Music for the Soul with Shawna Caspi

Beach United Church is pleased to present Music for the Soul on Saturday, November 16th at 4:30pm with acclaimed singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi. She will take you through a transformative musical experience in her unique and poetic musical style, drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the United States.

Tickets are pay what you can, with suggested prices of $10 or $15. Proceeds go towards supporting Beach United’s music programming and year-round community programs.

About Shawna

In a world where language is forged as rushed texts and tweets, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, often using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. She delights in nuance and detail – the way words sound, the way they’re shaped, the way they roll around on the palate. Her songs resonate with stories that are relatable, but told in new and unexpected ways.

Shawna spent years on the road playing festivals, concert halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the United States. Those solo shows and unpredictable tours taught her how to be flexible and resilient in art and in life. Shawna is a skilled guitarist, supporting her warm, clear voice with intricate fingerstyle accompaniment. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone.

Shawna’s latest album, Hurricane Coming, reveals a collection of songs that lie close to the heart, set against a backdrop of colourful and cinematic soundscapes, featuring a talented team of musicians who bring these rich sonic worlds to life. A story unravels – it begins with a breakdown, a vow to leave the past behind, then pauses for reflection, asks questions of trust, comfort, and belonging, follows the search for strands of gold, to conversations with old flames, through the swell of confidence that comes in the course of healing, and ultimately, to the acceptance of love and moving forward.

Hurricane Coming was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year and an Ontario Folk Music Award for Album of the Year, and Shawna’s songs have won awards from Folk Music Ontario and the Songwriters’ Association of Washington. She strives to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable, to empower listeners to come to terms with the parts of themselves and the world that they might find scary, and to look for hope in the dark.

Talking about Money

During the Church service on Sunday October 20, 2024, Reverend Daniel Benson sat down here with the church Treasurer, Paul Dowling to talk about the financial needs of Beach United Church. While they acknowledged that it can be uncomfortable to talk about money, it is important for people that support the church and its programs to know what the church needs.

Here is some of what the Treasurer said:

Being Treasurer in a United Church in 2024 is a challenging task. Our big, beautiful building was originally built to accommodate hundreds of worshippers every Sunday; while we have a core group of committed people on Sunday morning, we are quite a small congregation. Although this is the current reality for many churches, it means that our offerings are not enough to meet our costs to maintain the building, and to employ staff to support our worship and programs.

This year, the Beach United congregation approved a budget deficit of more than $150,000. We know that any deficit is not sustainable in the long run; our reserves will not last forever.

Our church strategic plan acknowledges that the church is more than a place of worship. We also see our role as providing programs and supports for people in our community. These programs include: our music programs, environmental initiatives, knitting for shivering children, Queer Youth support, and our support for people that are food insecure. These are all important parts of our Ministry, and it costs money to sustain them.

Our church building also provides a resource to the local community – for weddings, children’s programs, dance, music programs, and meeting places for a range of community activities. Fortunately, these parts of our Ministry have the potential to provide income.

Finally, we contribute to the work of the wider church here in Toronto and around the world through our support of the United Church Mission and Service Fund.

The problem is that the numbers aren’t working right. Our expenses are more than our income –  in fact, quite a bit more. The board is committed to trying to change the equation so that we don’t continue to have a big deficit and in time, can become more sustainable. We need to review all our expenses and ask ourselves whether there are areas where we can cut back. We also need to look at all of the ways we bring in money, including our fundraisers, our income from the parking lot, the EV chargers, grants and room rentals, to see if there are ways to increase our revenue and at the same time to enhance our ability to meet the needs of the community.

Rev. Daniel asked what people in the congregation can do to help?

Paul said that people can offer their ideas and their time to help address our financial challenge. We need fresh eyes and people with life experience to share.

As well, we need people to contribute financially so that a greater proportion of our expenses are met by those of us who value Beach United Church as our community. Our annual budget is about $500,000. Offerings, both in the offering plate and through direct Pre-Authorized Remittance (what we call PAR) provide about $140,000. That is a significant contribution; but we need it to be more.

I am asking people to think about what Beach United means to you and how your gratitude supports and nourishes not just our immediate church family, but our whole neighbourhood and the world beyond us.

