May 2025 Volunteer Newsletter St Catharines

Thank you!

For the past 20 years, I have worked alongside volunteers, learning their stories and seeing their commitment to making MCC the organization it is today. You are our lifeline to bring peace, development and relief to less-fortunate areas through your hard work and unyielding devotion. From receiving, to many production areas, to retail folks, truck driving and every job between, we could not do what we do without you.

In today’s economic climate, it is not lost on us how fortunate we are to have so many people offering up their time to volunteer with us. Your contributions help local initiatives in our communities from partner organizations with local shelters, churches

GM’s Corner

You’ll be receiving this newsletter in the middle of National Volunteer Appreciation week. MCC Thrift is blessed with a long history of faithful and generous volunteers … people like you who invest your time to help others. In a recent volunteer survey the question was asked, “What motivates you to volunteer with us?” You may volunteer to develop skills, to gain work experience or learn English. Or perhaps you volunteer because of the sense of the social connections and community that we experience together. Many of our student volunteers are required to complete community service hours. Often, they find that rather than being a chore, there is much joy

and programs that work with newcomers, people struggling with homelessness, and various other enterprises. Globally, MCC can have the impact it does because of all that you do.

National Volunteer Appreciation Week is from April 27 to May 3, and words cannot properly express the amount of gratitude we feel for all your hard work. Let your shop staff teams spoil you rotten this week as you deserve all the good things life has to offer.

On behalf of the Ontario network—thank you!

Karla Musselman

Thrift Coordinator

to be found in volunteering. Ultimately, we hope that your volunteer experience is meaningful and fulfilling.

Two volunteers who are no longer able to be active in our retail shop now volunteer by praying for MCC Thrift and for the work of MCC. Erna and Margaret pray daily for volunteers, for our Shop operations, for our customers and for the future of our work. In a special video created for National Volunteer Week, Margaret’s prayer can be heard under the video … here it is in written form:

My name is Margaret Penner. I used to work for the MCC Thrift Shop in St. Catharines but since I retired, I still can pray for MCC. Great God, our Father in Heaven, I come to you with thanksgiving. Thank you

for all the people who work for you. You have your workers, your volunteers, your children who listen to you and who are willing to work for you. Use their hands and their feet and their knowledge and their willingness and … everything that you give them. And I pray your blessings for everyone here in Ontario. Bless them. Go with them, protect them, give them strength and knowledge and wisdom to work for you. And I thank you for every one of them. God bless you all. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thank you for your dedication to serve! So many people here in our community are impacted by

your work—your caring smile as they enter our doors, your assistance as they find a new outfit, your careful cleaning or pricing of an item they purchase, your thoughtful “Thank you” as they drop off their donation. And beyond that, so many are impacted by the dollars that are raised to meet needs in communities here in Ontario and around the world.

It is a privilege to serve together.

Tim Albrecht

General Manager

MCC Thrift, St. Catharines

Welcome!

Welcome to the following new volunteers who joined us recently!

Around the Shop

Volunteer, Linda P., stands beside our new Raw Carrot Soup freezer at the front of our Shop. The glass door on the freezer allows for more product visibility and hopefully, more sales! Raw Carrot Soup is a social enterprise, partnered with MCC, providing employment for people in Ontario who have barriers to finding work in traditional work environments. Soup is sold in our Shop for $10/bag. All proceeds are returned to the social enterprise to support their work. April 2025. MCC Photo/Tim Albrecht.

Friday evening volunteers, Mackenna, Mazen, and Chelsea, have all surpassed their required 40 hours of Community Service for High School. We’re grateful for volunteers like them, who have caught the vision for serving in an environment that can be fun and deeply meaningful at the same time! April 2025.

Stephen Priddle –Receiving Processing Processing Processing Processing

MCC Photo/Chris Richardson.

Active Bystander Training

Join Active Bystander Training (TAB) to learn how to safely intervene when you see harmful or isolating behavior. We’ll address bullying, relationship abuse, sexual violence, and emotional distress—helping you overcome hesitation and respond nonviolently. Strengthen our community with everyday actions that make a difference. Sign up and be a force for good!

We will be holding our next TAB workshop on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM on Zoom. If you are interested in attending, please register here (mcc.zoom.us/meeting/register/luCR83gEQPOZmuSB83f5A#/registration)

A blessing for our volunteers

Watch the video as a longtime MCC volunteer shares a meaningful prayer—a meaningful reminder of the care and commitment behind every act of service. Thank you for all that you do.

From Simulation to Orchard: Rockway Students Plant Seeds of Real Change

Your work is supporting peace, climate and the next generation of leaders right here in our community!

What began as a classroom role-playing exercise about managing a climate crisis budget turned into something real—and rooted—at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. “We thought, ‘what if instead of asking them to manage hypothetical money in hypothetical roles, we gave them some actual money?’” says Ken Ogasawara of MCC’s Canadian Advocacy Network.

“When MCC offered us real money to do something, it got serious,” said Oliver Berg, a Grade 11 student. “There was a bunch of ideas. We thought maybe some rewilding. But then Mr. Penny [teacher] and Julia [fellow student] were wondering how can we incorporate the community and a social element?”

Then, students will learn harvest and preserve the fruit, connecting with Mennonite traditions of canning and food sharing. They plan to donate some of the produce to local food banks, addressing food insecurity while caring for the earth.

Mr. Penny, the teacher leading the Youth Leading Change initiative at Rockway, said he was initially hesitant about the orchard idea. “I said to them, ‘you’ll graduate before these trees bear fruit.” But he saw the wisdom of planning (and planting) for the long term. The fruit isn’t the only benefit of this project.

Ken Ogasawara from MCC (far right) presents a cheque for $800 to students at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate to kick-start what is turning into a school-wide, multi-year climate action project.

The idea that stuck was an orchard.

“Mr. Pauls, our enviro-social teacher, first suggested the orchard, I think,” said Julia Abicht, a student who has taken a lead role in organizing the initiative. “We realized how an orchard would really diversify the benefits… It’s not just impacting the environment, but also our community at Rockway and the surrounding community, too.”

“We’ve also had conversations about turning it into more of a student space as well,” says Gem Morlock another Grade 11 student. “Students or people from the community can go somewhere and be surrounded by Nature and have a space to relax or learn.”

Rockway’s project is part of MCC’s “Youth Leading Change: Community Peacebuilding Certificate,” where students are encouraged to learn, act and transform their communities through peacebuilding. They are aiming to break ground on the orchard this spring! For information, write to communications@mcco.ca.