Green Wood Coalition

The Green Wood Community is an interconnected web of neighbours who lighten the burden for anyone who is struggling. We may be an office worker or unemployed, a homemaker or a business owner.

Adam (r) owns Queenies Bake Shop in downtown Port Hope where he bakes sweet things and sends some along to our weekly community dinner. Tim (l) is the pickup guy. Incidently, Adam also informally offers ‘complimentary coffee’ (you can pay for an extra coffee that he can, in turn, offer to someone less able to buy one). Cool idea, eh?

Ron, the karaoke-crooning laundromat operator at Port Hope Laundry in the Peter St. Plaza has bravely taken on some pretty unpleasant cleaning projects for us. Ron is also a talented artist (you can see his work displayed on the walls of his shop).

Nicole (l) and Renee (r) have just finished a serious room cleaning job at The Ganny, by the river in Port Hope. They thought it would make a great episode for one of those home makeover shows on TV. Nicole, a recent Addictions Counselor graduate, completed her internship working alongside our Community Outreach Worker, David Sheffield. Renee volunteers at our weekly dinner and in our community garden on Peter St. Their work saved a senior from becoming homeless.

Doug (l) owns Millstone Bread in downtown Cobourg, and Gwen (r) is a member of his friendly staff. They have provided dozens of loaves of bread, sweets and dinner rolls for sharing among our community from their wood-fired-organic-hand-made bakery.

A big ‘thank you’ to these small town heroes who represent the generosity of this community’s support for Green Wood Coalition.

After losing the use of St. Mary’s School when it was sold in March, our Community Dinner has been on hold while we searched for a new location for the weekly gathering that has served delicious food for more than 6 years.

We are happy to report that we’ll be resuming the popular meal on Mondays at 6 PM at the Ruth Clarke Activity Centre on Mill St. S. (between the train trestles). This venue is owned by the Municipality of Port Hope, is fully accessible, and has a great kitchen facility.

These meals are provided by a roster of local church groups and are attended by 70-80 people looking for a good meal and some social interaction.

Green Wood was presented with the Community Builder Award by Northumberland United Way at their recent Annual General Meeting. We were nominated by the Municipality of Port Hope for this award that recognizes the positive contribution of the Green Wood Community to life in Port and surrounding area. It was very gratifying for GWC Chair, Jeff Knott and Outreach Worker, David Sheffield to accept the award on behalf of more than 100 volunteers who earned this recognition. Presentation was made by Lynda Kay, Executive Director of NUW.

“People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull. They hate their work and find no rest in their leisure. They are estranged from their families and their neighbors. It should tell us something that in healthy societies drug use is celebrative, convivial, and occasional, whereas among us it is lonely, shameful, and addictive. We need drugs, apparently, because we have lost each other.”
― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

Day or night, the streets of small town Ontario are full of stories. Here we caught Nicole (our student intern) and Tim in the middle of a good one, in downtown Port Hope.

Jay Barton has just spent a month living homeless on the streets of Vancouver.

Barton’s journey to the Downtown Eastside started in downtown Toronto. For the past decade, Barton has worked with the homeless and the poor at Salvation Army Gateway. He also fundraises for Sanctuary, a Christian-based inner-city ministry.

Back home, he works to break down barriers between rich and poor by arranging one-on-one meetings between corporate executives and the homeless. He does that by organizing events that include bringing the two groups together for breakfasts at The Fairmont Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto.

For about three years, he’s wanted to get a better understanding of life on the street by living like someone homeless.

He picked Vancouver because he’s too well known in Toronto to pull off living anonymously in shelters. He was also drawn to the unique concentration of poverty in the Downtown Eastside.

Barton is aware of the irony of his situation. With a wife and child as well as a home and career in Toronto, he’s not really homeless. He knows he’s playing homeless. He even expects he’ll be criticized for “poverty tourism.

“If I want to work with this group of people, and get a better understanding, I had to come here,” Barton said. “There is nothing like this anywhere in the country. I’m here as an observer. I’m not here to tell anyone how it should be done.

“It’s an education for me. I’ve learned more from these people and these service providers than I’ve learned back home in a number of years.”

Read the full article (with video) here.

A Community Garden Coordinator is required to provide leadership, learning opportunities, and garden advice, with a view toward community building in a shared garden. This position will involve approximately 8-12 hours per week, from May 1 to August 30. It will include outdoor work and heavy lifting. The successful candidate will have experience in both gardening and volunteer management.

Green Wood Coalition is a grassroots charity that acts on the belief that, regardless of their life circumstances, every person deserves a healthy, secure place to live and some food to eat every day. With a strong base of support from the Port Hope community, Green Wood is making a difference for people who fall through the cracks.

To apply, send resume to David Sheffield at greenwoodcoalition@gmail.com by April 25, 2013.

greenwoodcoalition.com
Facebook: Green Wood Coaliton

Green Wood Coalition, a Port Hope-based charity that hosts a free, weekly community dinner and works alongside individuals marginalized by poverty, mental illness and addiction, is looking for a home. With the sale of the former St. Mary’s School on Pine St., today will mark the last dinner held on the premises.

“We’re not going away,” says Green Wood’s Outreach Worker, David Sheffield. “While the dinner is only one part of the work we do, it’s the centrepiece, the thing that defines our community. Both the people who provide the dinner and those who attend have found a sense of belonging that will sustain us as we seek a new home for the weekly meal.”

This latest setback adds pressure to an already difficult financial situation for the grassroots organization which, since 2006, has been supporting individuals and families that conventional social services have failed.

“Our success in helping people over the past few years has resulted in a growing demand for our services,” says Jeff Knott, chair of Green Wood’s Board of Directors, “and that, along with funding shortfalls, means that we need to seek creative solutions to ensure our sustainability.”

In addition to the community dinner which is supported by local churches and feeds as many as 90 people every week, Green Wood Coalition works daily, on a ‘go to’ outreach model with individuals seeking to stabilize their life situation and deal with the challenges of homelessness, mental health, addictions, social isolation, and disability.

In order to address this crisis, Green Wood Coalition will shut down all services for a two week period, beginning March 18. They will use this time seek a new dinner location, consult with the community, and communicate funding needs. Green Wood welcomes input from the community by contacting David Sheffield at 905-269-7610 or gwcsheffield@gmail.com.

Pie-Off-Poster

The winning "Best Sweet Pie"(s)

Peter Gabany's "Best Savoury Pie"

Pi

Green Wood Coalition Outreach Worker, David Sheffield

On Sunday, pie-bakers from near and far gathered to compete at Catherine MacLellan’s Musical Pie-Off — the second annual pie contest in support of Green Wood Coalition.

The “Best Savoury Pie” winner was Peter Gabany’s Big Night-inspired pasta monstrosity, while the “Best Sweet Pie” was not one but two classic apple pies baked by Karyn Kennedy. Congratulations to the winners, and big thanks to everyone who brought a contender.

Want to know what the rest of the top 10 looked like?

Sweet pie runners-up were as follows:

1st- Lea Nichols (Lime Alligator Pear); 2nd- Meagan Robbins (Reese’s Pieces); 3rd- Alison Graham (Linzer Torte); 4th- Amelia Sheffield (Dark Chocolate Lavender); 5th- Kim Orchard (Lemon Wild Blueberry); 6th- Meagan Robbins (Banoffee Danger); 7th- Patti Cameron (Apple); 8th- Jean Huffman (Apple); 9th- Beth Sheffield (Key Lime Raspberry)