As we slowly and cautiously emerged from the pandemic in 2022, City View United Church continued as a safe, familiar, and stable community providing faith, friendship, and connection to our members. 2020 was an incredibly stressful and challenging time for all churches as the pandemic began, but City View rose strongly to the occasion. In 2021, City View built on the solid foundation of what we had accomplished and learned in 2020, and continued to move the church forward in important and lasting ways. Finally, in 2022, we could all sense and feel that things were starting to return to some sense of normal, with the return of: regular in-person worship and meetings; coffee time after Sunday services; small social gatherings; the choir and congregational singing; and the Snowflake Bazaar and Craft Sale. We thank you for your patience, your flexibility, your enthusiasm, and your continued support over the past year.
Reverend Laura Springate started her third year of ministry with us in March 2022. She continued to lead us spiritually and socially with her compassion, patience, and friendliness. She also ensured that our church members’ spiritual and emotional needs were supported. When in-person worship services resumed, many of us were able to come together again in worship and fellowship, while newly-installed live-streaming software and hardware allowed others to continue to view the services safely online from home or from anywhere across the world. This improvement in technology is now a permanent part of Sunday worship and other services, such as weddings and funerals.
As always, we are thankful for the dedicated work of our staff, including Mary-Lynne Harvey, who was always cheerful and helpful as she juggled the changes thrown her way, including the steady return of room rentals that she ably managed. Patrick Pearson kept the church spotlessly clean and in good- repair. This year, we welcomed Lei Han as our new bookkeeper. We were also pleased to welcome our new music director and organist, Svetlana Logigan, who has shared her exceptional musical talents with us.
As you may remember, at a special congregational meeting in May 2022, the congregation authorized City View United Church Council to proceed with the financing and construction of the necessary Playtime Daycare renovations up to $560,000.00. Since that time, Head Trustee Peter Charboneau has worked tirelessly to move the project forward, successfully securing engineering reports, architectural plans, building permits, contractor bids, and additional funding commitments for Playtime Daycare. As the construction costs unfortunately came in much higher than expected, Peter has since been working with Council and potential contractors on different options in an effort to keep the project financially viable for both City View and Playtime. Council will report back to the congregation in the next few months with updated information. On behalf of the entire congregation, Council extends its deepest gratitude to Peter for his leadership and determination is shepherding this project from inception through its many successfully completed stages.
I wish to extend my gratitude to the members of Council and the different church committees, who all continue to support and encourage each other. To all the members of the church, thank you for your dedication and support, including your financial support, which allows us to flourish as a community of faith. Our community outreach, in particular, continues to excel: a dedicated pastoral care team, supporting an increasing number of vulnerable members; the annual bazaar; generous mission and outreach support to all of our local partners; friendship baskets; and in-kind support for Yasmin Syrian Food. As you read through the following pages, you will see that we are truly blessed.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Fortura, Chair, CVUC Council