May 14, 2021

TheWee Voice Newsletter namaste by Mark Lecuona May 2016 it is not to understand my meaning but to understand the point it is not for you to receive but instead to discover possibility for yourself for as you see my path it is not there for you to follow but instead to suggest to walk towards your own where we will walk side by side though we may part and we may converge but we will both know we are the same no matter our differences style or culture for we now understand meaning and how to honor each other so now i bow to you my beautiful friend

COVER PHOTO “Namaste Buddha” Amber Lotus Publishing IS IT INSANITY? SEVENTH SUNDAY of EASTER This Sunday, May 16th, Sue Lynn Chong will “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over speak to us about her insights in to similarities again and expecting a different result.” among Eastern and Western spiritualities. Too Albert Einstein often, we see only difference because we're looking at the surface, but when we look more It’s that time of year again. Is this the year? deeply, we can see similarities. Sue Lynn's Of course, I’m talking about what any “true” parents were born in China, but Sue Lynn grew Canadian talks about in May - the ! up in Scarborough. She can see deeply in to both cultures. Here is we are nervous as H###! It’s been SEVENTEEN years since our beloved We hope you can join us, on Zoom, to hear Maple Leafs have won a playoff round. It has what Sue Lynn has to say. You can find a link to the Zoom meeting on the next page. been FIFTY-THREE years since they last won the Stanley Cup. Lose again this year and they will tie the Rangers for the record of longest Tina’s Hymn drought. Sing For the last three years we felt sure our time Keep enjoying the selection had come, only to see the team collapse. We of hymns on the list already had the talent, but couldn’t get it done. This year created - 72!! surely it will be different. Who cares what https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt8T0eq-qUqnJnWMsWUVqx5vdC60GUbO4 Einstein says. The first round is a classic, against the Canadiens whom, sorry Frank (Frank Saunders is a Habs fan), the Leafs have “owned” this year in the regular season - the last playoff match up was 42 years ago. I feel sorry for those who don’t like sports. They miss out on the excitement, the adrenalin rush, the hopes, the thrill, the passion...... My dad liked sports; my mom loved sports. Many hours were spent together watching football (dad’s favourite), hockey, baseball, golf, tennis (all mom’s favourites), usually cheering for the same team, always CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW for a laughing and having a good time. beautiful rendition of this classic Hymn sung by the choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields I hope the Leafs can provide the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpITJOShix0 euphoria this year! Tom Joyce Our Church Office Our church of fice is now open: Monday to Friday, Please help keep 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. everyone safe No one but Emily is allowed access into the office. by doing your Offering cheques can be dropped in the mailbox (call Emily and let her know). Please help support Emily as part !! we live the new life of self-distancing. WANT TO STAY Follow us and Like us on Facebook UP TO DATE? Donway Covenant United Church My Soul is SERVICES for Marching On! the EASTER by Paramahansa Yogananda SEASON Join us for Worship on ZOOM. Call the The shining stars are sunk in darkness deep, church office to be put on The weary sun is dead at night, our email list, or use the link below. The moon’s soft smile doth fade anon; May 16 7th Sunday of Easter But still my soul is marching on! 10:30 am “Yoga and East/West Spirituality” The grinding wheel of time hath crushed Guest speaker: Sue Lynn Chong Full many a life of moon and star, It doesn’t matter where you are - And many a brightly smiling morn; in Don Mills, or across the country, But still my soul is marching on! or around the world, The flowers bloomed, then hid in gloom, you can join us on ZOOM! The bounty of the trees did cease; The Worship Committee Colossal men have come and gone, But still my soul is marching on! Sunday Morning by Louis Macneice The aeons one by one are flying, Down the road someone is practising scales, My arrows one by one are gone; The notes like little fishes vanish with a wink of tails, Dimly, slowly, life is fading, Man’s heart expands to tinker with his car For this is Sunday morning, Fate’s great bazaar; But still my soul is marching on! Regard these means as ends, concentrate on this Now,

