PWRDF Christmas Giving and Update

  In the recent Anglican Journal and Diocesan Times, many of us received this year’s World of Gifts and the PWRDF Annual Report. As I reflected on what I read, I was struck by the impact of PWRDF in Canada and throughout the world, by the generosity of Anglicans and by the great opportunities to support PWRDF especially at Christmas.   Let me start with the World of Gifts, a personal favourite of mine. Gifts range in value form $25 for baby kits in Lesotho to $2,500 for a solar pump well in Kenya with most $100 or less. We use them as gifts to our family to remind everyone that Christmas is a time to give gifts to those less fortunate than us. Others use them in honour and memory of family members at birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of life.   This year’s themes include Feeding the Multitudes, Farming in the Future, Clean Water, Gender Equity, the Indigenous Response Grant Fund and the Emergency Response Fund. Details can be found PWRDF.org/worldofgifts.   I was reminded at the virtual gathering of PWRDF representatives from across our Diocese recently, there are many ways to support PWRDF financially. Some members of our congregation use the blue PWRDF envelopes in our envelope box while others donate online at PWRDF.org/give-today.   If you are fortunate enough to have stocks which have done well, donating the stocks to PWRDF has a considerable tax advantage or you can remember PWRDF in your will. Details can be found at pwrdf.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/. This year was especially encouraging for PWRDF as $5.1 million was donated by Anglican and matched by the following: $1.2 million from bequests, $2.6 million from Global Affairs Canada and $1.5 million from Canadian Foodgrains Alliance. Of that total $2.4 million went to Disaster relief and refugees with the balance being allocated to Development Projects and their administration. Their development projects included Food Security and Climate Adaptation, Preventative Health including Covid-19 vaccination programs, Empowering Woman and Girls, supporting Indigenous Communities, Humanitarian and Disaster Response and Support of Refugees.   African countries received the most for support for programs followed by Latin America and the Caribbean and then Canada. Details of any of the Development Programs can be found on the PWRDF website, PWRDF.org or by contacting me at chrfield@gmail.com.   I close with a prayer from the Episcopal Church in the US:   Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   Thank you, Chris Field   PWRDF Representative for the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax