When parishioners at Christ Church Warwick asked Rev. Barry Dunsmore if he'd be interested in running their church, he and his wife Hilda didn't quickly say yes.

The Dunsmores have no real interest in living in a community where they sit back relax and drink tea endlessly.

"We had to determine if we were even needed here," said Rev. Dunsmore. "I think Bermuda is an easy place to come and make a buck, but we were not sure if it would be easy to make a difference," he added.

His wife Hilda is a gynaecologist and he explained that a sense of purpose is much more important to her than money. "There had to be work here that would be fulfilling for her as well," he said.

After careful investigation, the couple felt they could be of service to the Island, and agreed to come.

That was almost a year and a half ago. Rev. Dunsmore was installed as the church's 29th minister in February 2009.

Dr. Dunsmore took up a vacancy at the Victoria Street Clinic while her husband dived straight into getting his parishioners to broaden their community service.

The result has been a number of new projects, among them — gardening.

The Manse on Manse Road in Paget is the residence of the minister for Christ Church Warwick. The Dunsmores started a vegetable and herb garden soon after they'd settled in.

On doing so they realised that there was plenty room for several others to grow food too. And so they opened up a section of the Manse grounds to their parishioners, a group of handicapped persons and a school group.

The area is to be used solely for gardening. "We want to encourage people to grow their own food," said Rev. Dunsmore.

Recognising the difficulty that many local families have in making ends meet, Rev. Dunsmore said people should not have to skimp on food and nutrition.

Bearing this in mind he's also stipulated that a percentage of the goods harvested must either be donated to charity or sold and the proceeds put in a fund for the homeless.

A plot has already been cleared by a group of handicapped people and they have also started planting.

Rev. Dunsmore explained that the activity goes a long way to helping members of that group feel useful.

It also serves as a skill building tool for them. They are overseen by a trained nurse.

Before coming to Bermuda, Rev. Dunsmore was minister at St. Columba's in central London. Despite being a Church of Scotland, the congregation comprised many ethnicities including Americans, Canadians, West Africans, East Africans and West Indians.

The church conducted community outreach projects specifically for the homeless. It operated a shelter for the homeless that served food and a laundry.

Rev. Dunsmore said he was struck by the numbers of homeless people in Bermuda, and so it's no surprise that Christ Church Warwick is working on initiatives to help them as well.

Funding is already in hand to convert a storeroom on the church grounds in Warwick, into a laundry and shower facility for the homeless.

Rev. Dunsmore said it was important to have the complete support of his parishioners.

"We need to do this together as a church," he said. "I explained the funding we needed and explained too that it had to come from everyone and that we didn't want one family to make a lump sum donation- everyone needs to be a part of it."

The result was that the funds raised, exceeded the amount necessary to get the project off the ground.

A specially formed church committee is working out all the details.

Setting aside his church hat, Rev. Dunsmore the private citizen, joined the board of the Eliza Doolittle Society.

The local charity is working on large scale plans to help offset the burden of high food prices on many people.

The provision of food for groups who want to run soup, kitchens and other charitable feeding programmes is one of the projects the Society will address. It is also investigating establishing a food bank.