Announcing the Home Service Guild at Glebe-St. James

by Dudleigh Coyle

It’s been a busy fall at Glebe-St James United Church. In addition to Sunday services, weddings, funerals, Sparks, Brownies, Beavers, Cubs and Venturers meetings, a new Women’s Intergenerational Group, an Indigenous Study Group and a bazaar that raised $5,300, our women’s quilting retreat yielded 36 breathtakingly beautiful baby quilts for the new mothers at St. Mary’s Home. And every day a hundred Glebe Montessori School children race in and out of the red door at 650 Lyon Street South. Did you know they’ve been doing that for over 20 years? Many of us who have been long-time church members still think of this partnership as brand new. But then of course, we still think of ourselves as hippies, or maybe first-time homeowners because we’re still fixing up our old houses. We’ve found so many interesting people, worthy causes and meaningful pursuits in this active community. This brings me to the new initiative that is now in full swing at Glebe-St. James. It’s called the Home Service Guild.

The Home Service Guild is a group of people connected through the church who are willing and able to help others with projects, small and large. Since we started in June, we’ve discovered that there are lots of odd jobs that need doing. For example, repairing dining-room chairs that grandchildren have been tipping back on. Watering plants and taking in mail for people who are away. Raking leaves for people who have torn their rotator cuffs. You get the drift. In fact, the list of jobs for the Home Service Guild is diverse indeed. We’ve built an access ramp. We’ve moved boxes and furniture to a cottage on the Quebec side. We’ve even restored a small antique desk. If you’re easy to work with and you’re not in a hurry, the Home Service Guild could be your answer to a prayer.

There’s a simple formula for the work of the Home Service Guild. If I repair the holes in your garage floor with cement and it took me two hours, you would write a cheque to Glebe-St. James for $50 (2 x $25). And if I had to buy specific materials, you would reimburse me directly.

Guess what? The Guild has raised almost $6,000 for Glebe-St. James in its first six months of operation. This money will support our mission – Reaching into Faith, Out to Others – and be used for church programming and local services such as the Odawa Friendship Centre. You are no doubt delighted that I’m not pestering you to buy tickets to an event. Instead, I’m inviting you to contact us with a job you’d like done. The “guilders” (our term of affection for ourselves) are mostly retirees, but we can assure you we have plenty of experience with mouldy basements, washing windows and escorting stuff to Value Village.

Find us on the web: www.GlebeGuild.ca
or contact the church administrator, 613-236-0617, ext. 0.

Dudleigh Coyle is a member of the newly formed Home Service Guild at Glebe-St. James and an avid bridge player.