Canadian Mennonite
Volume 12, No. 3
February 4, 2008
Sun-powered education
Solar panels now help power Rockway Mennonite Collegiate
Kitchener, Ont.
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Environmental superhero Photovoltaic Man and “Bob Dylan” made special appearances at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate last month as the school switched on its fledgling solar power system.
Echoing the “we can do it attitude” of joy and fun, the Jan. 15 celebration was chaired by Photovoltaic Man—mild-mannered student Alec Barnett—and featured teacher John Moyer doing his interpretation of Dylan’s ’60s classic “The Times They Are A Changin’, ” appropriately re-titled “The Climate Is A Changin’. ”
ARISE Technologies president and CEO Ian MacLellan (whose Cambridge, Ont., company built and installed the new photovoltaic system), student Rebekka Gondosch and Rockway principal Terry Schellenberg flipped the switch to have “first light,” a direct reference to the petroleum industry’s “first oil” from a new well. A prayer of blessing was brought by David Martin, executive minister of MC Eastern Canada.
Local federal, provincial and regional elected representatives and the executive team from ARISE Technologies attended the celebration.
Rolf Thiessen, the teacher in charge of the project and celebration, said that solar energy is part of caring for the creation God has given humans to steward. Conservation and renewable energy sources are part of “a reconciliation with the Creator and creation,” he said.
Rockway students raised $15,000 over three years to install the six solar panels on the southern exposure of their school building. These funds were matched by the Toronto Dominion Friends of the Environment Foundation, the Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence and the KW Community Foundation.
The installation is a small one, producing only one-kilowatt of electricity, but the school hopes to install more panels over time as students continue to raise funds for the project.
In the meantime, the current installation will form a significant teaching tool for the school. Plans are underway to have a public display to show students and visitors how much electricity the panels are producing at any given time. Such information can be used by physics and math classes, as well as environmental studies and religious classes.
The environmental project encompasses more than just the panels; a Youth Environment Summit, co-sponsored with Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, is planned for Feb. 29 at Rockway.
Making a difference
Nutana Park Mennonite sees its relationship to Mennonite Central Committee as a marriage partnership
Saskatoon, Sask.
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Posters promoting Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) programs and events can be found on every bulletin board in Nutana Park Mennonite Church.
“These are teaching tools,” says pastor Anita Retzlaff as she counts 15 such posters on bulletin boards around the church. “We are an ordinary congregation, but people here are passionate about MCC.”
Church leaders play a key role in promoting the work of MCC, says Retzlaff, who has been a member of the congregation of about 500 for more than 30 years and a part of the pastoral staff for 12.
Every week she spends about three to four hours processing mail. This provides her with a large selection of information that could be shared with the congregation, but she makes a conscious choice to highlight the work of MCC. “We need MCC and MCC needs us,” she says. “MCC provides the structure and opportunities, and we participate with cash and our own resources and energy.”
While some of the older congregants have first-hand memories of assistance provided through MCC, the challenge is to pass on this passion and enthusiasm for MCC through engaging youths in the organization’s work, explains Retzlaff.
Youths, she says, have a social conscience and are interested in MCC activities relating to the environment, racial tension, peacebuilding and justice. “I believe our younger adults consider their lives within the realities of the world around them,” she says. “They are aware of the pain in this world and hopeful that they can make a difference.”
Young adults from Nutana Park Mennonite Church participate in the Menno Mile—a five-kilometre run or three-kilometre walk to raise funds for the MCC Saskatchewan Relief Sale. They also work in thrift shops, raise funds for MCC projects and sponsor children through the Global Family Program.
During the past three decades the church has sponsored 29 families through MCC Saskatchewan’s refugee assistance program. “When we hear that another family needs sponsors, we always have a group of individuals who meet the challenge,” says Retzlaff.
She describes her church’s relationship with MCC as a marriage partnership: “A flexible relationship where there is give and take. Sometimes the church provides direction to MCC and other times the church waits for MCC to provide direction.”