Darkness, death, and failures vied; And you may grow to music or drive beyond Hindhead To block my path they fiercely tried. anyhow, My fight with jealous Nature’s strong, Take corners on two wheels until you go so fast But still my soul is marching on! That you can clutch a fringe or two of the windy past, That you can abstract this day and make it to the week of time Paramahansa Yogananda 1893 ~ 1952 A small eternity, a sonnet self-contained in rhyme. Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian Hindu But listen, up the road, something gulps, the church spire monk, yogi and guru who introduced Open its eight bells out, skulls' mouths which will not tire millions to the teachings of meditation To tell how there is no music or movement which secures and Kriya Yoga through his organization Escape from the weekday time. Which deadens and Self-Realization Fellowship endures.

May 16, 2021 10:30 am PLEASE JOIN US Eastern Daylight Time To join the service with audio only using your phone please dial: ZOOM WILL OPEN AT 10:00 am (647) 374 - 4685 or (647) 558 - 0588 To join the service with online video please You will be prompted to enter the following CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW information: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86226402105?pwd=Q3owVE5qek9pQTA5SnBTc3RBMHNQdz09 Meeting ID you enter 862 2640 2105# This link should take you directly to the meeting, Participant ID you enter # however if asked for the Meeting ID and (there is no participant ID for us) Password, they are as follows: Password you enter 444061# Meeting ID: 862 2640 2105 If you need help to get connected Password: 444061 please call David Hall at (647) 502-3867 Happy Memories of Allison Milburn

We met Allison and Tom Milburn close to 50 years ago here at our Church. We met Mary and Cam Beaton around the same time. Allison and Mary were sisters-in-law. Mary and I became “kindred spirits” due to our love of Hospitality. Allison joined Mary and me in the Church kitchen along with other Church friends. We enjoyed many happy times together sharing our love of Hospitality with our congregation. Allison and Mary were “Home Economists” so they kept the rest of us in line. Allison loved clean, neat and tidy so the Allison Milburn, Lorne Booth, and Marian Childerhose kitchen was always sparkling clean at the end each Celebrating the “Kitchen Upgrade” Hospitality event. One of my favourite memories of our times Allison was a much loved member of our Church together was when we organized and hosted a “High family. Let's cherish our happy memories of her. Tea” for the ladies of the Church and friends. The May she rest in peace. auditorium was filled with happy guests. Some of us including Mary Beaton, Lorna Penwill and I dressed Marian Childerhose as fancy maids even wearing Lorna's hand crocheted doilies on our heads. Allison was “dressed to the nines” wearing a spun organza pink hat and CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW for looking like the Queen Mother as she merrily made Allison’s obituary. many, many pots of tea. Our cheeks were as red as https://www.echovita.com/ca/obituaries/on/toronto/allison-eleanor-milburn-12735633 apples. A great time was had by everyone.

work as a new Canadian. Now a CEO, Mohamad Fakih he came here from Lebanon in 2000 and First, Canada welcomes struggled to find any work at all. thousands of refugees from Syria "It wasn't easy at all," he said. Most during one of the worst employers looked for Canadian experience, humanitarian crises in the world. something that a tiny fraction of Middle Eastern Second, the refugees settle in immigrants will have. "I wasn't prepared on how to Canada, including moving into write my resume," he said. permanent residence and getting a job. Part of his initiative is getting new Canadians ready for the job market. He hopes the employment That last part is easier said than done. But specialist can get Syrians job-ready. Paramount Fine Foods, a Middle Eastern restaurant chain, is trying to help, hiring up to 100 The idea came to Fakih during a recent trip to Syrian newcomers to work in one of more than 20 Lebanon with the organization Islamic Relief. In franchises across Ontario. addition to his initiative, he is calling on other entrepreneurs to hire qualified Mohamad Fakih, who runs newcomers. Paramount Fine Foods, thinks the Syrians coming into Canada should "There is a lot that needs to be an asset to the country's economy be done here and I will be and not a liability. He said they are encouraging other fellow largely educated and a "hands on" entrepreneurs to get involved people. because there is much more to do," he said. He's not only hiring newcomers to his own restaurant, but is also hiring PARAMOUNT FINE FOODS Fakih said the Syrians arriving an employment counsellor from The Shops at Don Mills on Canadian shores have varied Ryerson University to help other Syrians find work backgrounds and work experiences that will be of outside his restaurants. He's partnered with help to owners of Paramount restaurants and Ryerson University Lifeline Syria Challenge Canadian businesspeople in general. (RULSC) and Magnet, a job-finding service, to make that happen. "I'm not telling my franchisees to hire them regardless of their experience in the position," he "The problem will be getting these people back said. "I'm saying, 'Give to their normal life," he said. "Finding a job, after them the chance, the finding a home, is the priority." opportunity.'" Host - Matt Galloway Fakih knows first-hand how hard it is to find March 21, 2016

