Members

Margaret Davoll - Karen French - Sue Morton - Carole Osselton - Freda Richards

Charitable giving has averaged around £2000 pa based on 5% income, calculated from the budgets of the 2 previous years. Despite the fact that St Mary’s expenses continue to exceed income, church members at the 2007 APCM expressed their continued support for charitable giving as an important way for us to show Christ’s love for all. Members asked PCC to consider how best to continue charitable giving in the future and PCC considered this at its meeting on 30 October 2007. PCC support the principle of giving 5% of income, and suggested this take place earlier in the church’s financial year, in April/May, rather than December as at present, possibly from 2009. They discussed the parable of the talents as a possible way of raising money specifically for charity. They agreed it would be helpful to ask other churches in the diocese about their charitable giving and Malcolm agreed to make enquiries.

Members of Mission Group are heartened by the support of the congregation and PCC. We met twice in 2007; giving totalled £1974. We received 28 requests for help from a wide variety of organisations and individuals and reported this to PCC on 20 November 2007. PCC approved our recommendations for 2007 giving as follows:

1) Vio - Home of Hope, Romania [Global Care’s Sponsor a Child project] £224

2) USPG – Archdeacon Stephen Taylor in Brazil £380

3) Coventry Myton Hospice Appeal £380

4) Headway [Coventry and Warwickshire branch] – helping people recover from serious head injuries £260

5) Gilead Community Development Centre, Luweero, Uganda – continued support c/o Nobby Clarke, St James’ Church, Fletchamstead £180

6) Yeldall Christian Centres – supporting their work with ex-offenders, in particular the homeless, alcohol and drug addiction. £380

7) Coventry Diocese Youth Project £150

TOTAL £1974

We continue to update Mission Board in the foyer throughout the year so that members of the congregation, and visitors to the church, can see and read the latest information.
This includes newsletters, thank-you’s and photos/cards and details in St Mary’s website, including an extract from a talk about charitable giving at a “worship for all” service on 4 March 2007. Please continue to pray for the work of Global Care, for Vio and the Home of Hope children and staff in Romania; for Stephen in Rio de Janeiro; for Nobby and the people of Luweero; for the Coventry Myton Hospice fund-raising team; for Yeldall Christian Centres; for Headway [Coventry and Warwickshire]; and for the Coventry Diocesan Youth Project.

Sue Morton, for Mission Group

The following is an extract from a talk by Sue Morton about St Mary’s charitable giving; Worship for All service, St Mary’s, 4th March 2007.

As members of St Mary’s, we try to do our best to help people in all sorts of situations, as our Lord Jesus would want us to.
Last year, in 2006, St Mary’s supported 7 charities and I’m now going to tell you more about them.

Sponsorship of Viorica and Global Care’s Home of Hope in Romania
Global Care is a well known and highly regarded local charity, first registered as a charity by Ron Newby in 1983.
Ron, on a visit to Romania, saw how many children in Romania’s orphanages and hospitals were neglected - locked up in hospital rooms and left to die – their living conditions were filthy and wretched. He wanted to help but didn’t want to build a large institution – Ron and Global Care wanted a family environment, and a 2 storey house was finally bought to house 2 family units of 8 children in each – the Home of Hope opened in 1992 and a committed Romanian Christian couple, Doctors Ioan and Lucy Pasca devoted themselves to the new home.
The Romanian Government believed that the children who went to the Home of Hope were mentally retarded and would never improve, but from those simple beginnings of love and hope, those children have blossomed. They attend local schools and have achieved so much against all the odds. The Home has staff called “Mamas” and “Papas”, so that the children have a real sense of family love and security – it’s now regarded as a “centre of excellence” in Romania. The children are well educated, lively, fun loving – many are Christians - many enjoy sport and music.

There are many sponsors of the children throughout the UK.
St Mary’s has supported Viorica since she was 7 – she’ll be 18 this June. We donated £224 in 2006 to sponsor her. Vio has lived in the Home of Hope since 1993 – she was then aged 4 and her mother simply could not afford to look after her and her 3 other children – they were desperately poor. Vio was badly malnourished when she first went to the Home; even today she seems tiny, slight in stature. This was particularly noticeable to us when we met Vio and some of the staff and children from the home – Global Care has arranged for them to come to the UK, to Coventry, in September 2003. We realised how tiny she was compared to some of our young people younger than her. We have agreed to support Vio until she leaves full time education in maybe the next year or so. We send cards to Vio for her birthday and at Christmas. She’s done well at school and is now training to be a baker at the local technical school.

Some of the children, originally cared for since babies, have now left the Home and are independent. There’s a flat for the older children as a sort of half-way house, to bridge that transition from the Home to full independence.

So that’s the good news about Vio and the Home of Hope - I have a video about the home and anyone can borrow it.

USPG – the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel – Archdeacon Stephen Taylor
We have supported the missionary work of the Reverend Stephen Taylor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America since 1996 – in 2006 we donated £400.
We originally heard about Stephen through Margaret Davoll – Margaret was a newly appointed USPG link worker and while attending a training course at USPG headquarters in London, she heard about Stephen, newly appointed to missionary work in Brazil. Many of us met Stephen when he came to St Mary’s in 1999 while on home leave. So, in a way, we feel close to Stephen, we feel connected – we know that he works in some of the most deprived areas of Rio, such poverty and neglect that it’s beyond our understanding – imagine people living on rubbish dumps; imagine communities controlled by drug barons, where healthcare is a lottery, and you might start to get an idea of the difficulties that Stephen lives with day by day. He supports local communities, helping to train local priests and community workers, he represents the disadvantaged. In this way, he reflects the life and work of our Lord Jesus.

