Beach United Church

Toronto is often described as a city of ravines, but it’s also a city of orchards.

Fruit grows abundantly in gardens, parks, schoolyards, commercial properties and unused lots across Toronto. And each year, a group called Not Far From The Tree helps ensure that fruit is picked and shared with hungry people.

Not Far From The Tree connects people who have fruit trees and grapevines on their property with volunteer pickers. A third of each harvest is donated to food banks, community kitchens, supportive housing programs and community health centres. A third goes to the property owner and the remaining third is split between the pickers.

This season’s harvest began with sweet and sour cherries, mulberries and serviceberries (aka saskatoons). Crabapples and apricots are ripening now, and soon peaches, plums, pears, apples and grapes will be harvested too.

In early July, I volunteered as a picker, tackling a mulberry tree with five other volunteers on a hot Sunday afternoon. To pick mulberries, hold a tarp under the tree while someone shakes the branches. The blackberry-like fruit falls like purple hail, staining everything it touches. In one hour, we harvested 12 pounds of mulberries.

That experience, multiplied across the city, has led to over 1,000 pounds of fruit being picked this summer so far. It’s a practical, community-oriented solution to food waste, food insecurity and environmental stewardship in our city.

Want to help? If you have fruit trees or grapevines on your property, or you are interested in joining a picking team, contact Not Far From The Tree to get involved:

info@notfarfromthetree.org
416-658-0724

www.notfarfromthetree.org

Is anyone still counting the number of days of “COVID Confinement”? Or, have you moved on to counting the number of weeks, or months?

With our attention being focused on the pandemic, and systemic racism, the media and others have forgotten that the Earth is concurrently in a climate crisis. Some aspects of our natural environment have improved while “the economy” has been operating in slow motion. Air quality has improved in many cities as people drive and fly less; carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have not risen as much this year as in the past years; we hear the birds in the morning rather than traffic, and so on.

Many people are now looking forward to a “return to “normal”. Do you remember what “normal” was doing to the Earth’s environment?

• A world of species extinction and hyper-consumerism
• A world of an ever increasing disparity of wealth / equity / and racism
• A world of the car culture and the combustion engine belching polluting gasses

BUT, we don’t have to return to that “normal”. Before the pandemic arrived, BUC’s Environmental Action Group was working to make a better world on three levels: personal, community, and as a society. Now is the opportunity to make a difference because change is in the air, and many people don’t want to return to the “old normal”. As Dr. Kwame McKenzie says, “Normal was the problem.”

What would the “New Normal” look like? Some examples, for our consideration, are:

• A society that puts people – and inclusion – first, recognizing our inter-relatedness with all people, and all of creation
• A society that does not pay $40 Billion in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry
• A society that retro-fits housing and other buildings to reduce their carbon footprint
• A society that uses public street space for additional forms of transportation, such as buses, bicycles and pedestrians

We need to talk! As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The Environmental Action Group at BUC is talking about “where do we go from here?”

• How do we want to live as Christians in the “New Normal” – both individually and as a community?
• How can we be effective in advocating for an economy that puts people before profit, and includes people of all cultures and skin colours? What groups will be our partners?
• How will we care for each other, and the Earth, in the “New Normal”?
• How will we, “seek justice for the Earth and its people” (BUC Green Charter)

We will put our energy into action; join us for a Sunday Session via Zoom, August 23, 10.30 am

“The next few months are precious. Things have changed quickly.
We can imagine the “New Normal”. Naomi Klein

Washable, re-useable, 2-layer fabric, standard, pleated
Adult/Child sizes

In our ‘new normal’ it is recommended that we all wear face masks or coverings whenever it is not possible to keep the two metre/six feet distance between people in situations such as TTC or UBER travel, grocery shopping, etc.

If you are having difficulty finding such a mask, we have the solution.

Pick up a mask at Beach United Church (140 Wineva Ave.)
Thursday mornings from 9 am – 12 noon
(A $10 donation per mask is suggested to cover materials
and support the ongoing lunch program at Beach United)

For specific requests or to arrange contactless delivery,
please email: annegretc@rogers.com or office@beachuc.com

June 5th join the Beach United Church Team for this year’s Virtual Fred’s Walk.

During this time of isolation I’ve thought a lot about how lucky I am to be able to shelter. How lucky I am to be able to wash my hands. How lucky I am to have food in the fridge. It’s been a crazy time and we’ve all had lots on our minds but just imagine if you didn’t have a place to call home. How scary would that be? Long before COVID Fred Victor Centre has been helping people find shelter. I’ve been on previous year’s walks and have always been inspired by Fred Victor’s compassion. They see people who need a helping hand whether it’s helping someone find shelter, helping someone learn a new skill so they can find work or offering food when someone is hungry. [Mary Anne Lemm]

Please join the Beach United Team and Fred Victor and offer a helping hand to more people in our community. You can join the Beach United Team as a participant and collect your own donations which would be terrific or you can donate directly to the Team page. Thanks in advance.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/fred-victor/p2p/fredswalk2020/team/beach-united-church/captain/beach-united-church/