First Baptist Church, Brockville, ON

One of the special moments for First Baptist Church in Brockville was when a elderly couple arrived at our Big Give and headed straight for the piano. The woman sat down and proceeded to play an old hymn and the gentleman took the lead on vocals. Click on the picture below to watch. Then they went on to enjoy browsing our Big Give items.

 

Here are some pictures from our event!


Salvation Army Community Church – Burlington, ON

Well, I think Jesus held our hands this weekend and made our outreach a great success. Our hearts were so touched by the many people who were so grateful, newcomers to the country, people struggling in shelters, even another church leader gave me a hug and said she will recommend doing The Big Give as well next year! I will be sure to call on other churches in our area. I am so excited by this, I can’t wait until 2020.

What a great experience we had. Our little church came together in such a short time and created an inside Free Garage Sale with coffee and hotdogs that was so wonderful. We had church family people donate so many items and our Salvation Army Family Services pulled up with offerings and all the hotdogs, buns, etc.

We kept it to our community and it just so happened that there was a Community Kindness movement going on in the City the same day, so they came by to visit.

Thank each one of you so much for starting this amazing act of love and connecting us all. Also, thank you for your patience with us.

God knows what is needed always.


Cobden, ON – 5 Churches partnered together

In the small town of Cobden, ON, population 1000, The Big Give attracted 1500 people who came to the arena where 5 churches host their event together.  The highlights were being able to help some military families find things they needed for their homes and the Prom Dress Exchange. Out of 80 prom dresses that were donated, only 4 were leftover. The great thing was that 5 of those dresses were picked up to be taken to young girls in Cuba…without The Big Give, they would not have this opportunity!


Hamilton Christian Fellowship

Our Big Give was a success in many ways.  We hosted a free yard sale with free coffee and snacks.  We had so many quality items donated by our congregation along with a generous donation from a local pet store for our neighbourhood pets.  We also hosted a ‘blessing table’ where people could receive prayer.  Everything was so well received and people were radically blessed!


Praise Fellowship Church, Chatham, ON

Here are some pictures from Praise Fellowships first ever Big Give – June 1, 2019


The Big Give 2019 Pickering, ON

On Saturday June 1st Pickering Pentecostal Church changed the scope of our initiative for 2019 and sent four teams of volunteers out to engage in Community “blessing” Projects. We welcomed St Paul’s Food Bank to drop off bins for a one day food drive on Sunday June 2nd.

TEAM 1 – Garden Makeover at Bolton C. Falby Public School in Ajax
We had a great team of volunteers who brought their own garden tools and prepared to attack two areas, the front sign for the school that no one had even realized there was a garden and the one at the front doors that had been run down and overgrown. Tom’s No Frills provided soil/mulch and some annual plants. We went early and purchased hardy perennials that are drought resistant and one of our Pastors bought more mulch and pea gravel when we determined we needed to create a second path area.
The photos below show the progress and the finished garden.

Note from Principal Connor Jinkinson:
I honestly don’t know how to express my gratitude. It looks INCREDIBLE!! The Bolton C Falby PS community deserves beautiful things to be proud of and I’ve learned it takes a larger community to make that happen. You are truly a part of the BCF community.
Please let me know if there is a time or a way that I can come and express my gratitude and that of my community to your team or congregation.
It is humbling to see the work you have done and purely because it was a kind thing to do.
A truly heartfelt and humble thank you from the entire community of Bolton C Falby PS.

TEAM 2 – Community Clean Up with PICK WASTE
A team of young people and adults met with Pickering Waste to attack the area of Kingston Road and Valley Farm Rd. In a very short period of time they were able to build a huge pile of trash and leave the area pristine. Well done!

TEAM 3 – First Responders Appreciation – Delivering 60 thank you notes with $10 Tim’s Gift Cards to Fire Stations & EMS Stations in Pickering & Ajax
It went quite well. We wrote the Thank You notes at the church then had prayer and each team went to two stations. One team went to the station on Bayly. We went as well to take pictures and they were very friendly. They brought the fire truck outside so we could take a picture with it. Another team got to deliver to other stations.

Team 4 – Community Clean Up at Paradise Beach Ajax with A Greener Future:
A team of volunteers met in south Ajax with community group A Greener Future that works to create zero waste as they go about litter clean up. A Greener Future is a non profit group based in Durham that is all about educating people on how to live a greener life. The beach area wasn’t too littered but the team learned a lot and enjoyed making a difference.

Team 5 – Food Drive in aid of our local Food Bank:
On Sunday June 2nd the congregation of PPC brought in bags of food that filled over 10 bins. The food bank was quite happy to come and pick them up on Tuesday and sent a thank you note for the extra help with their summer need.

The Big Give 2019 was an opportunity for our church to reach out and engage with local community groups and make a difference in the lives of others. We had approximately 50 volunteers this year.
Our prayer is that we were successful and that these initiatives will lead to further involvement in the future. In fact some from our garden team are asking permission to drop in over the summer to ensure the plants are doing well.

We want to thank all of the volunteers from PPC for their heart for missions and local outreach via the Big Give!