Family & Community Minister Second Quadrimestre Report (May – August 2024)

Below is a brief summary of activities from May to August, including a period of vacation. This report is meant to provide an outline and welcomes questions from any McDougall congregants.

Intergenerational Programs

Did background work to renewed intergenerational programming (now called Inter-Gen), including the Friday Program and Opera Buddies. 

Friday Program: Runs throughout the school year.

Opera Buddies: Five sessions (four weeks each) aligned with Calgary Opera's season.

Set up meetings with:

  - Teachers from Lord Beaverbrook High School (Ms. Cora and Ms.Katherine, a new recruit).

- Betty Good, liaison for Linkages, to plan for fall launch.

- Scheduled meetings with teachers and plan to introduce the program to students by mid-September.

- Maintained contact with youth participants over the summer via text to foster relationships.

- Met with returning youth leaders to complete a logo project started last year.

- Plan to introduce new juniors to various church events and emphasize the programs as integral parts of McDougall.

- Scheduled a meeting with Stefania from Calgary Opera in early October, as program starts later in the month.

- Aim to promote other church activities to Opera Buddies participants, to grow MDUC footprint in community.

Taste and Try (T&T)

- Maintained communication with Barb and Andrew Vogan; secured strong volunteer support.

- Program is prepared for fall and expected to reach full capacity, and monies collected are outpacing the cost, thus program actually generates small surplus, and again, builds up MDUC impact on community.

• Focus on expanding impact of all programming already in place. 

Sunday Mornings - Kids Table

Kids Table Helper: Part of the model for Kids Table moving forward is to have a paid helper each Sunday, and toward that end I have confirmed Saadeeyah’s return to the Sunday morning team. This is wonderful news for many reasons, some of which being that her family is active in the church, she is well-liked by the children and is a very capable person. Also, she feels confident she will be available on Sunday mornings until the fall of 2025. Further, Marilyn Bates will help recruit  additional volunteers to help with Sunday morning.

Godly Play model:

- Aim to align lessons with the scripture being covered in the main service using the Godly Play curriculum, that Saadeyah can run with one assistant starting in 2025.

• Also, we will have a range of activities for different age groups to maintain engagement, after shared lesson.

• Much of this is to prepare for 2025, when I will be stepping away from Kids Table, that combines a short lesson with access to a creative space in art studio.

• Planning to offer "Brush with the Spirit" activities on Sundays starting January 1, thus may be available to help occasionally with Sunday morning, even though hours are reduced. This is my plan, but cannot promise.

 Open Table 

- Activities planned for the entire year based on past successes.

- Currently lack enough committed volunteers, but hope support to come together as needed.

- Aim to attract more participants facing food scarcity issues. This is something that the program used to be about, but we had to back away from it due to lack of volunteers/volunteers ageing out as we came out of covid. Also, as numerically successful as the program had been in the past, there seem connection between the activities being run and participants becoming part of the Mcdougall community itself. This past year, though numbers are smaller, Open Table has build strong ties with all present attendees. If we can secure more volunteers, we are prepared to go back to feeding larger numbers to address food scarcity. Put simple, increasing numbers would not be difficult, the problem comes with not having enough committed volunteers to pull it off.

 Camp Kasota 

- Successful trip in June 2024, with improved ease and enjoyment over previous year

  - Engaged in outdoor and indoor activities despite rain, and felt the time spent together fostering community, and uplifted McDougall.

- Two committed volunteers (Sarah and Stephanie) are pleased with the camp's outcome and plan to return again next year in supporting roles

- Plans to involve Red Deer Lake, and potentially other United Churches, more effectively next year.

- Financially sustainable this year, covering costs and contributing additional funds for next year. These funds will help support participants needing financial assistance in upcoming years

Preaching and Bible Study

- Lead six Sunday morning services over the summer.

- Conducted Bible studies each Tuesday before the Sunday services I was responsible for.

This summary highlights key points of activities and developments at McDougall Church from May to August 2024.

Submitted by Rev. Danah Cox

To learn more about the Family and Community Ministry, please visit the Family and Community Ministry webpage.