Beach United Church’s Response to COVID-19

beachunited March 17, 2020 No Comments

I am writing to assure you that we at Beach United have been carefully monitoring COVID-19 developments.  The volunteer leadership, ministry staff, and operations staff have been in ongoing contact to develop and implement plans to deal with the situation and keep people well.

On the operations front, plans are underway to increase our cleaning and sanitation activities.  Signage has been put in place encouraging hand-washing and other protective measures.  As many chairs will be set out for events as is reasonable to allow people additional space.

On the ministry front, we are assessing what events should be postponed or modified in other ways. We appreciate that we all need social contact in one form or another and that we need to strike the right balance between keeping everyone physically well and mentally well.  We are also working to increase our ability to help those who might be ill or unable to leave home because of COVID-19.

Guidelines for staying well

We repeat the best advice from public health officials and encourage you to follow their guidelines:

  • If you are sick yourself, stay home and avoid contact with others 
  • Wash your hands frequently and keep your hands away from your face as much as possible.
  • Keep a social distance of two meters away from others, especially those who may be sick.
  • Cough into a tissue and dispose of it.
  • Use alcohol or Clorox wipes to disinfect surfaces you are concerned about.

If you need assistance

  • If you are ill, or self-quarantined and need any assistance, call 416-691-8082 or email office@beachuc.com
  • If you need someone to speak with because of your worries or personal concerns and would like to contact a minister or receive pastoral care, phone 416-691-8082 x26 or email karen@beachuc.com
  • If you need more information about COVID-19, visit the Toronto Public Health CORONA-19 page.
  • If you need information about any changes to upcoming events at Beach United Church, check the calendar, our website, or our Facebook page.

We will continue to provide updates on what we are doing to look after the welfare of the Beach United Church community until this event passes and things return to normal.

-Brian Gauthier, Chair – Board of Directors  

Housing Crisis in Toronto

beachunited February 25, 2020 2 Comments

Every Monday, November to April, Beach United Church provides a warm place to sleep for 25 homeless people, adding to the more than 7400 shelter beds in Toronto.

The City and non-profit housing organizations, like Fred Victor who we support, provide subsidized housing for people that can’t afford market rents. The subsidized housing waiting list has 104,000 households; 3,000 are housed each year.

Rental housing is getting more expensive and many of our family and friends can’t find decent affordable housing.

In December, Council approved a 10-year Housing Plan, including 40,000 new “affordable” rental homes. I say “affordable” with quotation marks because not all 40,000 homes will be affordable to most households and few will address the needs of the 104,000 households that need deep subsidies.

City Council’s Housing Advocate, Ana Bailao, noted recently that there are more construction cranes in Toronto than almost any North American City. We all see the construction boom; mostly “luxury” condominiums that our friends and family can’t afford.

Toronto, like other Cities, has the authority to require a minimum percentage of affordable housing in new developments.  City staff have been consulting on how to implement Inclusionary Zoning and will make recommendations to Council’s Planning & Housing Committee in March.

Despite Mayor Tory’s commitment to address Toronto’s housing crisis, the recommendations may contribute little. The affordability requirement could be limited to only some developments. The proportion of affordable units could be only 10 or 20%.  The definition of “affordable” may be laughably high (recently announced “affordable” housing at the Honest Ed site includes 1 bedroom apartments at $2,000).  And the units may be required to stay “affordable” for as little as 10 years.

We can do better. Toronto developers (including Loblaws, developing at Woodbine and Danforth) will get very rich building new condos. They can afford to include some affordable housing for our friends and families.

If you agree, tell your Councillor and Mayor Tory.  (councillor_bradford@toronto.ca and mayor_tory@toronto.ca  or councillor _ last name @ Toronto.ca )

If you want to know more, let me know.

Paul Dowling

pdowling@rogers.com

Take Action for Lent! Make a Green Pledge!

beachunited February 25, 2020 No Comments

Whenever you walk into Beach United Church, help us reduce our carbon footprint.

Here are some suggestions from our Environmental Action Group:-

•  Bring your own mug or water bottle

•  Use BUC crockery, glassware, and metal cutlery and then wash.  No single-use plastic or disposable items.

•  Reduce the amount of food waste

•   Walk, bike, TTC to BUC

•    Buy in bulk to reduce packaging e.g. cookies

•    Reduce paper usage [ photocopying]