Coldest Night of the Year Walk
Each year on the coldest night of the year, our Centennial Centipedes get together and join others across the country to walk to raise money for charities serving people experiencing homelessness, hurt, and hunger.
Join us each February to walk in support, and to raise much needed funds.
If you would like to join our Centennial Centipedes, email the office at office@centennialchurch.ca to find out how.
If you are unable to join the walk, you can still donate by clicking here: Coldest Night of the Year 2023 - Donate (cnoy.org)
The next walk is February 25, 2023!
For more information on the walk, go to: Coldest Night of the Year 2023 - Calgary Kensington (cnoy.org)
MITTEN TREE - Children’s Cottage
We have a very special tradition on the second Sunday of December. This is the Sunday where we share a special story about two identical, brother trees and how they are harvested for a Christmas celebration. One gets dolled up with glitter and decorations and the other is left bare. Until Sunday! That is when it is adorned with mittens, gloves, scarves and hats, filled to the brim with items to be donated to the Children’s Cottage, for children who don’t have these items.
We have many talented people in our church who knit and crochet many of these items. Those who find these pursuits less than “their cup of tea” purchase other beautiful items to add. It all adds up to a wonderfully adorned tree. They are packed up and delivered the following week.
December of 2021 we delivered 200 scarves, mittens and toques!
Children’s Cottage Society is dedicated to building strong healthy children and safe nurturing families through prevention programs and support services. We work with families to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors as a strategy to promote child development, effective and nurturing parenting, and to support and strengthen family functioning. These efforts keep our promise to children, "to help your parents keep you safe so that you can grow up to be healthy and happy.”
WHITE GIFT SUNDAY - Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre
The third Sunday of December brings another opportunity to help in the community. For the past several years our Mission Team has chosen to support the Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre with our White gifts. These gifts are carefully chosen by our congregation to support new mothers who need supplies for when their baby arrives. This organization provides services from pregnancy testing to counselling to prenatal and parenting classes, referrals, and so much more.
Why are they called White Gifts? Traditionally the gifts were wrapped in white paper and placed underneath the tree. When the Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre became our recipient, we started to bring out a playpen from the nursery and place the gifts in it.
The tradition of White Gift Sunday has its roots in a small Methodist church in Ohio in 1904. What began as a humble way to reflect on the love and devotion of the giver and not the value of the gift has grown into today’s white gift services in many churches across several denominations. The story is told that a minister’s wife initiated the idea to solve the problem of inequity of gifts given at the Sunday school Christmas party. Instead of focusing on receiving gifts, the focus shifted to bringing gifts to Jesus that could in turn be shared with people around the world who did not have much. All the gifts would come wrapped in plain white paper, so that no one would know which was an expensive gift and which was a more modest one. No one would feel ashamed of their gift and everyone would share in the joy of giving to others.
https://www.pregcare.com