During Advent and at a special Christmas Eve service, our congregation collected freewill offerings in support of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) efforts in Palestine and Israel. Below is a letter of thanks that was received from Church and Community Relations Associate Stephen Roy on January 22, 2024. Thank you to everyone who contributed - Stirling is grateful for your generosity and we continue to lament the ongoing violence in the region and pray for peace.
Dear Friends at Stirling Ave Mennonite Church,
Thank you for your recent financial gift of $2,830.00 designated to MCC’s response to Palestine Israel. Your generosity and ongoing partnership in the work of MCC is deeply appreciated. We are so grateful that you have chosen to partner with MCC.
For more than 100 years, MCC has been working faithfully with partners all around the world, and it’s all thanks to generous and compassionate people like you. Your financial gifts are making an incredible impact across the globe and closer to home.
MCC is providing emergency relief with existing partners in Gaza, distributing locally purchased food packages, hygiene items and bedding as well as cash transfers to families in need. We are also working to help children cope with the trauma.
In the West Bank, partners are providing food assistance and agricultural supplies and trainings for people who have been affected by the violence there. And in Southern Lebanon, MCC is providing emergency food for displaced people.
MCC laments the violence and mourns all lives lost in Palestine and Israel. We continue to advocate to the Canadian government, the U.S. government and the United Nations community to speak out and encourage an immediate ceasefire and safe paths for humanitarian aid, and to hold all parties to the same standard of international law. People in the U.S. can take action here, the Canadian letter-writing tool has been updated in light of the Canadian government’s recent call for a ceasefire.
MCC will continue to work with partners in both Palestine and Israel toward a just peace for all. We welcome donations to support our response to the current crisis.
You can keep up to date with MCC’s response in Palestine Israel here.
With much gratitude,
Stephen
The MCC is hosted on the traditional Lands of the Attawandaron, Anishnaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples, today the Six Nations and Mississauga of the Credit. This Land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and Crown Grant to the Six Nations, Haldimand Tract.