On Valentine's Day, we had the privilege of blessing the lives of 40 single mothers from several residences across the City of Hamilton: a local transition home, a YWCA shelter, and at a tent city. The Valentine's Day gift bags and purses featured beauty products, chocolates and candies, as well as a beautifully-written "Father's Love Letter".
On her Facebook page, Bonnie Hamilton, who spearheads the GTA Outreach, wrote these words:
"The meaning of Valentine's Day may have originated from the story below, but every day should be made to love on humanity and share that no matter where we go. This Love from our Creator should radiate through us daily."
“Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 CE by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus. According to legend, the priest signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. Other accounts hold that it was St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop, for whom the holiday was named, though it is possible the two saints were actually one person. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.”
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