What started as a three-year contract to establish the Ecumenical Campus Ministry (ECM) has turned into a longstanding program soon to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Rev. Canon Erin Phillips has been with ECM from the beginning. Her enthusiasm and passion for supporting students at Lethbridge Polytechnic and the University of Lethbridge has not waned.
“I’m excited to get out of bed in the morning; I really do love it,” she says.
Historically, religions supported universities, and many older universities have church colleges and chapels. With a move to secularization in the 1960s, newer universities like the University of Lethbridge didn’t have the same affiliations. Volunteer chaplains provided part-time ministry services.
“A group of faculty from the college and the university, mostly retired faculty and some clergy, thought it was important that there be both the intellectual engagement of the church with the campus and pastoral support for students, faculty and staff,” says Phillips.
The founding group had discussions with the student affairs teams on both campuses and with four denominations to get a commitment of financial support, along with fundraising efforts of their own. The Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, United and Presbyterian churches came together to form the ECM, and the governing board recruited Phillips to become the chaplain starting in 1995.
Phillips originally came to Lethbridge intending to become a professor. She taught religious studies for two years in sabbatical replacements. When those contracts ended, she returned to her hometown of Winnipeg and worked on finishing her PhD dissertation. When she was offered the three-year chaplaincy with the ECM, she accepted it with the idea she’d continue looking for a position in academia when the contract ran out. When her contract was extended, Phillips trained to become an Anglican priest. She was ordained in 2002 and took on parish responsibilities at Coaldale’s Ascension Anglican Church.
“I thought I had the best gig in the world and both are gifts,” says Phillips.
Phillips and ECM volunteers have been hard at work over the past three decades providing various programs to support students, including theology reading groups with a dinner and discussion, pairing students far from home with local families, hosting suppers, distributing campus care parcels to ensure students had food during exam time, organizing the annual Cade Lecture series and providing refugee support. Through her work with refugees, she met a government-sponsored family from Syria. They developed such a connection that Phillips calls the children her grandkids.
“COVID changed a lot about what we could do,” says Phillips, adding volunteers, who are often retired folks, were vulnerable even with vaccinations. “By the spring of 2023, we knew food insecurity was an issue, and we knew students were struggling with anxiety and isolation.”
Smiles and Snacks, part of the Kerber Friendship Program, was born. Volunteers hand out snacks and smiles once a week at the college and university. Some volunteers bring their knitting or crocheting, and other craft materials are also available. The popular program never lacks volunteers.
“What I love now is the students are introducing themselves to each other and it’s becoming a little community,” she says.
The ECM was also instrumental in starting the Student Pantry Project where students can discreetly get sealed non-perishable food supplied by faculty, staff and students. ECM also provides Christmas dinners to students on their own over the holidays.
“Erin and ECM provide welcome community support to ULethbridge students,” says Kathleen Massey, Vice-President of Student Affairs. “From free snacks and warm nourishing meals to low-stress opportunities to meet other students like cookie decorating and crocheting, Erin and ECM focus on wellness and building community. We’re so grateful for their caring commitment to our students.”
Her work in service of students and the community hasn’t gone unnoticed. She received the University of Lethbridge Volunteer Award in 2016. In 2022, Phillips received the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. Her work through the ECM has helped to build a strong community.
“I have been very thankful for ECM and the efforts made to reach out to students and provide for their needs,” says Brad Parker, ULethbridge Associate Professor of Music. “As a board member representing a local church, I have seen how ECM helps to create connections between students on campus and the external community, where there is a tremendous amount of desire to help. My church, in partnership with ECM, has hosted some free meals and fellowship for student groups, where friendships were made, and fun was had by all.”
“For the past 30 years, ECM, and notably Erin Phillips, has been an organization that has continued to connect Lethbridge Polytechnic students with meaningful programs, food support, and a focus on well-being,” says Lori Harasem, Health Promotion Coordinator at Lethbridge Polytechnic. “From weekly snacks and pop-up crochet and knitting lessons to providing a holiday meal for those staying on campus during the December break, ECM volunteers along with Erin are familiar faces that students look forward to, and their weekly presence brings, as it has for three decades now, something to look forward to for employees and students alike. We are grateful for the continued support and look forward to many more years of supporting students together.”
Phillips’s devotion and tirelessness in making sure students are nourished body, mind and soul seem bottomless.
“I have no intention any time in the immediate future of retiring or leaving,” says Phillips. “I do love what I do, and I love the people I work with. The pandemic and now the political instability we’re experiencing focused me on what I think is important. A lot of what we’re doing in the chaplaincy and the parish are things I think are important. I am a firm believer in doing what you can, where you can, and in your own little way. I think we’re making a difference, and we’re helping people flourish in really difficult times.”
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Phillips and the ECM, a celebration is planned for Saturday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Markin Hall Atrium.