On Saturday, March 31st, a volunteer charity action took place at the Descent of the Holy Ghost Romanian Orthodox Church in Windsor. More than 100 homeless people attending the Street Help Homeless Centre in Windsor have benefited from a rich meal the day before Western Easter. Hot food, fruits, raw salads, dyed eggs, juices, water, and home-made sweets were provided for the homeless. It was a day of a true feast with a meal full of culinary goodies! Additional food was donated that would provide meals for the next few days.

„For more than two decades, our Church, Descent of the Holy Ghost Romanian Orthodox Church, has collected canned and dry food for the Downtown Rescue Mission in Windsor. The Rescue Mission provides hot meals for the homeless. Twice a year, once before Easter and once before Christmas, we undertook this mission to collect these items and deliver them to the Mission in the spirit of our Lord’s command to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. It was important for the parishioners to act upon the Words of our Lord. Recently, we have changed the recipient of our Christian efforts from the Downtown Rescue Mission to the Street Help Homeless Centre. It was felt that Street Help had a greater need for our assistance. We have been giving them food that remained from our dinners, as well as, fresh vegetables that have been donated to the Church. In 2017, His Grace, Bishop Ioan-Casian, asked parishes to engage in a number of projects. One project, “Our Neighbor – The Image of Christ,” encouraged parishes to have a volunteer activity assisting the poor and homeless. Fr Nicolae thought that we should provide a hot meal for Street Help and deliver it to them. With the help of our Ladies Auxiliary President, Sherry Staudt, the members of the Auxiliary and many other men, women and children we were successful in this act of charity”, said Very Rev. Fr. Simion J. Cătău.

The success of this event was made possible through the donations of the parishioners and the time and energy of over 30 volunteers, adults, and children. The initiative of Father Nicolae was a tremendous accomplishment and we have given our support with great joy.  As Orthodox Christians, we rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and we feel, even more, the need to improve our Christian life and to do more for those in need of our help. We're trying to help those in difficulty, and at the same time, we're helping ourselves to live a fuller life in Christ. One volunteer commented that as Romanians, we succeed in developing ourselves as a community with common goals and concerns, but only in the context of the Church, that keeps us together, are we able to accomplish such a worthy cause.

The charity event is part of an extensive program of the Orthodox Parish "Descent of the Holy Ghost" from Windsor to engage in the social life of the community.

Madiana Leca