An Opportunity Seized up, Fakih recognized Canada as a land full of them. Fakih’s involvement in the restaurant business Did you hear the story of the Lebanese came about as he says, “by mistake.” He was taking businessman who walked into a restaurant to buy some friends out on a boat trip to Niagara Falls. His baklava and walked out the owner of the place? If wife suggested that he buy some baklava. “They so, then you’ve heard the story of Mohamad Fakih. were not Middle Eastern so she said it would be Fakih arrived in Canada at the age of 26 to help a great that we should offer them something that friend whose business was struggling. He never relates to the Middle East because we’re Lebanese,” thought he would make Canada his home, never he says. His wife suggested a place that sold the mind become the owner of a Middle Eastern best baklava in the city, Paramount Fine Foods, restaurant chain. After all, Fakih was trained in but it was far from the lake. gemology and had previously worked as a jeweller in Lebanon. When he arrived at the restaurant, he was already annoyed. “I walked into this pretty ugly place After helping his friend, Fakih decided to stay in with white walls and orange doors. I went to wash Canada a while longer. He was attracted to the my hands and the sink was broken. The whole country’s multiculturalism and, as someone who experience wasn’t the best,” he says. believes in grasping opportunities when they come An Opportunity Seized, continued feed the clients’ children what I would feed my children.” Fakih walked to the counter and asked for some baklava. The owner recognized Fakih from a Sixty-nine per cent of Paramount’s magazine article and asked if he would lend him clientele are, in fact, non-Middle Eastern. $250,000 for his restaurant. Fakih declined, saying “We’re a very proudly Canadian company,” says “I just need to buy baklava,” but the restaurant Fakih, adding that Paramount’s success speaks to owner was persistent. “He said, ‘They’re going to the diversity of Canada. shut me down in five days.’ Fakih’s favourite part of being president and CEO “I said ‘Here’s my card,’ hoping he would lose it of Paramount Fine Foods is having the or he wouldn’t call,” laughs Fakih. Monday morning opportunity to teach others. “I love hiring staff; at 7 a.m., the restaurant owner called. Fakih lent him waking up every morning, teaching them something the money. Four days later, the owner called. “He and making changes in their lives,” he says. Several said the money’s gone. The debts are way bigger staff members have grown within the company. than $250,000. You helped me. Come get all the Fakih’s former executive assistant became a equipment, sell it and take your money,” recalls franchise manager and eventually an executive at Fakih. the company. “It’s not me, it’s her hard work, but When Fakih went to the restaurant, he met with even if I’m responsible for two per cent of that the staff and spoke with the chef. He then called success, it makes me feel I need to wake up every some friends at a consulting company and asked morning,” says Fakih. them how the Middle Eastern concept would While you could say Fakih was in the right place perform in Canada if the restaurant were saved. at the right time when he got the opportunity to “They said there’s no authentic experience here yet. purchase Paramount Fine Foods, he says all It’s all mom and pop shops and some of them shut immigrants can achieve the success he has had down after a couple of years because they don’t simply by feeling that this country is theirs. While have systems,” says Fakih, who smelled an many newcomers arrive in Canada feeling that they opportunity for him to grow the Middle Eastern have one leg in Canada and one leg in their home restaurant concept. The only problem was the only country, Fakih says newcomers would be well experience Fakih had in the restaurant business served to avoid feeling that Canada is their second was five days working for Tim Hortons when he country. “They need to feel that this country is first arrived in Canada. “The only thing I knew how theirs,” he says. to do was to clean tables,” he says. Fakih credits his team with his success and has But Fakih felt he had a potential success on his gone to extremes to show them his gratitude. “I’m hands. The restaurant already had a very good chef. the craziest boss you can find,” he says. Once, he What it didn’t have was a system, and that was asked them all to gather for an important meeting something Fakih could do. He worked with and surprised them all by taking them to Great Wolf consultants, putting in 18-hour days for the first year Lodge. Sliding down tubes and acting like kids was and half, building the restaurant from the back end. a great way to bond as a team and show that the A few years later, when Fakih hung Paramount boss is just a regular guy who can have fun, too. Fine Foods’ sign on his third location, he sat on the “We play soccer every couple weeks. They throw street and cried. “I didn’t think that one day the guy me on the floor, they trip me with the ball,” he says. that walked in as an immigrant, worked in a coffee Reminding his team how important they are to his shop, would have a sign across the street from the success is top of mind for Fakih. “Everyone is biggest, most important mall in Canada, the Eaton expecting you one day to forget about them because Centre,” he says. you became too big. You need to send the opposite message,” he says. But that was just the beginning. With a franchising model, Paramount Fine Foods now has “I always say I am Canadian by choice,” says 63 locations, across Canada, and in the US, UK, Fakih. “I had other options and I chose to be Lebanon and Pakistan - and more to come! Canadian.” In fact, Fakih says he loves Canada more than a lot of people who were born here Popularizing Middle Eastern cuisine is one because he chose Canada over the country he was accomplishment Fakih is proud of. Paramount Fine born in. “I think I’m living Foods is not only popular among Middle Eastern the Canadian dream clientele who are looking for a taste of home, but to because I got an Canadians who are seeking healthy, clean food. opportunity that everyone “We don’t freeze any of our foods,” says Fakih. “I dreams of.” Lisa Evans The OUTREACH COMMITTEE invites you to JOIN US on ZOOM Wednesday, June 9th 7 pm AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CANADA

