On September 2nd and 3rd, volunteers from across Canada and around the world gathered in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia to celebrate, to remember, to be inspired, and to be encouraged by what HOPE worldwide Canada has accomplished in its 30 years as a registered Canadian non-profit.
HOPE worldwide Canada was established in 1993 with one program in Toronto, Canada. We have seen that initial mustard seed grow and multiply into:
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13 HOPE worldwide Canada chapters in cities across Canada serving over 8,000 of our neighbours every year
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Support for empowerment and community strengthening programs in countries including Ukraine, Haiti, Nepal, and The Philippines.
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Seeing dozens of our volunteers serve internationally partnering with our global neighbours on HOPE worldwide Volunteer Corps.
The theme for this year's celebration was, “Inspiring Greater Hope”. As we reflected on what God has multiplied over the past 30 years and dreamt about what He can do over the next 30 years and beyond!
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Terri Loso, a HOPE worldwide volunteer, led an interactive workshop on “Respect and Relationships” that equipped us to better serve our people relationally.
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All thirteen chapter from across Canada shared about their programs and what they are doing to serve in their communities.
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Nadine Templer shared about the HOPE worldwide Nepal programs and HOPE worldwide Volunteer Corps.
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Our “NOW Generation” panel shared what serving means to their faith.
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We held an awards celebration dinner and thanked our community partners—Canada Blood Services, Dress for Success Canada, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, the Halifax Sunday Supper program and others who were not able to attend in person.
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We honoured a few volunteers for their service including Anne Du Sault with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for her exemplar service over the years as she steps down from leading the Montreal Chapter and later this year, from our Board of Directors.
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Worship on Sunday with the Halifax-Dartmouth Church of Christ was so encouraging as we heard from some volunteers about how they encounter God through acts of service.
This was a very special weekend. Thank you for supporting our volunteers and our ministry.
We have posted to our YouTube channel a series of videos that were shown over the weekend.