L’Arche Toronto

There are four homes that make up the L’Arche Toronto community. There are 4-5 core members in each house and a team of 4 assistants. We also have a leadership, homes and administrative support team of 10.

All of the houses are situated in neighbourhoods that reflect the cultural diversity of Toronto’s rich tapestry. International assistants are bound to find a corner of the city that will ease the initial pangs of home sickness. There is something quite unique about living community in a major city and being able to share and contribute to its vibrancy.

We make a real effort to get to know our neighbours. L’Arche Toronto is connected to local churches that community members attend and we have often been invited to participate in services or to introduce our traditions to other faith communities.

An exciting thing about living community in the city is that all of our core members get to experience the city through their work, volunteer and day placements. We have people working in Starbucks, at LUSH cosmetics, daycares, the food bank, office buildings and several non-profit community-based agencies as well as programs suited for those with higher needs.

Each Monday night the community comes together at the Gathering Place where we worship together. The GP, as we call it, is also where we do the assistant skills building, house our programs like art and music therapy and is where we celebrate as a community.