About Us
Our Mission
To prepare and deploy the church of the Ottawa region to love and care for people in our city and region during a time of crisis.
Our Team
Following the tornados that hit the Ottawa and surrounding region in the fall of 2018, a task force was formed to assess how the Christian community in the Ottawa region could provide a united and caring response to our city and region during a disaster or critical event. Several pastors, churches, and parachurch leaders (from local churches who were involved in the relief effort) came together, under the oversight of One Way Ministries, to form Respond Ottawa, as part of the Love Ottawa team. This Respond Ottawa Team will work to equip, train, inform and deploy the local church with an army of volunteers who can serve and minister into some of the deep pain and brokenness that is present in the lives of people as they navigate a crisis.
Donna Boisvert – Respond Ottawa Coordinator (Sequoia Community Church)
Michael Boisvert (Sequoia Church)
Jim Fergusson (Brookside Baptist Church)
Richard Long – Love Ottawa (Vineyard Ottawa)
Stephanie Seaver – First Place Options
Linda Cudmore – Connecting Streams Ottawa (The Gathering Ottawa)
David Sherwin (Zion-Memorial United Church)
Sandra Tharakan (Metropolitan Bible Church)
Our Vision
By 2023, we will be prepared to deal with a variety of crisis that could face our area. We will have a least 50 churches represented by the volunteers who have been working, trained, and prepared to act together. Deep friendships will have developed by people from different churches, as they have served together in sometimes challenging situations.
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Serving Opportunities
Respond Ottawa works in close partnership and under the direction of the City of Ottawa Emergency Management, Respond Ottawa will provide information and communicate serving opportunities for churches to be mobilized and deployed to assist in relief efforts.
Training & Resources
Respond Ottawa will seek out information and training to assist churches to assess their resources and ability to be a support and help to their community and city during an incident, event or crisis. Support and assessment tools will be developed and provided to those churches wanting to implement an emergency preparedness plan or ministry. In doing so, this will allow the Christian community to develop an informed, caring and unified response during a time of crisis in our city.
How You Can Get Involved
Respond Ottawa invites churches in the Ottawa region to partner with us, as we seek to develop an army of volunteers from churches across the National Capital Region. We are asking Pastors and Ministry Leaders to identify a person or persons in their church who can act as a primary contact for our Respond Ottawa team. Presently, we are building a database that will allow us to develop a local region-wide communication process and response, as we partner with our region to bring care, practical help and relief to those experiencing an event or crisis. If you would like to be on our email list, please use the form below to sign up.
For more information about how you can be involved, CONTACT US.
Donate Now
We have partnered with One Way Ministries to use Canada Helps to facilitate donations. Please click the button below to be directed to our donation page.
Our Partnerships
City of Ottawa
As per Emergency Management legislation and protocol, Respond Ottawa will deploy and mobilize, respecting the authority and under the direction of the City of Ottawa Emergency Management Team. Members of the RO team have met with City officials and are continuing to develop awareness and a willingness to offer support and resources, as a community partner. Our vision is to see the work of this team pave a whole new level of trust and appreciation for the church in Ottawa.
Samaritan’s Purse & Billy Graham Rapid Response Team
Respond Ottawa has already developed a great partnership with Samaritan’s Purse and Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, following the floods of 2017 and the tornados in fall of 2018. In March of 2019, Sharing Hope in Crisis Training was offered in cooperation with the Billy Graham Rapid Response team, at Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church. Participants from thirty-one churches in the region were represented at the training. The Respond Ottawa team will continue to seek out partners with experience in disaster response, emergency preparedness, and crisis ministry.
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
If you have any questions at all, please reach out to us using the form below.