GUEST Mr. Don Wright, Outreach and Training Coordinator SPEAKER AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CANADA

For many years, the Outreach Committee This year we cannot host a luncheon sadly had a supportive partnership with Amnesty (the food was always so delicious!). But we are International through our letter writing program hosting a speaker on Zoom: Mr. Don Wright, petitioning governments to intervene to free Outreach and Training Coordinator, of Amnesty political prisoners. For many years, we also International Canada. He will update us as to have hosted an annual Amnesty International how Amnesty is involved in countries that Luncheon with a Speaker. Donations for recently have been in violation of human rights. Amnesty were requested, which always A question and answer time will follow. It will be amounted to several hundred dollars. an interesting evening! I hope you will join us!

We are asking for DONATIONS for Amnesty International so they can carry on their important work. Donations can be mailed or dropped off at the church - Cheques made payable to The Donway Covenant United Church, and clearly marked for Amnesty International. Thank you for your support!

TheMarian Childerhose Three Sisters Project I am inspired by the history retold in Braiding Sweetgrass of simple agriculture practised by the Haudenosaunee and other First Nations people for over five thousand years. It is successful because the corn, the beans, and the squash each support one another physically and in nutrients. I have chosen a raised bed 6 feet wide by 16 feet long that is well drained and gets lots of sun to plant three mounds. The weeds have been pulled; the compost is on - ready to dig in; and the manure is being added on Saturday. Corn is the first to be planted - three days before the full moon of May (in other words May 23rd). When the corn is 12" tall the beans get planted. Follow me throughout the summer for updates!

