Feeding Body and Spirit Across Algoma
As we gather in gratitude this Thanksgiving, we give thanks for the many ways people across the Diocese of Algoma are caring for one another — sharing food, friendship, and hope in their communities. These ministries are about more than meals. They are about people: volunteers and neighbours meeting one another with kindness, respect, and love.
At Gathering Table, Thunder Bay, a faithful team of 35 volunteers has operated a weekly food cupboard for more than 20 years, serving 100–120 people each week. Their long-standing commitment was recently recognized with a Home Town Heroes Award from Boston Pizza and the Thunder Bay Border Cats — a joyful reminder that generosity and compassion are deeply rooted in this community.
At St. Michael and All Angels, Thunder Bay, parishioners partner with Algonquin Avenue Public School to make sure children start their day with a hot breakfast and a warm smile. Each Christmas, families receive “breakfast gift bags” filled with pancake mix, maple syrup, and grocery gift cards — a gesture that says, you are seen, you are valued, and you are loved.
At St. George’s, Thunder Bay, that same spirit of care shines through Janet Creighton, who volunteers at the Dew Drop Inn, helping prepare meals for some of the 500 people served each day. Along with her husband Al and her parish community, Janet’s quiet faithfulness is a reminder that behind every act of service is a person choosing compassion over comfort, love over indifference.
But these are just some of the stories.
Across Algoma’s wide and beautiful territory — from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury to Muskoka — people of faith are cooking, serving, listening, and walking alongside those who are hungry or in need. What binds these ministries together isn’t only food; it’s the conviction that no one should be forgotten, and that community is built one caring act at a time.
As Archbishop Anne Germond reminds us:
“Thanksgiving invites us to see abundance not as what we keep, but as what we share.
Across Algoma, the Church is most alive when hands are extended — offering bread, friendship, and love to neighbour and stranger alike.”
This Thanksgiving, we give thanks for every volunteer, donor, cook, and neighbour who helps make God’s love visible — one meal, one smile, one shared moment at a time.
With special thanks to the Diocese of Algoma Social Justice Committee for championing this feature story.
#Thanksgiving #FaithInAction #FoodSecurity #DioceseOfAlgoma #CommunityCare #AnglicanChurchofCanada