By Lloyd Mackey

HO HUM. It was such a little story, compared to the billions being applied continent-wide to help the banks and the auto industry.

But Senator and Seniors Minister Marjory LeBreton's March 18 media conference seemed like the tip of a compassionate and entrepreneurial iceberg.

The good senator talked about $11 million in capital assistance, Canada wide, to support seniors groups in replacing outdated equipment or undertaking renovations. The grants were issued under the federal New Horizons for Seniors program. LeBreton made the announcement on behalf of Human Resources Minister Diane Finley.

Buried in the sub-text was a hint that there were likely some good examples of the blending of spiritual motivation, community service and economic stimulus, in towns and cities across Canada.

For starters, I asked LeBreton for the British Columbia list of projects. Within a short time, Rebecca Murphy, the senator's senior policy advisor, e-mailed the information.

The list of 116 projects totalling $1.6 million produced two churches, St. Andrew's United in Mission and Chilliwack Alliance in, of all places, Chilliwack.

Teresa Stirling and Maureen Haddock -- the administrators, respectively, of the Chilliwack and Mission churches -- happily answered my questions.

Then, a snag. Stirling e-mailed me saying that the grant contract stipulates that the church could not publicize the grant until 60 days after contract approval. That would be May 17.

To this "good news" journalist, that did not make sense. People should know about these kinds of things, especially in times of economic stress.

That called for a quick trip down the hall to see Murphy. She got on it right away, obtaining the okay from an anonymous bureaucrat, along with some cautious appreciation for "checking with us" before taking the information public.

So, you read it in this space first.

Stirling, who did the paperwork for the Chilliwack grant, with the considerable help of the 55+ group at the church and its senior minister, Leon Throness, said there were many questions to answer, in the run-up to receiving the $25,000.

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She had high praise for Gerhard and Maureen Kloepper, the 55+ Fellowship's president couple, and for Henry and Mary Hooge, for their initiative.

The money was to replace a 30-year-old floor in the church's commodious kitchen and to acquire a heavy-duty dishwasher.

"The floor was in rough shape. There were cracks. And there were health issues," she recalls adding she had to provide photos in support of the application.

The 55+ group is a pretty vigorous example of a fair number of church-based seniors' organizations across the country. There are around 100 people participating, many of them long time church members, but quite a few more who are their friends or neighbours. The spiritual motivation can be summarized, I suppose, in the biblical suggestion that true religion is to "visit the fatherless and widows."

The Chilliwack Alliance, being a centrally-located and large church, gets a lot of use by groups other than seniors.

Stirling talked about youth groups, women's soccer, Chinese Alpha and homeless dinners to name just a few. And much of that community service would have been shut down if the kitchen had not been renovated.

Even as I write, the renovation work is underway. It will provide employment for some professionals, both for the floor replacement and the manufacture and installation of the dishwasher. Plus, a number of volunteers worked on the project. All that, it can be argued, represents economic stimulus.

Meanwhile, at St. Andrew's in Mission, Haddock pointed out that the problem was a leaky roof. The church building is about 50 years young. The tar-and-gravel cover needed replacing or, again, programs would have been cancelled. A grant of just under $25,000 was in order.

While the congregation itself is not large, the church has been in the community, in some form, since 1887.

"An incredible number of people use the facility," Haddock points out, noting that, in making the grant application, she had keen support from the church's minister, Cindy Terry.

The list of activities under the soon-to-be-leak proof roof include weekly "tea with the minister" meetings, osteoporosis exercise classes, pot luck suppers and Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.

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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

April 9/2009