2024 Stewardship Campaign: Testimonial 1, Marjorie MacRae

During our 2024 Stewardship Campaign we will be sharing Testimonials from some of our members. We hope that you enjoy them!

Marjorie MacRae

What I love about this church and what gives me hope for our future are the initiatives we are taking and the kindness we demonstrate in reaching out and welcoming newcomers, whether from our community or from much farther afield.  

In the fall of 2015 my husband and I were at the train station in Vienna when we saw families huddled together on the floor with their luggage. I realized they must be Syrian refugees and felt we must do something. With help from Bob Mutlow, we held a meeting at the church which attracted 30 people.  With this demonstration of support, Council then gave us permission to fundraise for $7500. Our congregation stepped forward and we raised the funds.  As a result we were able to partner with Deer Park, St Andrews and Scarboro United churches in sponsoring a Syrian family. In 2017, after this family became self-sufficient, our group from McDougall continued and we began supporting refugee families on our own. Since 2016 in partnership and on our own, we have supported 8 refugee families from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Angola and Afghanistan.  In August 2023 we were proud to see members of this Syrian family receive their Canadian citizenship. With so many terrible things happening in the world our approach is to make a difference one family at a time.  

In 2020 Joanne Anquist referred us to two Angolan families who had been volunteering at Acadia Pantry.  The pantry’s leadership is from Christ Moravian church.  This situation led to our current  partnership with Christ Moravian. 

I am proud to be a member of McDougall. Congregation members volunteer in our refugee support  group, support us financially and, as importantly, encourage us in our work.  Quite simply we are stronger together - even more so when we work in partnership. With the initiatives being taken to reach out to our local community I feel confident about McDougall’s future. 

To learn more about this year’s Stewardship Campaign or to read past testimonials, please visit the Stewardship Webpage.