This Sunday, lunch is on the grill, and every burger helps a kid at Grace Orphanage start the school year well.

After both services (8:30 and 10:30), we're firing up the BBQ in the parking lot at Nanaimo Christian School. The burgers have no price. You give what you'd like, and every dollar goes directly to iWOF's Back to School 2026 campaign for Grace Orphanage.

Why Grace Orphanage

Oceanside has supported the kids at Grace Orphanage for many years. It's one of those relationships that doesn't make a lot of noise, but it's been part of who we are for a long time.

Grace Orphanage is a home for orphaned children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, just outside the city of Uvira. Since 2008, they've given kids who lost their families a safe place to live, with food, clothing, health care and school. Today, 48 children call it home. They welcome kids from every tribe and every background, and each of them grows up knowing they're loved and that God has a purpose for their life.

The team there believes education is the best way out of poverty, and they've built their home around that. The kids attend a good school, and a teacher comes in five afternoons a week to help the ones who need extra support. With help from the International Widows & Orphans Fund (iWOF), a registered Canadian charity, they've built houses for the children, a Reading Centre, and a garden that grows their own food.

This year's Back to School campaign covers backpacks with supplies, uniforms, after-school tutoring, and the cost of the programs. It reaches every student at Grace Orphanage and 50 sponsored kids from the surrounding community. It also helps six students who've made it to university keep going. They're young people preparing to lead in their own community.

James writes that the kind of faith God accepts looks after orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27).

Following Jesus has always looked like this: noticing the kids nobody else is looking out for, and doing something about it.

Ways to give

Grab a burger on Sunday. It's by donation, and you can pay with cash, tap, or the QR code at the table. Every dollar goes straight to iWOF. It's lunch for you and a school year for someone else.

Give online. You can donate directly to the campaign through CanadaHelps. You'll get an instant tax receipt, and it works whether or not you can make it on Sunday.

Donations made via card or online are eligible for tax receipts.

Share it. Send the link to friends and family. The campaign is counting on people telling people.

See you in the parking lot.