This May, around 300,000 people from more than 22,000 churches will hit the streets of Britain and Ireland, working together to help end poverty. The millions they raise during Christian Aid Week 2010 will offer thousands of people around the world the chance to make a better life for themselves.
But Christian Aid Week is much more than house-to-house collections. It’s a time for the whole church to grow the movement that is fighting poverty and injustice.
You don’t have to drop envelopes through letterboxes or have any experience of organising events to get involved in Christian Aid Week 2010.
Over the past few years local churches have found a plethora of ways in which to use their congregations’ talents during Christian Aid Week. In Westerhope the traditional House to House collections are supplemented by a very popular plant sale which also includes cake, marmalade, book, coffee and jewellery stalls and which last year raised over £1000. Other churches arrange ecumenical services, concerts, supermarket bag-packs and walks which enable people of all ages to get involved with helping Christian Aid to end poverty.
If you are unsure about how you can use your gifts and talents during Christian Aid Week head to www.caweek.org or contact the Christian Aid North East office who can provide you with an ‘Unleash your talents’ booklet. Whether your talent is cooking, gardening, sport, music or dancing there are hundreds of different ways in which you can have fun raising money this Christian Aid Week.
There are other ways in which you can use your talents to help fundraise for Christian Aid.
Why not join other Christian Aid supporters at a bucket collection at the Metro Centre on 22 May? If you would like to join a house-to-house collection (which remains one of the best fundraising tools we have) but your church is not organising one, please contact Christian Aid North East and they will put you in contact with your nearest Organiser.
Whether you raise a thousand pounds from collections or twenty pounds from a raffle you will be helping to improve the lives of some of the poorest people around the world. Just £16 could buy the materials needed to build five metres of new drainage to prevent sewage flooding into houses in this year’s focus country, Kenya, and £41 could help install a toilet and bathroom for a family in India living in poverty.
For more information or to request a Christian Aid speaker, preacher or youth advocate for your church please contact us:
Christian Aid,
391 West Road,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE15 7PY
0191 228 0115
Or email
newcastle@christian-aid.org.uk