Leading the way

Transcona

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This article was published 30/06/2023 (817 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They say it isn’t easy being green. But then again, nothing good comes easy, does it?

Transcona Memorial United Church (209 Yale Ave. W) has been working hard since 2018 to improve the ecological footprint of the church and its community spaces. On June 27, the church got a big boost from the federal government, when Elmwood-Transcona MP Daniel Blaikie was on hand to announce $480,000 in federal funding by way of the Green and Inclusive Buildings program for the church’s community services hub.

“We’re seeing more and more every season, and this year is no exception, the really disastrous effects of climate change. In order to be able to push back and be able to mitigate those effects, we need everybody on board and everybody doing their part,” Blaikie said.

Along with the church, TMUC has an accessible space that is widely used by community programs such as the Transcona Seniors Pickleball Club, Transcona Girl Guides, the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, and the Transcona Food Bank, among others.

The project — which is also receiving support from the city, province, and the United Church of Canada’s Faithful Footprints program for a total of $609,543 in outside funding — will see TMUC swap out its old gas furnace for both a series of heat pumps and a 98-per-cent efficient gas furnace; replace all lighting with LED lights; improve or add insulation to older parts of the church; and add 25 kilowatt solar panels to the church’s steep, southfacing roof.

“When the sun is shining, it’s just blazing down on that roof,” said Stephen McKendry-Smith, TMUC’s environmental co-ordinator. “We’ll be capturing the energy and lowering our costs and reducing the burden on our energy network. We’ll be reducing our energy consumption by about 80 per cent and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by over 33 tonnes per year.”

McKendry-Smith said that the church has been developing its environmental policy since 2019, though the pandemic slowed things down.

“I’m really grateful to the congregation, for the enthusiasm that the congregation had for this project right from the start,” he said. “The congregation jumped in with both feet. We’re a community of faith, and that was a demonstration of the faith that this community has.”

“We’re so lucky to be in this visionary community,” added Rev. Carol Fletcher, TMUC’s team minister. “The community of Transcona is a leader, and this project is evidence of it.”

“What we’re witnessing here is an extraordinary effort from an organization that does a lot of good in our community whose resources are dedicated to serving the community,“ Blaikie said. “That’s why it’s important that governments step up and have a role in supporting community organizations … to ensure they can continue to use those resources to help people in the community while doing what it takes to get our emissions down.”

Blaikie noted that some work was needed to get the federal government’s policy for the Green and Inclusive Buildings program changed to allow for faith-based organizations who provide space for secular community service groups, like Transcona Memorial United Church, to qualify for funding.

“We may be a church, but we are so much more than that,” Fletcher added.