The Helper Bees are an outreach program of the Church of the Apostles.  We focus on work in the community and partnering with others to help those in need in Guelph.  

We run a back to school backpack program in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington.  We provide school supplies to children that have newly arrived in Guelph and are working with CMHA WW.  The Program runs through August and we deliver the supplies before the first day of school.

Socktober is our annual sock drive to provide 5000 pairs of socks to be handed out by The Bench in downtown Guelph.   We work with places of worship, schools, businesses, and anyone that wants to collect socks for us.  The program will run for all of October and locations will be posted on our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/helper_bees/

Living Better On Less (LBOL) is a free educational program developed at the Church of the Apostles in 2009.  LBOL provides information to participants about living a healthy and simpler life by consuming less, spending less, and treading softly on the earth. The program is run over 6 sessions, each module focusing on a specific issue, such as various aspects of financial planning.

The Helper Bees have created a strategic partnership with the Guelph Tool Library (GTL) to run the Living Better on Less (LBOL) Program.  Our next sessions in late 2024 and early 2025 are focused on seniors, and will be designed to accommodate virtual/remote participation! To find out more about the program please contact us at livingbetteronless@guelphtoollibrary.org.

Living Better on Less has also created a new program called Crucial Conversations.  We invite leaders in the community to speak on topics related to the LBOL program as stand alone sessions.  Our sessions have included community leaders speaking on Food Security and Healthy Aging.  We will be offering more sessions in 2025.

Your Downtown Guelph Friends (YDGF) is a youth-led grassroots organization spearheaded by Kate Nixon. In high school, Kate started the organization and it has been growing ever since. On Fridays and Sundays, YDGF teams up with other partner organizations to hand out meals, hygiene items, clothes, and groceries to vulnerable populations in downtown Guelph. We are pleased to support this work by providing storage space for food and other items distributed by YDGF, and for Friday and Sunday meals to be prepared in our kitchens.

YDGF also advocates for affordable housing, and those struggling with mental health and addictions, delivers food hampers to low-income homes and are always working to create a safe and judgment free community for all.  You can learn more about YDGFs on their Instagram and Facebook Pages.

The former church of St. Matthias, located in the south end of Guelph, has a strong history of connection with the University Community.  That tradition carries on at the Church of the Apostles.  In 2019 we were able to host ECM for the dessert portion of their progressive dinner and for their Christmas Crokinole Tournament fundraiser.  Each year we are pleased to provide at least one meal for ECM Community Dinners

Founded in 1999 by parishioners Vicki Gojanovich, Jenny & Dan Waterston, and Dave Watson, and Carol Pederson, Breakfast Club ran for 24 years, staffed and managed by volunteers, operating in partnership with the Breakfast for Learning program through The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington and the administration staff of GCVI.

During Covid-19 restrictions Breakfast Club continued to offer a pre-packed lunch to students. Meals were prepared each morning in the kitchen, following both food-safety and covid-safety protocols, and distributed to students through the guidance office. 

In Feb 2023, Breakfast Club was relocated to the school cafeteria to meet the needs of bus students, many of whom arrive with very little time before the day begins. Many of our volunteers continue to serve in the new location.

Our Green Team provides a drop-off location for non-recyclable items such as batteries and small electronics, and also provides folded newspaper liners for compost bins.  

Bring us your: old glasses and cases, lightbulbs, batteries, old pens and pencils, markers, full size newspapers to be folded for you into kitchen garbage can liners for your use.

The meal programming for the Helper Bees Program ended in June 2023. We served over 25,000 meals and worked with over 200 different volunteers on the program. The program was completely self-funded based on grants and donations from the community. Thank you so much to everyone that supported us over the past three years!

The element of the Helper Bees that will remain as an outreach project of the church will be the Living Better on Less Program. Our recent funding supports this outreach program and will allow us to create modules for a Living Better on Less for Seniors program and Living Better on Less for Youth program.