News

January News…

We’re in full swing these days, with a collective kitchen starting up in just a few weeks… 5 meals for 5 bucks. I know it sounds too good to be true but I promise you it’s not! Also, if you are interested in getting your Food Safe Handling certificate, please let Michele know and we will sign you up for February 1.

And our Neechi Pop Fridays. Oh my goodness, if you’ve never had one of Calvin’s Neechi Pops, you’ve got to come down to get one. If you can pay $5, great. If not, we share anyway!

Vanessa is going to lead us in dream catcher making one of these days, so check for the sign up sheet, and Celindy is almost always beading and welcomes some company.

If you have a skill you’d like to share, let Michele know and we’ll see what we can do about it!

Coming up in February, on the 9th, we’re going to decorate Valentine’s cookies in the afternoon. You can take home what you decorate, and we’d love to see you! A Diabetes Sharing Circle is also starting up with Nurse Rhonda. Just talk to Wanda if you are interested.

The Worship Circle is held every Thursday at 11 am and please be assured, everyone is welcome to the worship circle.

In Memorium

The Indian Family Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba suffered a double blow this past autumn when the community lost both her executive director and her administrator to cancer just one month apart from each other.

The Indian Family Centre is a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church and has been a mainstay and a haven for many of the residents of Selkirk Avenue, a street known as much for violence and substance abuse as it is for its long history as a starting place for immigrants new to Canada and Aboriginal people moving from the reserve to the city.

People come to the Centre in search of a phone, a cup of tea, a listening ear. They find a gentle spirit, a welcoming atmosphere, and the still, small voice of God offering love and compassion.

“The Centre has always been about presence,” says Henk DeBruyn, the founding pastor and director. “In this area, anyone can find free clothes or a hot meal, but what people need is the gift of presence, a willingness to simply be.”

Both Jeanet Sybenga and Brenda MacLean offered their love and presence without reserve. Jeanet first came to the Indian Family Centre over ten years ago after serving at another inner city organization in Winnipeg. Tremendously gifted as a pastor and shepherd, her gentleness allowed people to open up and find hope and healing. At her memorial service, Chief Justice Murray Sinclair who is leading Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission looking into the abuses suffered by Aboriginal people within residential schools said that the Indian Family Centre embodied the work of the commission, and was in fact a place of truth and reconciliation.

Brenda MacLean was a direct descendant of Joseph Brant and also traced her history from the African slaves in the USA. She had worked at the Centre for just over 4 years. She was an excellent counterpart to Jeanet. Her outspoken manner and her passion for the community she lived in were evident to everyone who came through the doors. Brenda never minced words or put something delicately. She told it like it was, and called people to live to their fullest potential as they were intended to by God.

Both women served on various community groups and embodied the proverb, “when the righteous flourish the city rejoices.” When they noticed that most of the celebrations for Canada’s National Aboriginal Day excluded the poorest and most troubled residents of their neighborhood, they spearheaded celebrations that included everyone regardless of their station in life.

In any community, the loss of two key leaders would be devastating, and this has been the case at the Indian Family Centre. It has indeed been a time to mourn. However, the community members recognize that both women would have wanted their work at the Centre to carry on. They remained vitally interested in the people and the events in the neighborhood right up until the end of their lives, and they called on others to take up the challenge so that life and hope could continue to flourish within the ministry of the Indian Family Centre.