Your impact in Ontario - Summer 2025

An update on MCC projects in Ontario

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A older man wears a plaid shirt, hat, and glasses at the grand opening of the stationary cannery.

Ontario — Sep 2025

menu_book Impact report

Kenneth Albrecht was one of over 700 community members who toured the new stationary meat cannery facility in New Hamburg, Ontario. The new facility will aim to can 90,000 pounds of meat in its first full year of operation, with potential for up to 1 million pounds per year. (MCC photo/Ken Ogasawara)

Inspiring hope in Ontario

Thanks to your partnership, we have been able to bring to life God’s kingdom of justice and peace in big and small ways right here in Ontario. Whether it’s blessing and sending thousands of relief kits to people displaced by war, celebrating a major milestone of walking with people in poverty or equipping our communities to make tangible relationships and reparations with First Nations, we know that hope starts at home.

Through your generosity, you:

  • Offer companionship and care—providing steady support to those experiencing poverty
  • Extend hospitality—welcoming and assisting 215 newcomers as they start new lives in Canada
  • Promote healing and connection—nurturing relationships and mutual respect by sharing food bundles and quilts in northern communities
  • …all in the name of Christ!

Material Resources

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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A man driving a fork lift carrying kits in a warehouse.

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)

Peace and Advocacy

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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People gather in a meeting room and form a semi-circle and face the same direction.

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)

Walking with People in Poverty

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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Two smiling women hold a single knife as they cut a decorated cake.

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)

Indigenous Neighbors

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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A Zoom screenshot of 9 different screens, most with single users, and two with two individuals.

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)

Migration and Resettlement

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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Members of the Salazar family and MCC sit around a table outdoors at a BBQ event.