I spoke with Noreen Smith, the Worship & Serve Team Leader here at Saint Benedict Parish, about SBP Cares.                       

What is the main focus of SBP Cares?

NOREEN: SBP Cares partners with families or people in poverty, providing support needed to put them more firmly on a path that leads them out of poverty. It is financial support given and received within a relationship. It’s not something we are doing for people. It’s something we are doing with people and with Jesus.                       

How did SBP Cares start? How long has it been operating?

This ministry seemed to have different starting moments, each not knowing about the other, until they came together. Archbishop Dunn called all parishes to respond to homelessness, and he challenged us to listen to God for our own parish’s response. Fr. Simon asked Chris Morris, who runs the Game Plan Support Team, to research our community of Clayton Park and Fairview and discern the need that God has put on our doorstep. Dinah Simmons, our Worship & Sacraments Coordinator, and I have looked at all the ways our parish is already reaching out into our community to meet different kinds of needs, and we saw that there was something missing. Judy Lewis, a key volunteer in the office, was deeply affected by needs she saw and wrote a proposal to Fr. Simon about a way to help. Chris Yetman, our finance manager, had a drive for us to contribute financially to our community. Carol Horne, in her experience with Saint Vincent de Paul, has long had a desire to be able to add more intensive and ongoing support to what we offer already. What lit these separate sparks into one fire back in May was Fr. Simon’s boldness to give 10% of our operating budget away. What keeps it going is the generosity of this community.                       

SBP Cares is under the larger umbrella of SBP Outreach, how is it structured?

SBP Cares is a new, more long term support ministry. It is the newest of the outward- facing ministries here. There are many people at the parish involved in ministries that have carried Jesus’ heart of compassion and justice for people: Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Care and Companionship, Food for Families, Hand in Hand, to name
a few. The SBP Cares Team is currently made up of six people: me, Carol Horne, Chris Yetman, Judy Lewis, Chris Morris, and Dinah Simmons. The Parish Leadership Team created this team to oversee this new ministry, but we are seeing that we also need an SBP Outreach Team, a group that can support and encourage the larger family of outward-facing ministries here. Until this new leadership team is formed, some of us on the SBP Cares Team will start to look at meeting this larger umbrella need.                                                                         

How does the ‘Good Neighbour’ model work?

People in need are referred to the SBP Cares Team and someone from the team meets with the people to get to know them and their needs. They bring the details to a team meeting and the team discerns the first steps to take and who we should ask to be their Good Neighbour. This is the person who will develop an ongoing relationship with the family throughout the year. They will also liaise between the family and the SBP Cares Team for ongoing support.

How do you hear about the people in need? 

One of the fine discoveries of this ministry is that as God was starting sparks in people to meet a need, he was starting sparks in people to share their need. It can be hard to ask for help. Sometimes we’ve been introduced to people through a Life Group, sometimes we get a call in the office, and the Saint Vincent de Paul Society is a major connection point, too.                       

What are some ways that SBP Cares is helping the community? Can you share some examples?

We have provided cell phones and home internet to new immigrants and refugees to Canada to help get them connected and learn ESL at home during the pandemic, we have linked patients that lost MSI coverage and legal status in Canada up with a family doctor for treatments, we have helped newly single parents cope with extraordinary debt, and we’ve also helped pay off large medical bills. We helped single parents handle recurring bills, debt, and budgeting. We have helped an adult with their bills as they return to NSCC to become more independent and find a career. We have supplied new appliances to refugees, and we’ve also engaged people to help them find more permanent shelter.  


What has been the response from the people who received help from SBP Cares?

Gratitude and hope. Those are the two responses that stand out. Tears sometimes come with the relief of finding someone who cares, and realizing that God cares.                       

How can someone get involved in this ministry? Is there a way to give money?

Every time you give money to Saint Benedict Parish, you are giving money to SBP Cares! I have to say, I am amazed by the generosity of people — this commitment to say, ‘I will give enough so that we have 10% to give away as a parish.’ We know God is in this, and as he’s moved people to lead, he's moved people to ask, and he’s moving people to give. If you are interested in becoming more involved in either SBP Cares or SBP Outreach, email Judy Lewis ([email protected]) or myself ([email protected]).