A glimmer of hope and gift of love ...

Every once in awhile you stumble on to something that causes you to pause and smile and realize the impact that small gestures can have ... it's like the old cause-effect adage: "a butterfly in China fluttered her wings ..."

At First Presbyterian Church in Portage a decision was made to support a donation of comfort dolls to ICross Canada, a charity who collect these beautiful little hand crafted dolls, and use them as packing material for humanitarian aid being sent overseas. The intent is that the packing material is taken out and given to children at the receiving end, giving them a tiny beautiful little toy/pal to play with ...

The Comfort Doll effort started slowly at First ... a few dolls trickled in during the first weeks ... then a few more ... until just after Christmas there were 97 comfort dolls to be packaged up and sent off ... the organizers receiving the dolls informed the organizer at Portage that their priority now is helping Haiti, meaning on the Sunday that we sang a lament hymn from the Presbyterian Church on the earthquake in Haiti, these little friends would begin making thier way to the hands of children in Haiti along with much needed humanitarian and medical supplies ...

97 little friends from Portage jave begun thier journey and this week 64 more appeared in the basket at the back of the Sanctuary ... The laughter and joy these BEAUTIFUL little people brought the congregation is a reminder that the few minutes spent creating a simple and colourful doll makes a difference half a world away ... Making a difference in the world can sometimes be THAT simple ...

Thanks to the knitters in Portage who have crafted these beautiful little dolls!! It's a glimmer of grace and truly a gift of love !!