Your impact in Ontario - Summer 2025

Hope on the way to Ukraine

Thanks to your support, a container filled with comforters, relief kits, soap, sewing kits and toothpaste was loaded, blessed and shipped to Ukraine on April 14, 2025.

The shipment arrived safely and was unloaded on May 16 in Zaporizhya, Ukraine. A long-time trusted partner of MCC distributed supplies to people displaced by war. Most recipients are women who have become heads of their households due to most men being conscripted to the war against Russia where many have died. With job losses and economic hardship growing, these items offer more than practical help—they are a reminder of not being forgotten.

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MCC Ontario Material Resources Associate Paul Spencer prepares a shipment of comforters, relief kits, soap, sewing kits and toothpaste for delivery to Ukraine. Thanks to your support, these supplies reached families displaced by war in Zaporizhya in May 2025. (MCC photo/Jon Lebold)

Empowering individuals to stand up to harm and become everyday peacebuilders

In September 2019, we launched Training Active Bystanders in Ontario (together with licensing partner Quabbin Mediation) with a clear and powerful vision: to empower individuals to stand up to harm and become everyday peacebuilders. 

Over the last five years, this small initiative has grown into a cornerstone of our peacebuilding education efforts, integrated into staff and volunteer training and embraced across sectors. Since its inception, we’ve trained 3,181 participants— community members, students, educators, municipal workers, librarians and professionals from all walks of life. Each workshop is a step toward creating safer, more compassionate spaces where people feel equipped to intervene when harm occurs. Participants leave not only with practical tools, but with renewed confidence and a sense of responsibility to make a difference. 

As we enter our seventh year, we celebrate the courage of those who choose to be active bystanders.

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Participants take part in an interactive session during a Training Active Bystanders workshop in Waterloo, Ontario, learning practical strategies to respond to harmful situations with confidence and care. 
(MCC photo/Janessa Pretorius)

Celebrating 25 years of friendship

Circle of Friends (CoF) started in 2000 to address the profound loneliness of folks coming off the streets into secure housing. A small group of volunteers and a staff member meet weekly with the program participant over coffee or card games along with monthly activities with other Circles. It’s a time of community-building, relationship-growing and just plain fun. 

The anniversary event featured trivia, food and drinks, a few words from MCC Executive Director Michelle Brenneman (who worked with Circle of Friends in the early days!) and reflections from participants and volunteers. Tex, a Circle of Friends participant, shared these words: "Circle of Friends helped me to not only make friends, but to grow as a person, too."

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Margaret Nally (left), former board member of MCC Ontario and instrumental in starting Circle of Friends, cuts the cake with Anna*, one of the first CoF participants from the early 2000s. 
(MCC photo/Ken Ogasawara)

Building momentum with thanksgiving

Your support has helped our communities and churches continue the journey toward real reconciliation and reparations with Indigenous communities. Following the 2024 Strawberry Thanksgiving & Communion event, MCC Ontario’s Indigenous Neighbors team hosted three follow-up conversations to help participants move from inspiration to action. Two clear needs emerged: education and equipping. 

To support deeper learning, MCC partnered with the Christian Reformed Church of Canada’s Hearts Exchanged initiative to launch the first ecumenical community of practice—19 people registered for the eight-month journey of deeper learning, with some now preparing to become facilitators. 

To build collective action, MCC worked with Sarah Augustine and the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery to develop a six-part online series on “Organizing for Repair,” attended by 26 participants. MCC’s learning materials from the series are now being used by churches across Canada. 

Churches are responding - at least five Ontario churches have made or are exploring token lease payments—real steps toward repair.

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Thanks to your support, participants in the Hearts Exchanged initiative gather virtually to deepen understanding and build relationships—advancing MCC Ontario’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
(MCC photo/Laurie Warkentin)

For we are strangers no more!

MCC Ontario office sponsors a refugee family 

When Keli and Anderson arrived in Toronto with their sons, David and Samuel, they carried the weight of years spent seeking asylum after fleeing Venezuela. Now, with MCC Ontario’s help, they’ve found a new beginning. 

“This is the first time we, as an office, have stepped into sponsoring a family ourselves,” said MCC Ontario Executive Director Michelle Brenneman. “It’s a way for us to live our values–deepening our commitment to supporting people who are vulnerable and uprooted.” 

For Joel Font, part of MCC Ontario’s IT team, joining the sponsorship group had special significance. He and his wife and son were once refugees from Venezuela as well. “I always have it in my mind to help people,” Joel says. “When I arrived in Canada, many people supported me. Now it’s my chance.” 

As the one-year sponsorship wraps up, they’re surrounded by care. Anderson shared, “Everyone from MCC has approached us with kindness, love and so much support. I can only say that this is God working for us.

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