our community, then, you
know, to identify your skills to the office,
you know, that our office staff might be able
to help. Our ministry staff can help in using
your skills to identify how we can best support
people. That would be a really big help to us
as well. Yeah, for sure. So we've sort of talked
about the what, how all of this works, but why?
Why should Trinity have a care fund? What is
so important about this? Yeah, we really see
that this is an opportunity to follow. in line
with what Jesus desires of us as believers, right?
You know, scripture says that we should bear
with one another our burdens and that this fulfills
the mission that God has for us. And also, you
know, in another place it says, you know, if
someone has need and we say, be blessed, go,
you know, we'll pray for you and do nothing about
it. Well, what is that? And so, you know, that's
a really challenging statement, right? And so
again, gives us sort of an awareness that there
are needs that we can actually physically help
with. And sometimes there are many ways that
this congregation individually connects with
people in need and just... Just, you know, they
give a coat off their back. They pay for something
for the kids. They do. They help out. But there
are other times when an individual isn't connected
to someone who is in the position to help them
and they may come to the church. And so then
for the church to sort of pool our resources
together in a way that we can then collectively
support people who may not have other connections
or means, then it's actually an amazing gift.
Like it's an exciting opportunity that we have
that every year we have. resources of this congregation
to support people in our community who are in
need. It's really, it's quite exciting. It is.
And it, you know, and Jesus also says, um, if,
uh, if you do something for one of the least
of these for anyone and you do it in my name,
then you're doing it for me as well. And so that's
a real joy that we have, you know, sometimes
to see how a small gift has generously helped
someone. It's a real delight. Yeah. Yeah, for
sure. And it certainly ties into values and the
mission of Trinity, right? Values being community
and generosity. This really helps bring those
together and, you know, living like Jesus and
leading others to Jesus. I think this really
fits in well to the mission of not just Trinity,
but the broader church at large. Sure. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think, yeah, sort of like you said,
it fits so well with, Yeah, what it means to
be a follower of Jesus. That Jesus was someone
who cared for the least of these. That Jesus
was someone who saw people and was like, okay,
let me bring you along. Let me help you in whatever
situation you're in, right? And doing it with
no strings attached. Right. Jesus wasn't like,
I'll only heal you if you then become my disciple.
He was like, no, no. You need help. I will help
you. That's right. Right. And then, you know,
sure. Sometimes people came along and became
disciples. Right. But like it was. Yeah. There's
a moment of crisis. Let's like do something about
that. Yeah. Yeah. That's really what it means,
I think, to be followers of Jesus. Yeah. Which
is to say there are people that we have helped
that are not members of this congregation. Sure.
And nor is that an interest of theirs. But that's
not something that's a criteria for us. Right.
Yeah. Because, you know. they are beloved of
Jesus the same way we are and we want to help
people. Yeah. So it's a really great opportunity.
For sure. For sure. Yeah. Anything else that
sort of comes to mind for you as you think about
the like why of the care fund, like how this
connects with our mission or with our calling?
also maybe say not more about the care fund as
much as recognizing that what we're doing with
the care fund is actually an opportunity that
we all have as believers as people who want to
follow Christ so we don't have to wait for the
fund to help someone we can do it in our own
life and in our own way however if of an individual
from the congregation potentially wants to participate
with us then um they can identify potentially
someone that they know is in sort of a crisis
moment that we might be able to help with. But
also if someone is wanting to make a donation
to the fund in order to help us help more people,
you know, we, we welcome that too. You know,
that's an opportunity for people to participate,
you know, collectively in this ministry that
we have together, but also individually in their
own way and recognizing that Jesus sees it all.
Right. Yeah. Yeah, I think that just makes me
think that like the Care Fund is a particular
ministry that is like operated and managed by
particular people. But it's not the ministry
of Anne and Andrew. It is the ministry of Trinity.
Absolutely. That like as a whole church family,
we are all part of what is happening there, even
if people never know that. Right. Like most of
our congregation will never know that. we don't
even know the names and the particular stories
of all of the people who have been helped through
this. Right. But like, it's the work that we
are all doing together. And I would want the
congregation to know for those who have given
at Christmas and other times to this ministry,
that it's a really powerful impact that their,
you know, contribution is making, you know, that
the gift is really significant in the lives of
many people. So that's really appreciated. For
sure. yeah so if folks are sort of listening
and thinking you know maybe they would like support
of some kind like how how can folks learn more
about the care fund how can they get in touch
Yeah, I think the easiest way would be if you
do see a need or you yourself have a need to
bring it to a staff member or a ministry member
and someone you feel comfortable raising the
issue with, right? Because a lot of these are
deeply personal. And connecting with a staff
member is a good way to go about it because they're
going to be in touch with not only just the financial
support that might be available, but the broader
care fund ministries we have. You mentioned Stevens
Ministry, Mealtrain, because there's a wide variety
of needs. It could be emotional, spiritual, mental,
financial. So they'll be able to direct and think
through the best way forward. here um and um
yeah no i think it's phenomenal that we have
this this this this care fund and um it's it's
great to you know build awareness on it because
we we all should be sensitive to the needs around
us and ways we can minister care um is incredibly
important Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So you
mentioned sort of approaching staff members.
So I'll just say like some of the different ways
that this has sort of come to us so far is, you
know, through Sally is connected to a lot of
newcomers or to life group leaders and that sort
of thing. So, you know, if folks are in a life
group, they can go to their life group leader.
And if you are a life group leader, you can go
to Sally and she'll help sort of figure that
out or through Natalie or Rob or even through
myself sometimes, right? Like, so if you're looking
for a person, if you're looking for a name, maybe
start there. Absolutely. Yeah. Good. Well, thank
you so much, folks. I think this has been a really
helpful conversation to sort of put this out
there, to let people know this is what's happening
in our church. But also then a hopeful conversation
to think about all of the ways that as a church
family, we have been able to serve and love people
well. Yeah. So thank you for this conversation
and thank you for the work that you folks have
put into this. Pleasure. Thanks, Kelly. Delighted.
And thank you for tuning into this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. If you are part of the Trinity
family, yeah, I pray that you would consider
what are some ways that you can support other
people. Or if you are in need of support, please
reach out. We would love to be in touch with
you. And if you are outside of the Trinity family,
you can still find ways to help. And I pray that
God leads you in that as well, in whatever neighborhood
you find yourself in. And we'll see you again
next week.