Calvary Memorial United Church

Community Partnerships

The Calvary Family Lodge

The house next to the church on Park Street that is now named The Calvary Family Lodge was once home to Calvary's minister. However, over a decade ago when it was no longer being used for that purpose, a partnership was formed with the Grand River Hospital and the Regional Cancer Centre to turn the house into a residence for folks from a distance who had to be in KW for short daily treatments. For many people as far away as Tobermory it provided a homey place to stay at an affordable cost and gave them some measure of comfort during very stressful times in their lives. Unfortunately in 2014 Grand River found it had to withdraw from the partnership.

The refugee crisis of 2016 came at a time when Calvary was seeking a new use for the lodge that would be in keeping with its missional vision. Through a partnership with the Koinonia Christian Fellowship, Calvary's former manse became home to a Syrian refugee family with six children who were grateful for the space and location it had to offer. Happily at the end of a year when the Koinonia sponsorship ended the family was ready to support itself and has now become excellent tenants in the Lodge. They have proved to be excellent tenants and a

IN MEMORY OF TRACIE KLAEHN

The congregation of Calvary Memorial was saddened this summer to learn that Tracie Klaehn passed away at home on Saturday, July 14, 2018. She was surrounded by her family, her husband, Gordon Lomoth, and her daughters, Isobel Lomoth-Klaehn and Abigail Lomoth-Klaehn. The congregation of Calvary Memorial offers sincere sympathy to each of them.

Twenty-seven years ago a Family and Children's Counselling office was established at Calvary by Tracie who, at that time, was exploring the possibility of setting up a Children's and Family Counselling practice in a church setting. She approached Calvary's minister, Karl Sievert, and then the Official Board with her vision, and soon a partnership was formed. In exchange for the use of office space in Calvary's building, Tracie provided many hours of low-cost counselling to clients from the area who could not afford the full cost of getting help in other places. Calvary will certainly miss her vital contribution to the church's Outreach Ministry

The congregation will also miss Tracie's musical talents as a flautist who, on numerous occasions over the years, provided both beautiful solo numbers as well as accompaniments to our congregational singing during services of worship. Once again Calvary was the beneficiary of both Tracie's talents and generous spirit.

We will cherish the memory of Tracie in our hearts.

Habitat for Humanity

Since the 1980s Calvary has been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity. This worldwide organization is deeply involved in providing housing for needy families in the KW area. Over the years some Calvary members have become directly involved in the construction projects, others have helped to provide food for the workers and others have continued to designate financial support to Habitat through Calvary.

Anyone interested in being directly involved in the work of Habitat for Humanity can get more information from the Being Good Neighbours Committee.

Meeting Space

One thing that non-profit organizations are constantly looking for is low-cost meeting space. Both Calvary and St. Mark's offer meeting space as part of their commitment to their neighbourhood. Since the Cherry Park area has no community centre, this hopefully helps to fill a great need for the Cherry Park Community Association.

A variety of other groups including the Buddy Choir, the Schneider Male Chorus, NA and, in the summer, a girl's group called Rocks also have made use of the church facilities.