Read the “Window” newsletter on the Mission notice board and hear all about Stephen’s latest news.

Nobby Clarke and the Luweero Clinic
We’ve supported Nobby Clarke and the Luweero project since 1999 – Nobby is a fireman, and he worships at St James Church, Fletchamstead Highway, in Tile Hill.
He has been the driving force behind setting up a medical clinic in Luweero in Uganda, Africa - the clinic opened in February 2000 - funds pay for Nurse Gladys to screen hundreds of children for many illnesses ranging from headache to malaria - more serious cases such as TB, HIV, Aids are referred to a doctor, where previously there was no healthcare. Those of you who have heard Nobby give talks at St Mary’s will know of his love and compassion for the children and the community in Luweero; he believes that Africa gets a bad press, that charity is not just about giving money, its about action to help people help themselves.
That is what Luweero is about and Nobby continues his ministry to work tirelessly for the Luweero community – he’s now established the Gilead Health Development Charity which aims to support the ongoing development of the Luweero Clinic. I’ve some leaflets for anyone interested in knowing more about his work - he’s keen for committed people to join him and visit Luweero.

The Coventry Myton Hospice Appeal
We’ve supported the Coventry Myton Hospice Appeal since 2002 - in 2006 we donated £400. As you probably know, the appeal is going well and work should start on building the foundations of the hospice in the grounds of Walsgrave Hospital [UHCW] later this year.
The Coventry Telegraph regularly publishes news from the fundraising team about the progress of the appeal. Of course, once the £5m target is met and the hospice has been built, the fund-raising and support will need to continue. This is a cause close to everyone’s heart.

Headway Coventry and Warwickshire
Headway is a national brain injury charity. Their local branch in Coventry/Warwickshire is based in Harp Place, Sandy Lane, and we’ve donated money for 2 years, in 2005 and 2006 - £280 each year.
The aim of the charity is to directly improve the quality of life for those who have survived serious brain injuries, to help them and their families and carers. This is a small charity and they really appreciative any help given.

The Coventry Diocesan Youth Project
We donated £170 in 2005 and again in 2006, to the Coventry Diocesan Youth Project to help pay for the work of a deanery youth worker, Ed Baynes Clark.
Ed spends much of his time at Ernesford Grange School, supporting children there. He had led 2 youth camps last summer and helped run a city-wide Alpha course which attracted 120 young people from all denominations throughout Coventry. He’s hoping to take a small group of young people to Namibia this summer to give practical help to a local community over there; a project supported by the Cathedral’s International Department. Ed is an enthusiastic individual, committed to young people.

Yeldall
And last but not least I’d like to tell you about the work of the Yeldall community. Yeldall is a residential Christian community located near Reading, dedicated to helping men overcome their addiction to drink and/or drugs. It started off with a chance encounter on a tube train between Bill and Joanie Yoder and a young addict called Derek.
Bill and Joanie were touched by his problems and they started to take in people to their own home and later bought Yeldall Manor in 1977 – they called it a house in the country, a house of healing and hope. And it has been – so many addicts, so many people healed by positive Christian love and support. It’s a tough and challenging place for residents and staff. St Mary’s donated money to Yeldall originally in the late 1990s [3 years from 1997 to 1999] and since 2004, we have given £400 each year. Read the newsletters on the Mission notice-board for more detail about Yeldall.

Some of the good news about mission at St Mary’s.

Sue Morton

Members
Margaret Davoll - Karen French - Sue Morton - Carole Osselton - Freda Richards

Charitable giving totalled £2074 for 2006.

Members of Mission Group met twice 2006. We received 25 requests for help from a wide variety of organisations and individuals and reported this to PCC on 21 November 2006. PCC approved our recommendations for 2006 giving as follows:

1) Vio - Home of Hope, Romania [Global Care’s Sponsor a Child project] £224

2) USPG – Archdeacon Stephen Taylor in Brazil £400

3) Coventry Myton Hospice Appeal £400

4) Headway [Coventry and Warwickshire branch] – helping people recover from serious head injuries £280

5) Luweero Medical Centre, Uganda – now k/a Gilead Health – continued support c/o Nobby Clarke, St James’ Church, Fletchamstead £200

6) Yeldall Christian Centres – supporting their work with ex-offenders, in particular the homeless, alcohol and drug addiction. £400

7) Coventry Diocese Youth Project £170

TOTAL £2074

We update Mission Board in the foyer throughout the year so that members of the congregation, and visitors to the church, can see and read the latest information. This includes newsletters, thank-you’s and photos/cards. Please continue to pray for the work of Global Care, for Vio and the Home of Hope children and staff in Romania; for Stephen in Rio de Janeiro; for Nobby and the children in Luweero; for the Coventry Myton Hospice fund-raising team; for Yeldall Christian Centres; for Headway [Coventry and Warwickshire]; and for the Coventry Diocesan Youth Project.

Over recent years, charitable giving has averaged around £2000 pa based on 5% income, calculated from the budgets of the 2 previous years. St Mary’s presently has financial problems with a serious shortfall of funds – our expenses exceed our income. At its meeting on 21 November 2006, PCC agreed continued charitable giving for 2006 after much debate. PCC members were mindful of the needs of the groups detailed above; they were also mindful of our mission work as a reflection of our church’s faith in the wider community.

PCC asked that this matter be brought to the attention of members of the church at the APCM.

Sue Morton, for Mission Group