Helping In Halifax

It was a week of engaging the youth but also encouraging those working in the organizations they served. For a week in July during "Hungry for Halifax," a short term mission team from several Maritime Christian Reformed churches was hosted by All Nations Christian Reformed Church in Nova Scotia’s capital city. Five adults and 11 youths came from Fredericton (New Brunswick) CRC, Faith Community CRC in Milford, N.S., and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) CRC.

In choosing to work together within their classis and return each year to this local Maritime city, the team has made lasting connections with each other and with the local organizations they served.

Organized by Albert Huizing, IV, director of youth ministries at Charlottetown CRC, and Elna Siebring, community coordinator at All Nations CRC, the team served meals, worked at the Parker Street Food Bank, painted at a local Christian school, and helped in various homes in the city.

For the youth, there were many highlights of the trip especially the trip out to Peggy’s Cove where they studied the Bible and sang in the midst of God’s creation, voices echoing off the rocks in the cove.  They experienced growth through their work and devotions each night but also through the people they met.  “One group worked in an elderly person’s garden and found themselves more blessed by her stories of God’s faithfulness in her life than their work in the garden,” said Huizing.

Likewise, those being served benefited from this group’s enthusiasm and the tasks they completed.  When Siebring contacted Halifax Christian Academy to ask if they needed any help, the principal was overjoyed at this answered prayer, as they needed several repaired areas painted before reopening this fall.

“The value, God’s blessing to the community, is for the people who work every day in these organizations,” said Siebring.  “It’s a huge blessing to have this group come alongside and support those on the front lines.”