Runnymede United Outreach - Christmas Shoeboxes

Date for Bringing to the Church – November 30, 2025

Runnymede is supporting Unison Health and Community Services, located at Rogers Road and Keele Street just north of our church again this year. This agency supports moms, babies, families, adults and seniors with many programs including pre– and post natal classes, employment counselling and settlement advice. They are very happy to continue our connection through our shoebox donations. Boxes can be filled for moms, babies (try to be generic), and children ages 1-12.

It is time to begin to prepare your boxes! Please bring the wrapped filled boxes (lids wrapped separate from the bottoms) to the church for White Gift Sunday on November 30th at 10:30 a.m. or leave in the church office during the week of November 23rd, 2025

Choose to fill a Christmas box for one (or more) of the following: ·

• Baby Girl or Baby Boy

• Girl 1-3 years, 4-8 years, 9-12 years

• Boy 1-3 years, 4-8 years, 9-12 years

• Mother/Woman

• Father/Man

Please see this document for more information on Christmas Shoeboxes, including ideas and labels.

If you cannot fill a shoebox but wish to support this project, please consider making a donation towards a gift card by doing an e-transfer to treasurer@runnymedeunited.org

Gift cards at $25 value will be handed out to families for purchases such as larger winter items like boots or coats, food or medicines. Thank you. 

Advent Outreach Angeltree Christmas Gifts-Prison Fellowship Canada

This Advent project supports children who have a parent or guardian who is in jail. The Angel Tree Christmas program allows incarcerated prisoners to identify their children ages 18 and under and suggest a Christmas gift for them which is then purchased by a supporting church or community group or individual. Delivery is made before Christmas to the caregiver of the named child(ren).

Children can be living in the city or in an area further afield, even in another province. Caregivers are contacted to confirm addresses and to help determine the appropriateness of the suggested Christmas gift valued at $40.00. The gift shopper buys the gift and then delivers the present before Christmas. This opportunity to make a child feel good at Christmas and to allow the parent to feel engaged through the identification of a particular gift for their child is a win-win situation. Some children open their gift with their parent on the phone or on Facetime watching them. Our church has been involved with Prison Fellowship Canada since 2003. We are one of many churches supporting this outreach initiative.

Our connection with Prison Fellowship Canada came about after a tragic murder of one of our key church members by her own son in 2000. Gloria Fell was a retired school teacher who supported Rev. Linda Levin with many projects and activities in the church. Sadly, her son Bill Fell, who suffered from mental issues, killed Gloria and the church reached out to Prison Fellowship Canada to support Bill and our congregation through his trial and subsequent imprisonment. 

One of the programs that we engaged with was the Angel Tree Christmas project that we have been supporting for 20 years. Congregants are encouraged to donate money to help cover the costs of the Christmas gifts for the children that the church has been assigned. Being in contact with the caregiver, doing the shopping and delivering the gift has fallen to a small group of folks, as confidentiality is most important in this program. 

In past years, Runnymede supported 5 children who live locally as well as 5 children who live in rural Ontario. In 99% of all cases the contact is well received and the gifts are most welcome. Gifts in rural Ontario or out of province (as in past years) are shipped by local carriers to the hometown where the child lives.  In previous years, if the donations were significant, our church also has made a lump sum donation to Prison Fellowship Canada to support its programs, including sending a child of a prisoner to summer camp or supporting adult programs within the prison system to engage the prisoners in Bible study or Faith and Justice programs.

Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree Christmas program connects church communities and individuals with the families of prisoners through the delivery of a Christmas gift on behalf of the incarcerated parent. Through this program, children not only receive a gift under the tree at Christmas but maintain connections and bonds with their incarcerated parent.

In our involvement with the Angel Tree Christmas project, we continue to support those struggling with incarceration and those children who are the collateral damage of having a parent in jail. Through our love and kindness, we hope that families will be positively affected by the efforts of our congregation to make a difference in a child’s life at Christmas time. Being engaged this way underlines Christ’s reminder to us--“I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:36. Making a difference for those in need underpins this advent outreach project. 

Overall, the involvement of Runnymede in this Advent outreach project over the years has allowed our congregation to turn a tragic heart-breaking event into one full of promise and caring for others. Prison Fellowship Canada is well aware of our commitment to their Angel Tree program. 

There are always heartfelt thanks given by the caregiver or relatives when the parcels are delivered. The children are almost always too young to really understand where the gifts are coming from. However the messages in the cards are from the parent and that is meaningful to many. Caregivers are often grandparents, mothers or even great aunts and they almost always understand the thought behind the gift-giving and underline for those children in their care who the gift is from and the love wrapped within it. 

In 2025, we have determined that we have sufficient funds to cover the expenses of gift-giving for 10 children, 5 living locally and 5 living outside the GTA.  Therefore, we will not be asking for donations to the Angel Tree fund for 2025.  But we will be able to support 10 children through the generous donations that have been carried over from 2024. Thank you for your generous commitment to this partnership with Prison Fellowship Canada.