This week in Christian history: Billy Graham honor, Rowan Williams becomes Archbishop of Canterbury
British medical missionary to Canada born – Feb. 28, 1865
This week marks the anniversary of when medical missionary Wilfred Grenfell, best known for his work among fishermen communities in Canada, was born in Parkgate, Wales.
In 1892, Grenfell traveled to Canada, eventually ending up in Labrador and Northern Newfoundland, where he centered his charitable efforts on helping local coastal communities.
“[Grenfell] raised funds to build hospitals, the first situated at Battle Harbour on the Labrador coast, near the Strait of belle Isle, as well as to purchase sailing vessels for travel up and down the coast and to recruit staff to help him,” the International Grenfell Association noted.
“Over the course of the next twenty years he set up cooperatives, provided religious services, established a handicrafts and industrial unit, built orphanages and schools, and encouraged healthier eating by growing vegetables and even introduced a reindeer herd to provide extra meat.”
