Local and global partners.
Do good. Right here.
Serving our neighbourhood and our world is vital to Commons. We gladly embrace the call to love and serve as an expression of the way of Jesus. By reaching out beyond our walls, we aim to bring hope, compassion, and practical positive change to our community and the wider world.
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Refugee Resettlement
Commons resettled our first refugee family in November of 2015. Today they are Canadian citizens.
Since then, we have welcomed more refugee families; from Syria, Eritrean, Sudan and Ukraine.
Opportunities to support refugee families emerge throughout the year.
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Benevolence
Commons recognizes our responsibility to serve those outside our church, and address the gaps experienced by many in the urban core of Calgary. We provode practical supports in a variety of situations throughout the year (e.g. helping a vulnerable person with a move, prepping and packaging meals for a young family, offering a listening ear to someone experiencing displacement).
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Local Partners
We have partnerships with agencies that work directly within our parish neighbourhoods and with organizations that serve across the city.
There is a fit for everyone and their skills. In Kensington, we partner with Highbanks Society, our neighbour Louise Dean School, the Fresh Food Basket for HSCA, Made By Momma, Horizon and Aurora on the Park.
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Mustard Seed
The SEED has been serving people experiencing homelessness in Alberta since the ‘80s. It has become a haven for those needing help, which is offered through open hands with unconditional love.
At the Mustard Seed adults experiencing poverty and homelessness have their basic needs met. From there, they are supported toward sustainable life change and integration into the broader community.
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Inn From the Cold
Supporting homeless children and their families and our quest to build a community where no child or family is homeless.
Breakfast service volunteers serve breakfast to guests at the Emergency Family Shelter. They perform all set up and clean up duties in the kitchen and dining room.
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Commons Cupboard
Located just outside the church in a prominent spot near on Kensington Road, just feet from the public transit, the Cupboard has become an important fixture for many in the neighbourhood.
If you need to access the cupboard, you can stop by the church anytime and take what you need. If you're able to contribute to the cupboard, you can drop off non-perishable food and hygiene items by placing them directly in the cupboard.
Hands at work.
Commons maintains a long-term partnership with the community of Kalende in Zambia through Hands at Work. Commons supports the care of 125 children through a community-based model where children remain in their homes with their caregivers, and a group of local men and women from churches in the community support these families with friendship, advocacy, discipleship, and essential services. We partner with this community through regular prayer and awareness gatherings, by sending teams to encourage the local Zambian advocates, and our generosity. Contributions of $25/month ensure that local care workers are mentored and supported, and that they have the resources to provide one child with access to food security, basic health care, and education.
Internatonal justice.
INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION: The Citizenship Rights Abuse program in Chiang Mai, we have been supporting for many years, has been exceeding targets by over 300% and there are successful examples of provinces and districts who are fully supporting the program and the campaign to bring full citizenship to the Hill Tribes people. These are being used to show other provinces and districts what the proper application of the law and processes should be, which for the purpose of IJM’s project there, is a clear win. IJM will continue to be involved from a monitoring and evaluation standpoint which means that they no longer need funding from Commons church which, in the past, has been essential to getting IJM to where they are today.
We are switching our focus to Guatemala where much of the need for additional funding is coming out of cutbacks within USAID because of fears related to migration. We believe that helping the justice system to develop is a major factor in helping people to feel safe and not exposing themselves and their families to the risk of dangerous travel. In some ways this is similar to the project in Chiang Mai in that we are trying to address an “up-stream” systemic issue.