{"id":32490,"date":"2023-01-19T18:50:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T23:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32490"},"modified":"2023-01-19T18:50:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T23:50:51","slug":"welcoming-arms-honoured-for-community-leadership-in-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/welcoming-arms-honoured-for-community-leadership-in-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcoming Arms honoured for Community Leadership in Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As inflation continues to rise and even the basics have become less affordable, Aurora\u2019s Welcoming Arms is stepping up to help local residents make ends meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ecumenical organization, which provides a number of initiatives, including two weekly meal programs, for community members in need, was honoured by the Town of Aurora with the 2022 Community Leadership Award, part of the Town\u2019s Community Recognition Awards program.<br \/>Awarded at Town Hall last spring, the award is presented to an individual or organization \u201cthat has significantly enhanced the Town through their contribution, commitment and leadership in the areas of charitable giving, civic engagement, community events, or community spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTonight\u2019s award is being presented to Welcoming Arms, which has been serving those in need in Aurora since 2006,\u201d said event emcee Erin Cerenzia, Manager of Neighbourhood Network. \u201cWelcoming Arms is a true community leader and supporter. The services that Welcoming Arms offer have continued even throughout the pandemic and will continue into the future. For those of you who don\u2019t have the privilege of knowing this amazing charity \u2013 just as a quick example: During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the numbers of people in need in our community have skyrocketed, this small but mighty group of volunteers have found a way to meet this need, to grow, to engage with local businesses, volunteers, donors, to provide support to Aurorans who are in true need through their community meal programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery Wednesday evening, the volunteers at Welcoming Arms serve approximately 150 people from our community, allowing them a hot meal, a full belly, and great company. In addition, these volunteers also serve approximately 50 people a hot lunch every Thursday and these efforts have continued before, during and will continue after the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWelcoming Arms is also part of the team that helps host the Christmas Dream Dinner, a warm, celebratory meal, open on Christmas Day to all those who cannot afford to provide one themselves or who might be spending Christmas alone. This special dinner started over two decades ago and continues to be a staple in the Aurora community. Their community support doesn\u2019t stop at meals. Welcoming Arms also partners with accountants each year who volunteer their time and knowledge to help those in need with free tax clinics. Welcoming Arms truly cares and takes care of those in our community who need a helping hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accepting the award on behalf of the organization via video link was Board member Doug Steele who highlighted the meal programs \u2013 Welcome Table and Martha\u2019s Table, and their community outreach program, Bridging the Gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are very grateful for the Town for recognizing what we do and we love what we do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Brock Weir<br \/>Editor<br \/>Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F32490&amp;t=Welcoming%20Arms%20honoured%20for%20Community%20Leadership%20in%20Aurora&amp;s=100&amp;p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F32490&amp;p[images][0]=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2F2023-01-19-03.jpg&amp;p[title]=Welcoming%20Arms%20honoured%20for%20Community%20Leadership%20in%20Aurora\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F32490&amp;text=Like%3F\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Welcoming%20Arms%20honoured%20for%20Community%20Leadership%20in%20Aurora&amp;body=Like%3F:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F32490\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As inflation continues to rise and even the basics have become less affordable, Aurora\u2019s Welcoming Arms is stepping up to help local residents make ends meet. The ecumenical organization, which provides a number of initiatives, including two weekly meal programs, for community members in need, was honoured by the Town of Aurora with the 2022 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2023-01-19-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8s2","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 03:53:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}