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December 15, 2006
Power of prayer wins out over cash at homeless shelter
HAYLEY MICK
13/12/06, globeandmail.com
TORONTO -- For more than 30 years, the old All Saints Church has been providing a makeshift living room for people who don't have one.
On a typical day, inside the church on Dundas Street East at Sherbourne Street, hundreds of people sip free coffee, banter with friends, or plop down in a chair to catch a movie and rest weary feet.
Far less often -- on Sundays only -- there's prayer.
That's about to change. The leader of the community centre, Rev. Jeannie Loughrey, says she's bringing a more faith-based approach to the operation -- even if it means losing $143,000 in critical city funding for the daytime drop-in centre that provides shelter, food and health services to hundreds of homeless people every day.
... On Monday, two staff members were told they would soon be out of a job. Ms. Loughrey says they will be replaced with people who "have a really strong calling toward doing what they're doing as opposed to looking for a job because it matches their skill sets."
But that doesn't mean they have to be Anglican, or even Christian, she said.
In fact, the priest's current assistant, Naomi Levy, is Jewish. Ms. Levy, who calls herself an "honorary Anglican," says she'll stay on at the church after April.
Posted by Mohamed at December 15, 2006 10:52 AM