If you would like to know more about the Three Sisters CLICK ON THIS LINK for an excellent PBS article. https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blogs/native-voices/meet-the-three-sisters-who-sustain-native-america/ doubted his decision, saying, “I’d rather teach people to live with God than thrill them occasionally PRIEST with a on Saturday nights,” he told Liberty magazine in 1959 in an article headlined Priest with a Puck. PUCK “ Professional hockey seemed like a useless by Victor M Parachin existence,” he added. “Days at the movies, nights Messenger of St Anthony at the hockey rink. I thought there must be a better January 2018 way to end my life.” Les Costello was a much-loved As a parish priest, Father Costello was devoted Canadian Catholic priest who may not only to his parish responsibilities but to the be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame because many poor of his community. A he “used the game for a more noble purpose”. strong advocate of social justice, he organized a wide variety of charities named after St. Marin de One of the most unusual and extraordinary Porres, a 16th-century South American priest moments in professional sports took place in 1950 famed for his work on behalf of those living in when a (NHL) player and poverty. Father Costello had a deep love and great member of a Stanley Cup championship team quit at concern for those struggling on the margins and, the height of his spectacular sports career to therefore, spent much of his time collecting food, become a Catholic priest. Les Costello did just that, furniture, and clothing, which he freely distributed choosing the Catholic Church over the NHL. to the needy. Lester John Thomas Costello was born on One of the families he helped on several February 16, 1928, in South Porcupine, Ontario, a occasions was that of Sharon and Jerry Twain. small community in the northern province. Born to Their daughter was Shania Twain, who later immigrant parents, his father, like the majority of became a highly successful country singer. In fact, men in that Northern Ontario community, worked in years later when Shania Twain learned that gold mines. As a youth, Costello was an Costello’s church was raising money for a new exceptionally skilled hockey player and was invited organ, she promptly sent him $5,000. to play for St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto in the early 1940s. He was drafted by In order to generate even more funding for more the , playing with them for two charities, Father Costello formed a team of hockey- seasons and was an important player on the team playing Roman Catholic priests in 1963. Called the when the Maple Leafs won the 1948 Stanley Cup ‘Flying Fathers’, he recruited priests from all over championship. Canada. Initially, this was to be a one-time event. However, the Flying Fathers were an immediate During the following season, Costello was sports draw and began receiving invitations to tour irritated by the team coach (Hap Day), who was and play exhibition hockey games against local highly negative and constantly critical of players. teams across After one practice, Costello skated up to the coach North America. handing him his hockey stick, saying, “If you’re so All proceeds were good, you do it!” His dissent resulted in Costello donated to being demoted and sent off to a minor league charities. hockey team in Pittsburgh, PA. It was in Pittsburgh that Costello started to think more deeply about the One such purpose of his life. Concerned about simply being event featured the what he called a “hockey bum,” Costello began Flying Fathers reflecting on an increasing desire to become a versus the Maple Roman Catholic priest. Leaf Old Timers on March 18, 1984. In 1950 he was returned to the Maple Leafs but The two teams left hockey that year to study for the priesthood at played to a large St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto. Costello was number of sports ordained in 1957, where he was assigned to a parish spectators at Maple in Schumacher Ontario (a few kms from ). Leaf Gardens, As the only professional hockey player to leave the raising money for sport to become a priest, his vocational shift was cancer research. In widely reported in newspapers, where it was noted 1970 the Flying that his pay dropped from $7,200 a year to $50 a Fathers toured month as a parish priest. Father Costello never Europe, where they “Father Costello has been there for my family PRIEST with a PUCK, many times over the years. Whether it was to continued find my grandmother a second-hand fridge; marry my parents; give our family funeral also met with Pope Paul VI. services - including our beloved Mom and Dad; Over the years, the hockey- or just plain joining in on a good joke. He’s playing priests established an always quick to smile and share his zest for life. impressive record - 900 wins, 6 losses, and one tie. The goodness of God is with this very special More impressive and important was the fact they man and he shares that spirit with everyone raised more than $4 million for charity. around him. We all love him.” In 2002, during a Flying Friends and fans of Fathers game at Father Costello launched Kincardine, Ontario, Fr. a foundation in his name to Costello was hit in the face raise funds for food banks, by a puck, causing him to homeless shelters, and fall back and hit his head other organizations on the ice. The following committed to helping the day he awakened feeling poor. In addition, a hockey dizzy and with an intense rink in the town of Cobalt, headache. Admitted into a Ontario, is named for the hospital, Fr. Costello priest, and a major street slipped into a coma and in Schumacher was died a few days later on renamed Father Costello December 10, 2002, at the Drive. Ken Campbell, a age of 74. Because of the senior writer for Hockey priest’s popularity, his parish was unable to News advocates that Fr. accommodate the thousands expected for his Costello should be inducted into the funeral so the service was, appropriately, held in a Hockey Hall of Fame, saying that no hockey rink - the McIntyre Arena in Schumacher. professional hockey player “has Nearly 2,500 people attended from all over Canada. ever used the game for a more noble Country and Western singer, Shania Twain, was purpose.” unable to attend, but sent this statement of tribute to Fr. Costello: submitted by Audrey King

