MELDRUM BAY – While it is said that it takes a village to raise a child, Meldrum Bay has recently shown that it takes a community to raise a community.
Inspired by the international relief work of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), members of St. Andrew’s United Church in Meldrum Bay initiated a community project to prepare hygiene kits in support of MCC’s work. These kits will be given to families who have fled their homes as a result of natural disasters or war. The kits are sent out through schools and orphanages to encourage healthy habits for children. In 2018, MCC issued 69,375 kits to people in Jordan, Haiti, Ukraine, Iraq, Zambia and Lebanon, as well as Canada and the United States.
In an overwhelming outpouring of compassion and generosity, 21 volunteers from Meldrum Bay and Silver Water—summer and year-round visitors alike—gathered in the Meldrum Bay community hall to cut, sew, and cord fabric bags, filling each with a donated towel, soap, toothbrush, nail clippers and comb. The day’s effort produced 77 completed kits for MCC distribution.
“It has been wonderful to watch the community embrace this opportunity to make a difference,” said Jan Joyce, one of the key organizers of the project. Expecting that this was simply the first of a series of projects in support of MCC, plans are already underway for a second batch of hygiene kits to be prepared in Meldrum Bay early in November.
