2008 ACM Charities 

“Empty Bowls” and Sunday service collections donated during ACM 2008 will be given to charity.  Four charities were selected to receive this much needed support. 

Sunday service collections will be divided between:

L’Abri en Ville and Ancoura: a proven housing concept for adults living with mental illness. 

The stigma attached to mental illness presents a serious barrier not only to diagnosis and treatment but also to acceptance in the community.  Mental illness touches the lives of all Canadians, exerting a major effect on relationships, education, productivity and overall quality of life.  Approximately 20% of individuals will experience a mental illness during their lifetime, and the remaining 80% will be affected by an illness in family members, friends or colleagues.  

Ancoura is a new interfaith initiative in Ottawa, based on the successful Abri en Ville model implemented in Montreal, which seeks to develop community-supported long-term housing for adults living with mental illness.  L’Abri provides not only housing but volunteer support and a sense of community and family for residents.   

For more information, please visit: http://www.labrienville.org  

Child Haven International

Founded by Fred and Bonnie Cappuccino in 1985, Child Haven International assists children and women who are in need of food, education, health care, shelter and clothing, emotional and moral support.  Child Haven has five homes in India, one in Nepal, one in Tibet and one in Bangladesh and accepts children who are disabled, parentless, or from socially disadvantaged situations and who are destitute.

Girls and boys are treated equally, and without regard to race, caste, colour, religion or culture.  We respect the heritage of each child, whether Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, secular or other.

Destitute children from birth to six years of age are referred by local social welfare agencies. Child Haven Homes provide full care through high school, and then provide vocational training so that each child can enter the local society as a self-sufficient adult.

Child Haven is committed to improving the condition of women through direct employment, education, medical aid, legal aid, and training opportunities.  

For information on upcoming Child Haven events, please visit: http://www.childhaven.ca/  

Empty Bowl contributions will go to: 

Ottawa Food Bank: 

The Ottawa Food Bank provides support to 125 member agencies in the National Capital Region, including emergency grocery programs, soup kitchens, drop-in centres, recovery programs, women's and men's shelters and school breakfast programs, among others.

Twelve tons of food is shipped out of its warehouse daily. Each month over 40,000 people, nearly 40% of who are children receive emergency food assistance.  One dollar donated to The Ottawa Food Bank generates $5 worth of food in the community.

Ottawa Food Bank Mission  

To act as a food bank on behalf of those service agencies in the National Capital Region distributing food directly to the needy by arranging for, collecting, processing, storing and distributing to such service agencies the food they need of an appropriate quality, quantity and variety and in an equitable, timely and cost-effective way.  

Want to learn more? Visit: http://www.theottawafoodbank.ca/ 

Ottawa School Breakfast Program: Improving the ability of children in-need to learn by providing a nutritious breakfast in a safe, supervised environment.

The goal of the Ottawa School Breakfast Program is to ensure that all children start each day with a healthy breakfast, so they are ready to learn and succeed at school.  In the city of Ottawa, 8445 children in 130 schools begin each school day with a nutritious meal provided by the School Breakfast Program. The program provides funding for equipment, program monitors and food.  

Without the School Breakfast Program 8,445 children would go to school hungry each day in Ottawa. When a child has had an opportunity to eat a healthy breakfast they have fewer attendance and discipline problems and their ability to achieve success in school increases dramatically. A well-fed child has greater self-esteem and has the energy they need to be a full participant during the school day.

The Ottawa School Breakfast Program is a unique partnership in which schools, volunteers, citizens, community organizations and corporations come together to make the nutritional needs of students a number one priority.

For more information, visit: http://www.ocri.ca/schoolbreakfastprogram/