When Emily Reesor and the rest of the staff at Fort Langley Evangelical Free Church heard about the new attestation requirement for the Canada Summer Jobs grant program, they didn’t take the concerns overly seriously at first. They thought there must be some kind of mistake. But they quickly realized that it was true, the funds they relied on every summer to hire students would no longer be available to them.
“We have applied for and received summer student funding for many years, and have employed amazing young people each summer,” says Reesor. “One of these students has gone on to be our worship pastor, another is now trained as a marriage and family therapist – it has been a mutually beneficial experience as we are able to offer programming to the community that we otherwise couldn’t.” The church has used the funds to hire students to run summer camp programs, including outreach with seniors and other community members.
Like many Canadian congregations, the team at Fort Langley completed a paper application and provided an alternate attestation, and they were declined. Emily Reesor joins our EFC podcast to tell us what happened next, and what the change in the program means for this West Coast congregation.
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