Church of the Ascension

The VON is restarting its exercise program at Church of the Ascension on Tuesday and Friday mornings, 9 – 10 a.m. (Note: The class will not take place on the third Tuesday of each month as that is the time of the Community Breakfast.) Please call 519-659-2273, ext. 22285, to get registered for this program.

The proposal to sell the back portion of Church of the Ascension’s property for much-needed housing has hit a significant roadblock with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. We are seeking the community’s assistance in moving this forward.

Please use this letter template to contact the city councillor in your ward. It does not matter if your ward is not in the area of the Church of the Ascension. The more councillors we can reach, the better.

Here is a list of councillors’ names, contact information, and a ward map (in case you’re not sure which ward you are in). Although email addresses are provided here, it is best to send the letter by mail to make sure it is noticed. The mailing address for all councillors is:

City of London
300 Dufferin Avenue
PO Box 5035
London, ON
N6A 4L9

Ward 1 Councillor Hadleigh McAlister, hmcalister@london.ca

Ward 2 Councillor Shawn Lewis, slewis@london.ca

Ward 3 Councillor Peter Cuddy, pcuddy@london.ca

Ward 4 Councillor Susan Stevenson, sstevenson@london.ca

Ward 5 Councillor Jerry Pribil, jpribil@london.ca

Ward 6 Councillor Sam Trosow, strosow@london.ca

Ward 7 Councillor Corinne Rahman, corahman@london.ca

Ward 8 Councillor Steve Lehman, slehman@london.ca

Ward 9 Councillor Anna Hopkins, ahopkins@london.ca

Ward 10 Councillor Paul Van Meerbergen, pvanmeerbergen@london.ca

Ward 11 Councillor Skylar Franke, sfranke@london.ca

Ward 12 Councillor Elizabeth Peloza, epeloza@london.ca

Ward 13 Councillor David Ferreira, dferreira@london.ca

Ward 14 Councillor Steven Hillier, shillier@london.ca

In July 2019, Church of the Ascension entered into an agreement with a developer group to sell the back of the church property for an apartment building — much needed in the Argyle area. The agreement is conditional on approval from the City of London. As of mid-October 2022, these are the next steps planned by the buyer:

• October 19: City of London urban design panel review of project.
• Nov. 24, 6-8 p.m.: Informal open house for area residents in Ascension’s Parish Hall, including a short presentation by the planner, plans for the proposed building and site, and plans for the access road from Dundas Street along the east side of the church. Some city staff are expected to attend.
• Early in the new year: City staff expected to schedule the proposed project and rezoning with City Council’s planning committee.
• February: Planning committee presents the project to Council with a recommendation.

For details of the project, please go to this City of London site: https://london.ca/business-development/planning-development-applications/planning-applications/2060-dundas-street

Update: As of July 19, 2022, the Community Breakfast has resumed in-person meals. Breakfasts are held on the third Tuesday of every month. Breakfasts are free. All are welcome.

The Community Breakfast at Church of the Ascension in London had for many years all the hallmarks of an effective ministry. It served almost 100 on average each month. It offered one of the few hot breakfasts among the meal programs in the city. And guests raved about the social atmosphere
And then came COVID-19.

“It was like immediate,” recalled Steve Holmes, one of the organizers – the shock still in his voice more than two years later.

The next breakfast was scheduled for only a few days after the pandemic was declared in March 2020 and the Diocese of Huron set down strict health protocols for meal programs. The breakfast went ahead, but organizers knew the “community” part of the breakfast had been lost to physical distancing and other safety measures.

Karen Robinson, another of the organizers, pointed out the obvious: “We still have to feed people.” And so began months of pivoting and pirouetting that has been so effective, it has completely changed the way the Ascension organizes its meal program. It has expanded to lunches and suppers over more weeks, while still hoping to bring back a truly community breakfast as soon as possible.

It now all comes under a new name: the Ascension Food Security Program.

The changes started in April 2020 when a small group of volunteers – few enough to allow physical distancing in the kitchen – made up 50 bagged lunches to be handed out at the church door. Each contained an egg salad or a cheese sandwich, a piece of fruit, a muffin, a boxed drink and a card that says “Lovingly prepared for you at Church of the Ascension”. But few people showed up at the door to pick them up.

So the volunteers drove the remaining lunches to places where homeless people were known to gather in London, including a tent city that had sprung up at the fairgrounds and the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope shelter. That pattern has continued: a few picked up at the door and the rest delivered.

Soon the deliveries were expanded to My Sisters’ Place, a daytime drop-in shelter for women at risk, and Project Hope, a group of volunteers who go out to the streets and check on London’s homeless population.

In June 2020, Steve organized a drive-thru chicken dinner for church members and took the leftovers to the new Youth Opportunities Unlimited shelter near Ascension. Chatting with the head of their kitchen, Steve offered to provide them with bagged lunches, too.

Now the number of lunches was up to 75.

“It just kept getting bigger,” Steve said.

A bakery contract led to the next major leap for the program.

Cobbs Bakery had supplied several community programs with extra bread at the end of the day and East London community activist Nancy McSloy made some available to Ascension. Nancy needed to make a switch due to a health problem and so Ascension was referred to Stelmar Home Health & Mobility, which also operates a home for people living on Ontario Disability Support Program.

After some conversation with company staff, the Ascension group started supplying dinners to Stelmar residents at cost within the limited means of ODSP. Two weeks a month, they drop off three meals to each resident: a hot meal or casserole to consume that day and two others that can be set aside for other days – a submarine sandwich with homemade soup and a chicken pot pie or sometimes shepherd’s pie. The offerings are altered to avoid monotony.

The Ascension group currently operates with seven volunteers, but that number will need to more than double when the breakfast resumes.

The operation is so evolved, it can meet specific needs. For example, the people Project Hope reaches are better served with peanut butter and jam sandwiches rather than egg salad or cheese. On meal preparation days, Ascension’s parish hall looks a bit like a warehouse, sorted into tables for each agency served.

The financing of the program has evolved too.

Donations from Ascension members and the income from Stelmar help make the program self-sufficient.

Ascension’s incumbent, the Rev. Canon June Hough, lately pointed out to the volunteers there are some parishioners who could also use some food support but are too proud to ask for a free meal. Now the group is thinking of selling dinners at a low cost, but enough to generate a small excess that can be poured back into the ministry as it restarts the Community Breakfast.

When it’s all added up, Ascension’s program is now serving 225 to 230 meals a month – more than double the number who were helped by the breakfast alone.

Given the growth, the group decided in April to stop calling itself the Community Breakfast and take the broader name of the Food Security Program.

“It’s sad we have to do this,” Steve said, “but it’s amazing the difference it can make to get people on the path to a better life.”