history (cont’d)

By 1992, the congregation at Central Gospel Hall had become small enough that they made the difficult decision to close. At the same time, Red Rain’s vocalist and pianist Greg Paul, along with Karen Paul, began building a vision for doing outreach work with marginalized people in Toronto’s downtown core. This was the seed of what would grow to become Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto (or simply Sanctuary, as we prefer to be called). 

Sanctuary began operating out of 25 Charles Street in 1992, and in 1999 we launched a successful capital campaign to purchase the building (for $750,000, how times have changed!) with the help of many generous individual and corporate donors.

Since that time, the century-old building near Yonge and Bloor has been a haven of safety, security and respect for some of the most marginalized people in the city of Toronto. Our staff team has grown from it’s original 2 to a current total of 20, as we added more activities in response to our community’s dreams and needs. In that time, we have also continually adapted our understanding of outreach and ministry based on the wisdom and leadership of our friends on the street. 

Ever since that first fundraising campaign to buy the building, we have relied almost completely on the generosity of individual donors and small foundations to keep our doors open. Today, gifts from these sources make up over 70% of our annual operating budget.