Holy Trinity Riverbend

Messy Wednesday: a bit like “Italian Villa meets Mr. Dressup”

Call it a leisurely, craft-happy evening fiesta . . . a communal fleshing out of life’s banquet . . . a smattering of everything kids love and adults need . . .that desperately needed change of scene that children are (literally!) screaming for and the solace parents are desiring by 4:30 pm on a Wednesday.

For the last year, we’ve enjoyed this simple idea: instead of mixing up some Kraft Dinner, we mix up dinner and crafts – the end result being a weekly adventure in real food around a large family table.  The shared experience of eating, along with often sharing the cooking – the communal art of preparation where both ingredients & individuals get blended together and changed for the better – fulfills a shared quest for meaningful community. Laughter and friendship are as salt and pepper to the soul, as well as to the soup!

But that’s not all you can expect from a Messy Wednesday. Some cook, some craft, and some just chill – we all take turns. Activity time reflects the same community-minded spirit as the food: art materials will be gleaned as much as possible from places like the Reuse Center (search it at www.edmonton.ca), and the crafts themselves are meant to be educational and inspiring, and follow the ‘lesson’ of the day from the Bible as much as possible.

Holy Trinity Riverbend’s great playroom for the kids, big kitchen, and huge open area for all forms of messiness make Messy Wednesdays an easy additon to your week.

How can you contribute to the fun? Contributions of food, craft supplies and other donations help to make the program hum. Donating your refundable recyclables helps us bring you the food and crafts that we enjoy each week, as well as keep things lit, watered, and heated. When you pile into your car on Wednesdays, pile that blue bag of pop cans, milk jugs, and yes, wine and beer bottles, in along with you. You can leave your bags in the church foyer, in the Messy Wednesday Recyclables box, and we’ll take it from there. Save yourself the hassle of going to the recycling depot and know your refund is going to support future Messy Wednesdays.

Also, we were lucky enough to have several of our participants volunteer their time and talents, from creating delicious main dishes to telling the children about interesting careers to devising fabulous crafts. If you’ve got a skill that you’d be willing to share with, let us know!

We had a special visitor recently: food writer and blogger Liane Faulder from the Edmonton Journal came along with her photographer colleague Walter to see what a Mess we get up to weekly.  The story and photo galleries can be found here.

For more information about Messy Wednesdays or to be added to our weekly e-mail list, please contact Rev. Nick Trussell, n.trussell@edmonton.anglican.ca