New church hall in Cambridge-Narrows
a labour of love for the ACW
Rosalie Brown, a summer resident in the Parish of Cambridge and Waterborough, muses on the Church of the Good Shepherd branch of the ACW in Cambridge-Narrows.
Members of the ACW group in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Cambridge-Narrows, have recently undertaken an enormous project for such a very small group. A few years ago they decided they needed a small hall attached to the church with badly needed bathroom facilities as well as meeting space. They got some plans drawn up, realized what they planned was too big and expensive, so they downsized.
They raised some money, got some donations and a bequest then a
little more came from other sources. When they were within $50,000 of their goal, the borrowed from within the parish and started construction. The hall was completed and in use by last spring.
In the summer Debbie Kantor organized an area-wide Vacation Bible School for the first time in four years. In the past this was held in the nearby municipal building, but the church finally had its own hall available for such activities. More than 30 children attended.
“In the spirit of the Nicodemus Project of parishes helping parishes, we partnered with Stone Church in Saint John to put on the VBS,” says Debbie. “I helped them with theirs then Catherine Bonham, the Family Community Minister at Stone, came out and helped us. We used the same theme for both events — “Roamin' with the Romans.’ It included
the Armour of God passage, and the children made appropriate costumes.
“We also had a summer time faith sharing group that met weekly in the hall. It’s really a good central place. About half of those who attended that group were summer residents.”
This summer the tireless members of the ACW had great success with bake sales (there are two large trailer parks close by), and each Sunday they served coffee, muffins and more after each service. That effort helped them meet summer people and get to know one another better as well. They catered a couple of weddings and two funerals and in October they made 248 pies and netted another $1,000. It all helped, and now all but $5,000 of the nearly $50,000 borrowed from within the parish has been repaid.
I am in awe of how strongly these women felt about the need for a hall and amazed at the use that has been made of it already. I know once the final bill is paid they will not need to do so much fundraising, but in the meantime, they are determined to see this project through and the loan paid in full.
This struggling parish is doing everything in its power to help itself, to look at things in a new way. The ACW took a risk, and ministry blossomed.
