At Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus. Christmas is God’s plan to redeem a broken world, involving a tiny baby, two ordinary parents, and a meager manger. Incredibly, God uses these unlikely characters, and humble beginnings, to change the course of the world.

This time of year, most especially, I think about how far Morningstar Relief Mission has come from its own humble beginnings about 18 years ago. We were once called Full Plate, and ran a weekly meal program out of the basement of St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church, serving just a small handful of people. Our motto was ‘Channelling God’s love to the world God loves.’ Nearly two decades later and we have never needed to change it.  

In English, we have only one word for love, but in Greek they have four different words for love. I want to take a moment this Christmas to talk about Agape or unconditional love, perhaps the highest form of love.

Whether we are always aware of it or not, at Morningstar, we are a collection of people motivated by love and, to a great extent, striving to love our neighbours unconditionally. When I go to work every day I don’t just see people mashing potatoes, packaging meals, or sorting food. Looking beyond the duties and activities I see individuals who need to receive love and to give it. That is why so many of us work so hard to find ways to connect with the people we serve, even when it’s not always easy.

While we await a vaccine for COVID-19, the healing remedy for the isolation and disconnectedness it has inflicted on us all is, in my opinion, Agape or unconditional love. I hope you will join me this Christmas season in celebrating the incredible acts of love that Morningstar has been able to deliver during this global pandemic.

We have distributed approximately 35,000 meals across Lennox & Addington County since April of this year. Thanksgiving saw us send out 446 turkey dinners and Christmas will likely see us distribute over 600 more. We are also delivering an expected 200 personalized Christmas gift baskets. And our winter clothing drive outfitted close to 100 people with warm weather gear. Christmas has always been a busy time for Morningstar but this is the largest seasonal outreach in our history.

Even when we had to close our doors our volunteer tax preparers still found a way to complete over 600 returns for low-income people ensuring their benefits were not interrupted.  Our food cupboard has continued to provide hampers throughout the week on an as-needed basis. And we regularly offer high-demand pantry and personal care items to clients alongside the takeout meal and hospitality program.

Of course I can’t talk about what love has done this year without acknowledging our volunteers and how they have risen to the challenge of responding to our community during a crisis. Morningstar is stronger than we have ever been thanks to the many teams who have pulled together to make outreach on this scale possible. Those who cannot be with us in person have supported us from home, making check-in calls, finding out what kind of practical help people need, and praying with those feeling isolated and scared.

And where would we be without our donors? Gifts of money and food have surpassed anything I would have imagined possible despite all the uncertainties around COVID-19 and the economic impact on businesses and families in this community.

Unconditional love powers everything we do. In the face of a worldwide pandemic, worsening isolation, and fear, the love flowing in and through Morningstar has carried the day. No matter how big the adversary, when we come together, each making our own unique contribution, in as unconditionally loving a way as we can, we have shown that we can be a shining light that shows the way.

Just like God used the birth of a baby and a simple family to change the world, I believe God is using each of us to change our community for the better. Thank you for all you have done for Morningstar.

And may God protect your family and bless each and every one of you this Christmas.

Your fellow servant,
 
Kevin Alkenbrack
Executive Director
Morningstar Relief Mission

Morningstar Relief Mission is grateful for this inaugural post by youth reporter, Clare Anderson. Prepared with files from Morningstar Communications. Photos by Mark Hauser.

In these COVID-19 times, I think we can all agree that a little bit of comfort can go a long way. And comfort is the name of the game at Morning Relief Mission. This is especially true for the members of the Wednesday Night Baking Team.
 
“We started meeting back in October,” says Trudy McCarthy, Morningstar’s Administrative Assistant, and leader of the team of about half a dozen bakers. “We had quite a bit of fruit in the freezers,” says McCarthy, “and the Lion’s Club Hall kitchen was quiet in the evenings so we thought it would be a great way to add an extra special layer of hospitality to the meal program.”
 
McCarthy, a native Newfoundlander who moved to Greater Napanee in 2018, grew up in a family of twelve. “Baked goods were a staple of my childhood,” says McCarthy, who remembers growing up in a home where there were cookies and pies on the table at all times. “A lot of the recipes our team is using come straight from my family's kitchen and all of the volunteers on this team are encouraged to bring their own recipes as well.”
 
The volunteer bakers switch it up every week to ensure variety: from cookies, to cobbler, to pies, to a huge variety of loaves. After one night with these compassionate chefs I can say this is the place to be on a winter night—the air is warm, the smell is sweet, and the laughter and smiles will kill the COVID blues in an instant.
 
