Friday 26 January 2024

PORTHLEVEN

 Firstly, when brought up at our Autumn business meeting 2023, Porthleven Ecclesia agreed it would be good to take an active part in this year’s project, rather than just donate financially.

We approached St Petroc’s Breadline Centre in Penzance asking if the Survival Socks project would be of help to them over Christmas. They were really touched and said we were the only organisation that had approached them this Winter with such an offer. We found out that they have around 24 homeless in Penzance, 12 transient (hopefully short-term) and 12 long-term clients. We also discussed the contents of the socks so it was really helpful seeing a list of items you had thought through already. They agreed these were all really helpful plus gave us a few
extra ideas.
Thank you COG for agreeing to fund 24 pairs of socks at £10 per pair - these were sent via Amazon straight away which gave us the go ahead. As an Ecclesia, we wanted to financially provide for the contents of the socks so a small working group were delegated to research the items we wished to purchase to see how much it would all come to. The LORD is good, and wonderfully, a collection brothers and sisters made prior to Christmas provided over and above our list, so we were able to extend our list. Even a dog walker Sister Ali met one day donated money for the socks when Ali told her about it, plus a work colleague when he got to hear!!!
We realised that all of these items wouldn’t fit into a pair of socks so decided to make drawstring bags and amazingly, materials were gifted to us in just the right quantity. Again: thanks to the Lord’s provision!! We had a lovely morning with a group of sisters and their sewing machines preparing the bags, with labels produced by a brother to be sewn into the bags.
Small hand sanitiser
Small pack of wet wipes
Small pack of tissues
Roll on deodorant
Vaseline lip balm
Toothbrush
Small toothpaste
Multi-vitamins (30)
Small hand cream for dry hands
Pack of chewing gum
Comb
Pen - Ali found lovely ones with Bible verses on
Pocket crossword book
Chocolate bar
Hot chocolate sachet
Small pack Haribo sweets
Box of raisins
x4 protein crunch
Pack of nuts
We wrote a message on the back of an old Christmas card to go in each
bag from us too.
The Sunday before Christmas after our Breaking of Bread meeting, lots of brothers and sisters helped to fill up the bags. They were dropped off at St
Petroc’s over the Christmas weekend.
Thank you for being a catalyst to this outreach project. We really enjoyed working together and to feel we were helping our local community, be it a drop in the ocean. We know the problems in the world are immense, but it does seem better to do something than nothing until Jesus comes as King with God’s power to change things.




NOTTINGHAM

On Sunday 17th of December, some of the brothers and sisters at Nottingham Jarvis Avenue church were involved in preparing and filling socks for the homeless. Twelve pairs of socks were filled in total, with such items as hand gel, tissues, vitamins, toothbrushes etc, including a £5 Greggs voucher. We thought this was also an opportunity to preach the word of God, so cards were also made by sister Faith, which displayed a verse from the bible, and also included a card advertising the bible companion app. These were then taken out into the centre of Nottingham, midweek, and distributed to the homeless. We met some lovely homeless people, one of which had attended a Christian rehabilitation centre for addictions and now seemed to be in a better place. We were able to talk to him about our church at Jarvis Avenue. Another, had been on the streets, homeless, for a year, whilst another was telling us about how he had a son, and spent some time talking to my son Rhydian, who is only 9. All in all, each and every one of the pairs of socks was gratefully received.




ASHTON

 The survival socks project was a great way for Ashton under Lyne ecclesia and the welfare team to help the homeless and refugees,

We are in contact with a local assisted house for 16 and 17 year old unaccompanied refugees and they wanted to show the youngsters a traditional Christmas , we made up 19 sets of socks with small gifts and also provided a few board games and jigsaws, all involved were delighted,
In addition we assisted Lifeshare with in excess of 50 pairs of survival socks which contained anther pair of socks, tooth paste, toothbrushes chocolate, lypsl, granola bars, and some Greggs vouchers to the homeless in central manchester.
We have decided to make the Homeless our priority for 2024.
Thanks to COG who noticed we were supporting 2 causes and provided extra socks , which the ecclesia matched .
Here are a few photos of our welfare team stuffing socks, the box went to Incios home and the bags to Lifeshare.
Thanks to all at COG for this great initiative



MANSFIELD

 A report from our Mansfield church:

Here is a photo of brother John Bennett and sister Margaret presenting the socks to the editor of the local paper , along with a donation to the Beacon charity for the Homeless who were collecting to provide sleeping bags . The children made Christmas cards to go with the socks.



Monday 23 October 2023

SURVIVAL SOCKS

Our winter project is launched! If you would like paper copies of the flier posting out please let us know.




Wednesday 4 October 2023

KNITTTING

 

Here's a report from a team that are running a great knitting project!