WANT YOUR NAME IN PRINT? TIME IS RUNNING OUT! DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS SUNDAY MAY 23rd “SOUP Have a favourite soup? & SALAD” a favourite salad? SPECIAL EDITION Did your mom have some recipes you hoped she’d make when you visited? Do you have some recipes that are your “go to” when you need some loving? Do you have some recipes you save for “special” company? If you are willing to share “your secrets” we would love to include them!! Send me the recipe(s): [email protected] or [email protected] Here are some other things I would Ah...... Memories! have told him about my childhood A young man asked the other day……………. if I figured his system could have “What was your favourite fast food when you handled it: were growing up?” “We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,” I informed him, “All the food was slow.” Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, travelled “C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?” out of the country, or had a credit card. “It was a place called 'home’,” I explained. “Mom My parents never drove me to school. I had a cooked every day and when Dad got home from bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and work, we sat down together at the dining room only had one speed (slow). table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.” We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was the station went off the air at 11:00 pm, after afraid he was going to suffer serious internal playing the national anthem and a poem about damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I God. It came back on the air at about 6:00 a.m. had to have permission to leave the table. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people... Older Than Dirt Quiz I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, Count all the ones that you remember, NOT the you had to listen and make sure some people ones you were told about! Ratings at the bottom. you didn't know weren't already using the line. Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk 1. Candy cigarettes was, and so was bread. 2. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes 3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles All newspapers were delivered by boys and all 4. Party lines on the telephones boys delivered newspapers - my brother 5. Newsreels before the movie delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had 6. TV test patterns that came on at night to get up at 5:00 am every morning. after the last show and were there until Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At TV shows started again in the morning. least, they did in the movies! There were no (there were only 3 channels!! If you had a movie ratings because all movies were produced TV!! for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity 7. Pea-shooters or violence or most anything offensive. 8. Howdy Doody 9. 45 RPM records When my Dad was cleaning out my 10. 78 rpm records grandmother's house he brought me an old 11. Hi-fi records 33 1/3 rpm Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a 12. Metal ice trays with lever stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew 13. Blue flashbulb immediately what it was, but my daughter had no 14. Cork popguns idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt 15. Studebakers shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that 16. Wash tub wringers sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. If you remembered 0 - 3 = You're still young If you remembered 3 - 6 = You’re getting older Head lights dimmer switches were on the floor. If you remembered 7 - 10 = Don't tell your age, Ignition switches on the dashboard. Hand signals If you remembered 11 - 16 = You're older than were used for cars without turn signals. dirt!!! Pant leg clips were worn for bicycles without chain guards.

I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life. submitted by Pat Shield

Church office is staffed for Minister: Rev. Jennifer Palin ‘phone calls and e-mails. Please no visits while we Music Tina Faye weather the pandemic storm. Facilitator: Church Emily McLean Administrator: Szekely Custodian: Kim Morgan Together in spirit while we practice physical distancing.

Celebrating almost 7 years of being an Affirming Congregation 230 The Donway West, Toronto, ON M3B 2V8 ‘ phone (416) 444 - 8444 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.donwaycovenant.com