In addition to the healthy, balanced meals Morningstar serves each week—approximately 1,300 now, countywide—the Baking Team’s contributions have sweetened the deal, substantially. Tuna casserole and Salisbury steak are great, but who doesn’t love a slice of banana bread once the main is done? These volunteers know the impact a little home-baked comfort can have on someone who has had a tough year.
 
When I left the Lion’s Club Hall after having met Trudy and her team, my trip home was full of this strange feeling of love. Here was a group of people, already volunteering in so many other ways at Morningstar, no one told or asked them to start a baking team. This was just something they wanted to do: a true from-the-heart gesture, motivated by the desire to go that extra mile, and, most of all, to bring a little joy into the lives of others. 

Those wishing to make a donation to Morningstar Relief Mission may do so safely, and securely, online at: www.morningstarmission.ca/donate. Your gift will be receipted immediately. ​

Christmas came early today as Morningstar Relief Mission received $7,000 from from L&A Mutual Insurance Company, bringing the local firm’s 2020 support to a total of $10,000.
 
“Morningstar Relief Mission has always been very close to our hearts,” said Barb Delaney, Accountant, L&A Mutual, “and we are so pleased to be able to help Morningstar build the commercial kitchen you need in order to support food security across L&A.”
 
Delaney spoke of L&A Mutual’s giving philosophy, which has grown organically over the years and prioritizes supporting families in crisis in key areas such as healthcare, healthy food, “anything that helps to elevate people out of poverty.”
 
“L&A Mutual has always been a champion for Morningstar,” said Kevin Alkenbrack, “and 2020 is no exception: your sponsorship of our signature event, Coldest Night of the Year, the August food drive, and now helping to give our old kitchen a new life. On behalf of all of our staff, volunteers, and the people we serve I thank you!”
 
Noteworthy, too, Alkenbrack added is that L&A’s most recent gift puts Morningstar just past the halfway point in its kitchen campaign: a total of $50,500 with $49,500 to go. This particularly good news was greeted by a round of applause from the small team of staff and volunteers at the Water Street administrative headquarters. 
 
At its August, 2020, meeting, Morningstar’s Board of Directors approved a capital campaign for the new kitchen “not to exceed $100,000.” Steve Martin, Chair of the Board says, “It sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but we’re building a commercial kitchen, which we must have in order to continue to meet the demand for meals countywide,” currently averaging 1,300 per week since September.
 
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic Morningstar’s team of community chefs have been working out of the Lion’s Club Hall kitchen. “We are grateful to have been able to rent the Lion’s Hall,” says Martin, “But getting back to cooking at home, permanently, is a top priority for the Board.”
 
Those wishing to make a donation to Morningstar Relief Mission in support of the kitchen campaign, or to any other programs, may do so safely, and securely, online at: www.morningstarmission.ca/donate. Your gift will be receipted immediately. ​

“The coats started coming and they just kept coming,” says Trudy McCarthy, Administrative Assistant at Morningstar Relief Mission. “When Shannon Wagar and Michelle Coward came from Goodyear with 150 coats—many of them new—we were really impressed by the generosity of Goodyear employees and how well they responded to our needs.”

“We have always kept a supply of winter clothing for the people we serve,” says Kevin Alkenbrack, Executive Director, “But this is the first year we’ve done a big coat drive like this. It was wonderful to see how well the community responded.”

In all, more than 200 coats were donated and nearly half of them were distributed during the last two weeks of November. “We are grateful to the United Way for their support in promoting the coat drive,” says Alkenbrack. Morningstar will keep a supply of coats and other winter gear for urgent needs, but has partnered with sister agencies in Kingston who are prioritizing the extra coats for the homeless, and shelter residents.

“We also had an angel donor,” says Alkenbrack, “who bought more than a dozen brand new winter boots. Our clients were really happy with all the warm gear that was available to them this year.”

Alkenbrack is particularly appreciative of the young woman who helped to make the coat drive run so smoothly, “We couldn’t have done such an exceptional outreach program without our co-op student,” says Alkenbrack. Claire Wicklam, a twelfth grader from Napanee District Secondary School, joined Morningstar’s small but mighty staff team on November 17 and, among many duties, served as the Clothing Drive Coordinator.

“At the end of the day I always feel good,” says Wicklam about her work at Morningstar, which officially wraps up on December 11. “The day I started there was a young guy who came in with his social worker—he was really nice and he looked at a coat and it fit him perfectly and it was really great to see how happy that made him.”
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Staff and volunteers at Morningstar want to give a shout-out to the Napanee Charitable Thrift Shop on Industrial Blvd. “The Thrift Shop loaned us some clothing carousels which made the sorting and display of all of those coats feasible.” All in all, it was another great team effort helping to serve the community when that service is needed most.