PrayerWorks Common during COVID

Each Thursday and Friday morning these COVID-19 days, Joyce Taylor, Karen Robinson, and Barb (LN) gather to self-isolate together in the kitchen of Prayerworks Common - the hall connected to St. Faith’s Anglican Church off Alberta Ave..  Only three people are allowed in the kitchen at a time and the cooks must follow rigorous sanitation practices while they whip up a warm meal for 200 people two days a week.  Their warm meal amends the sandwiches another team is preparing out in the hall at tables placed at appropriate distances. Joyce, Karen, and Barb are three of the famed cooking team “Five Crazy Ladies” who, in non-COVID time, are at St. Faith’s monthly cooking for the Friday community supper.  Joyce and Karen are with us at St. Augustine’s, and Barb worships in the Catholic tradition.  I have had the joy of helping out from time to time and am very happy to come under their kitchen leadership and learn from the best!  The Five Crazy Ladies are known for high quality meals served beautifully and for having fun while they do it.  No standard soup kitchen fare here: turkey dinners at Christmas, perogies and sausage on Ukrainian night, chicken pot pie, and more.  They really go all out!  What do we say?  That God’s love is expressed in abundance, generosity, joy, and love?  The Prayerworks meals go a long way towards welcoming the stranger and helping keep people in their homes one more month, one more week. These days though, when the hall is closed down to avoid COVID transmission, things are pared down to a simple warm meal and sandwiches that can be handed out as take-away.  Prayerworks is currently providing meals Wednesday through Saturday each week.  The wider team at Prayerworks, led by Rev. Travis Enright, organize to hand out meals from St. Faith’s, downtown, and at YESS on Whyte. How can you help?  Well, there is a limited number of folks who can actually help on site, so we invite your prayers for Joyce, Karen, Barb, Travis, and all the others who are there – and for those who receive.  However, as you can imagine, there is a significant COST to providing all these meals:

I would like to ask you to consider sponsoring ½ a meal a month through COVID time.  They are providing the meals at around $2 per person for 200 people a day, so would you consider donating $200 a month?  Many of us are doing OK, with jobs and finances intact, but that is not the story for many.  Joyce, out helping with a delivery reflected, “there are some people who clearly need it, and they stand there and eat the meal right away.”  Please help as you can – in the end, any donation is worth it. – J+

Donations should be submitted directly to prayerworks online at stfaithsanglican.org/donate