We are asking people to look at their circumstances and their contributions, and ask themselves whether they need to make a change.

On Sunday, we will be handing out pledge cards as a way for people to say to themselves and to me as Treasurer, how they plan to contribute in the next year. Your pledge will be confidential. It’s not mandatory, of course, but it will help the church board as we begin to budget for next year and to make plans to become more sustainable..

A copy of the pledge card is available here on the Beach United website.   Please take a minute to share your commitment!

2024 Christmas Market

Our annual Christmas Market will be held on Saturday, November 23rd, 2024 from 10am-3pm.

As we have in past years, we will have a variety of local artisans on site, featuring handmade jewellery, baked goods, homemade savoury hand pies, jellies & jams, pickles & chutneys, knitted toys, a gingerbread house raffle, and many more festive items perfect for gift-giving!

Our church is fully accessible with Green P parking on site, and entry to the market is free.

Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook to learn more about our vendors leading up to the market.

Below are some photos of our wonderful volunteers, who spent a Sunday together and made jars of tomato chutney and apple chutney for our upcoming Christmas Market. There’s so much to look forward to!

Proceeds from the Christmas Market support Beach United’s community programs.

Jazz & Reflection with The Larry Bond Quartet

Beach United Church is excited to present local jazz favourite Larry Bond and his quartet, as they explore the changing seasons in an afternoon concert featuring classic jazz and blues tunes.

Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 at 4:#0pm
RSVP here! (Entry is PWYC, with a suggested minimum donation of $10)

Tickets are not required; you may just show up at our doors on the day of the concert.


Artist bios:

Larry Bond

Toronto born pianist, composer and arranger, Larry Bond, holds an ATCL Diploma in classical performance from Trinity College of Music, London, England, and a Bachelor of Music Degree from The University of Toronto. He has studied composition and arranging with Gordon Delamont as well as Latin Jazz with Ruben Vasquez.

For the past twenty years he has worked as a sought-after jazz pianist in the GTA. His credits include events for The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The National Ballet, The Mississauga Chamber Music Society, Music Niagara, and the Government of Ontario. Larry’s trio and quartet CDs have won enthusiastic response from the CBC and Whole Note Magazine.

Steven Farrugia

Steve Farrugia is a Toronto born and raised professional drummer who has shared the stage with the top musicians in Toronto and outside the country as well.

Some notable musicians Steve has had the pleasure to play with are Richard Hadfield (Winner of Britain’s Got Talent) Reg Schwager, Robi Botos, Adrean Farrugia, Bill McBirnie, Attila Fias, Brendan Davis, Allison Au, Peter Hill, Richard Whiteman, Nathan Hiltz, Ted Quinlan, Paco Luviano, Chris Gale, Artie Roth, Bruce Cassidy, Bob Brough, Sophia Pearlman, June Garber, Elaine Overhault, George Koeller, Shelly Berger, Jeff King and many others.

John Pagnotta

John Pagnotta is a professional jazz saxophonist and flutist and jazz educator. He has been teaching jazz both privately and in a classroom / big-band setting for over twenty-five years. He was the head of jazz studies at the Claude Watson High School Arts Program for fifteen years and has been the musical director and conductor of the We Are One Jazz Orchestra, in its many configurations, since the inception of the project in 2005. He has worked with international jazz legends Dr. Barry Harris, Charles McPherson, and Canadian jazz icons Don Thompson, Jane Bunnette, Pat Labarbera, Kirk MacDonald, Guido Basso, Lorne Lofsky to name a few. John is currently completing his Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Leon Racine

Leon has been active in the Toronto Music scene for 50 years in a variety of capacities. He has played trombone, piano, and bass in dozens of big bands and small groups as a jazz musician, and filed the orchestra pit in a staggering number of musical theatre productions. He’s spent time on the road with Rock groups. He’s even spent time as a principal in local orchestras. He’s happy that he has found the Larry Bond group to enjoy his love of quartet jazz.

Beach United’s warm, inviting hall serves as the perfect backdrop for this concert – the concert is pay-what-you-can, and proceeds support our year-round community programs.