Knitting to make a difference

 Thank you to everyone who has helped with our second project - knitting for Age UK Derby & Derbyshire.  They are a charity who work in the local community to deliver services and activities for older people.  The knitting was donated directly to ‘Ann and Arthurs’ Big Knit which this year was held in connection with the celebration of the International Day for Older Persons at Derby Theatre.  All money raised is donated to Age UK.

 We have had two projects so far for the 'Knitting to make a Difference' initiative.  The Premature babies and Age UK.  We are now looking to start the next project and we will hopefully hold another coffee morning after Christmas.

Judith and Esther



Thursday 31 August 2023

EXETER

Exeter Christadelphian church, COG + Refugee Support Devon

Pamper Pack Project
“I am truly moved and deeply appreciative of the generosity shown by you, the members of your church, and the COG charity through the outreach group. Your collective efforts have made a significant impact and have touched the lives of those in need.”
Jury Arevalo - Outreach-Coordinator – refugee support Devon
We have recently experienced an influx of refugees in Exeter from many parts of the world. Several of them have attended our church and many were young women who had left careers and families to escape the harsh regime preventing freedom for women in their country.
They, like us, were used to the little luxuries in life, shampoo that didn’t make their heads itch, and moisturiser to stop their skin drying out. The refugee hotels provide basic supplies but the women we met were feeling so homesick and missing the lives they had left behind.
We wanted to help by providing some packs of toiletries, which, although basic, are hopefully a reminder of normality. Having contacted the Charity - Refugee Support Devon, we were able to link in and find out how many women were staying in the hotel.
We worked out that for £10 we could source 6 products for everyday use. We wanted to help as many women as possible, not showing favouritism to those who had attended church. We put a small piece of paper in each bag to say where it had come from and that it was given with love.
We received a grant from COG (Christadelphian Outreach Group) for £400 and fund matched with donations from our church members. This meant we were able to provide 80 pamper packs.
We packed these at the hall and delivered them to the hotel in Exeter, they were picked up on a hotel trolley to be distributed by the Refugee Support Devon staff who know the residents well. Those we had met personally received supplies using the church collection.
There are still more women at the hotel and we were unable to provide supplies for all. We hope to fundraise for a male equivalent pamper pack and hopefully more supplies for the other women, in the New Year.









REFUGEE DAY

 Refugee Hospitality Day, 29th July 2023:

A day of fun, friendship and a warm welcome to Bakewell.
Planning started months ahead in preparation for our Bakewell Refugee Hospitality day on Saturday, 29th July 2023. Everything from booking the transport for our guests travelling from Derby, organising indoor/outdoor activities to flower arrangements for the lunch tables.
The day of the event finally arrived, rain showers forecast but the sun shone on a beautiful day in Bakewell. There was a hive of 'back stage’ activity with fifteen dedicated volunteers signed up to help on the day.
A wonderful sit down lunch consisting of a variety of hot & cold vegetarian dishes and sweet delights had been prepared and donated by our volunteers. A fabulous team effort!
Our guests shared stories, smiled and brought only warmth and gratitude to their day in the Peak District. The ladies particularly enjoying the jewellery making, the children the bubble blowing & badminton on the lawn. All the guests loved the visit to the Bakewell Old House museum and the walk through town to the river to feed the ducks.
As we said our goodbyes with hugs and handshakes at the end of the day, our guests settled back in the mini bus to travel to their temporary homes, waving enthusiastically through the windows.
Our hope is that this albeit brief time of stable peace can continue to be provided for individuals who have been through such unthinkable terrors.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone at COG from all of us involved in the Bakewell Hospitality days, for the funding which paid for the transport and without which we wouldn’t have been able to host our 21 Eritrean/Afghan/Sudanese/Ukrainian Refugee and Asylum seeker guests.




KNITTING

 “Knitting to make a difference” Thank you to everyone who has helped with our first project, knitting for Neonatal Units. Parcels have been delivered to Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and further afield to Boston and Southampton.

We are now knitting for Age Concern and Care of the Elderly. If you would like to get involved please email egpurkis@gmail.com.
We would also like to invite you to a coffee morning on Saturday 16 September, 10.30 am to 12.30pm at Egginton Memorial Hall, 23 Church Road, Egginton, Derby DE65 6HP. We will be exchanging patterns, ideas and wool over a cup of coffee and would love to see you.



GRANTS

COG love your grant applications! We have been working with several churches lately helping them to make links in their local community by reaching out with love.

Here are some of them:
Pamper packs for female refugees in hostels around Exeter
Refugee Hospitality Day in Bakewell. Around 30 refugees from a local hotel will be invited for a day out in Bakewell, including meals, a visit to a museum, crafts and a guided walk around the town.
Prince's Trust Healthy eating module for 4 students.
Cambridge youth group ‘Starfish project’, making up 50 'back to school' packs for local refugee children starting/returning to school in September.
If you’d like us to fund a local community project please fill in the quick form on our site.