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Mission and Service Story – October 4: Breakfast Club

At Plymouth-Trinity United Church, the weekly breakfast program helps families and community members feel welcome and connected before worship.Here is the Mission and Service Story for October 4, 2026.

At Plymouth-Trinity United Church in Sherbrooke, QC, a Sunday morning breakfast is helping families connect with their church community, and creating opportunities for the congregation to build new partnerships in the neighbourhood. 

“Breakfast Club” started in January 2025 after Pastor Samuel Vauvert Dansokho and members of the congregation started thinking about how they could better support families who were often arriving late for worship. For families with several young children, getting everyone ready and out the door on a Sunday morning can be quite difficult. Rather than seeing that as a problem, the congregation decided to try something different by inviting everyone to come early for a free breakfast. 

The first Breakfast Club welcomed more than 25 people, about half of them children. Attendance has since steadied at 10-15 people each Sunday. 

The program is intentional and straightforward. Breakfast might include cereal, toast, oatmeal, fruit, and baked goods. Sometimes even hot dogs! But beyond nourishment for the body, the program has also become an opportunity for people to spend time together and nourish their souls in community. 

Our gifts through Mission and Service help the initiative sustain and grow, alongside significant contributions from the congregation and local partners. Community members have donated baked goods, fruit, and money, while a local international grocery store provides day-old bread. Any extras are sent home with community members.  

There are plans to consider opening the program more widely to the surrounding neighbourhood as capacity allows. 

For Shanna Bernier, who helped plan the initiative, the success of Breakfast Club is already clear. Families are being fed, food is being diverted from waste, a local business has become a partner, and people are spending time together at church. 

“Generosity has been abundant, not only in the form of a grant but in baked goods and fruit prepared by community members, in financial donations, and in fundraising through a Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper. Pastor Samuel made a connection with a local international grocery store, securing an ongoing donation of “day-old” breads, which can be eaten at a Toast Bar. When there have been larger donations, loaves of bread are frozen and shared throughout the community.” 

Our gifts to Mission and Service help congregations respond to the needs they see in their own communities. At Plymouth-Trinity United Church, that support has helped turn a practical idea into an ongoing ministry that brings families, volunteers, local businesses, and the wider community together. Let’s give generously. 

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Use the accompanying PowerPoint slides for a visual overview.

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Access this story as a printable PDF here.

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More Mission and Service stories are here!

Mission and Service Stories were previously called Minutes for Mission.