The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund: Stories

The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund Gathers November 14, 2009

The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson; Photo:Christine Hills

Board members, diocesan representatives and coordinators, and youth council members from The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund met in downtown Toronto October 28th through the 31st to attend the national leadership forum and gather for the annual general meeting.

The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson addressed the members and invited guests at a dinner held on Friday evening. Madame Clarkson is the patron of PWRDF’s 50 Refugee Families Sponsorship initiative.  Julie Crochetière entertained and featured her piece from the One Voice CD set. The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu sent his 50th anniversary greetings to members by video.

Every second year PWRDF diocesan representatives and coordinators meet face-to-face in the diocesan forum in conjunction with the board meeting. Board members and diocesan representatives comprise the voting members of the corporation. 

Hellen Wangusa, Anglican Observer at the United Nations, spoke to the members attending the annual general meeting on Saturday afternoon discussing the links that join the organizations. The Anglican Communion Office strives to voice the concerns of the Communion to the appropriate UN bodies, NGOs and governments. Mission is a word that we have in common with the United Nations. Like mission goals have opened the way for convergence of Communion presence with the world’s intergovernmental body.  (Photo: Hellen Wangusa and Lynne Samways-Hiltz; Photo:Christine Hills)

Edmond Bayisabe, Diocesan Youth Worker for the Diocese of Bujumbura in Burundi joined the diocesan forum for sessions and attended the meeting of the Youth Council. Members of PWRDF’s Youth Council met Edmond while in Burundi at a youth meeting earlier in the year. While here, Edmond visited other dioceses and spoke about his work and his connections to PWRDF. (Photo: Edmond Bayisabe; Photo: Christine Hills)

Together we raised our voices in celebration of 50 years by singing PWRDF’s 50th anniversary hymn, A Vision Fulfilled, by Hope Metszies.

Election of Directors
PWRDF congratulates all of those who were elected to the board of directors and welcome the new faces that will be seated around the next meeting table.

Maureen Lawrence from the Diocese of Moosonee and Matt Koovisk from the Diocese of Kootenay are the new directors of the board. Maureen has extensive volunteer experience in health care, education and in cultural preservation. She has been involved with the Girl Guides of Canada in many capacities over the years. Matt is a graduate of PWRDF’s Youth Council and is currently the PWRDF parish representative for the parishes of St. Aidan, Rutland and St. Francis, Lake Country, BC.  He also serves as the BC and Yukon Youth Representative to the Council of General Synod.

Returning members are Vivian Ayoungman (Diocese of Calgary) who has been involved in various committees and task groups of the board, Jim Cullen (Diocese of Toronto) who has served as treasurer and member of the executive committee and Lynn Ross (Diocese of Quebec) a member of various committees including chair of the nominations committee.

Rafael Soares de Oliveira from Brazil was elected and appointed to the board by the executive committee in September to fill the role of International partner from the Latin-America/Caribbean region. Rafael is the executive director of KOINONIA and has been in a partnership relationship with The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund for ten years.

Executive Committee
The PWRDF Executive Committee is made up of the following:
President: Archbishop and Primate Fred J. Hiltz
Vice-president: David Pritchard
Treasurer: Jim Cullen
Secretary: Laura Marie Piotrowicz
Committee chairs:
Development Program: Chris Longson
Finance and Financial Development: Jim Cullen
Public Engagement: Lynn Ross
Youth Council representative to the board: Eric Traficante

Honourary Members
We celebrated the naming of 2 PWRDF honourary members in 2009:
Klaus Gruber is a former member of the board of directors and the recipient of the Anglican Award of merit for his contributions to the church at national and international levels. Klaus was the Refugee Coordinator for the Diocese of Saskatoon for a number of years and is still active in refugee ministry.
Denise Hambidge has been a member of the PWRDF board of Directors for 6 years. During   that time she was the chair of the Public Engagement Committee and a member of the executive committee. This was Denise’s last board meeting but she continues to be a PWRDF parish representative and will continue to spread the word of the work and the mission.

PWRDF members congratulated and thanked Ed Lewis and Denise Hambidge as they leave the board of directors. They leave the board a richer, better place thanks to their passion for the work and commitment to the mission.