Outreach

Outreach at Lion Walk Church is about raising awareness of human need and supporting community projects worldwide. We regularly support projects in our local community and across the world, with funds raised from our lunchtime concerts and from donations from members.

We have been able to undertake fewer activities during 2020 due to Covid-19, but we have continued to support some charities financially. Under normal circumstances, we collect for the Christian Aid door-to-door collections during Christian Aid Week. Through the period of Harvest Thanksgiving, we have gathered in donations for the local Soup Run, which teams from our congregation support each month, as well as our substantial contributions from the congregation for Commitment for Life. At Christmas-time we raise funds from the Christmas Tree Festival and from Christmas services for the Colchester Night Shelter and the Colchester and Tendring Women’s Refuge, which is now called Next Chapter.

In 2020, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic:
We raised a total of £9188.25 for Commitment for Life, for Christian Aid partners’ work in Bangladesh.
We raised £328.33 at our Christmas Service: this went to the Colchester Night Shelter, and a similar amount (from Outreach Funds) went to Next Chapter (formerly the Colchester and Tendring Womens’ Refuge).

We normally support one ‘focus charity’ which changes once a year in the autumn, and then we also donate smaller sums of money to other charities, with a particular focus on those based in our own community or smaller charities. Our most recent focus charity was Acorn Village, but we have suspended this aspect of our giving during the current pandemic, while our income is smaller.

Here are details of charities supported in February 2021, to a total of £900

Grassroots
Grassroots is an independent grant making charity based in North-East Essex. By helping local community and voluntary groups in Colchester and Tendring with small financial awards we aim to improve the lives of local people, in particular those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable, isolated or lonely. Grassroots is the working name of Colchester and Tendring Community Trust.

Trussell Trust
The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks and together we provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

Seven Rivers Cheshire Home, Great Bromley
Seven Rivers in Hall Road, Great Bromley is part of the International Leonard Cheshire Charity, and is home about 30 resident adults with varying physical disabilities. Seven Rivers was the ninth ‘Cheshire Home’ to be created in the UK, established in Great Bromley Hall in 1955 by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, V.C.

Excellent Development
Excellent Development is a registered charitable company that supports some of the world’s poorest people to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands. We do this in three ways:
By working with local partners, we support rural communities to gain access to clean water close to their homes and to invest in sustainable agriculture.
By pioneering sand dams, we promote and support the application of sand dam technology by key stakeholders in drylands.
By influencing and educating those who can help achieve our vision including – but not limited to – policy makers, international NGOs, government departments and civil engineering firms.

Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity Covid-19 Staff Wellbeing Appeal
We have launched an appeal to aid the welfare and wellbeing of staff during this difficult time. Our staff are amazing, dedicated people who want to ensure they can continue to provide the very best levels of care at all times.

Beacon House
In response to the Covid-19 outbreak Beacon House is reviewing and revising its service on a day-to-day basis. We have worked closely with Colchester Borough Homes and North East Essex Clinical (NEECCG) Commissioning Group to ensure the provision of three streams of accommodation for those previously sleeping out; Covid Care, Covid Vulnerable and Covid Protect. Our nurse provides a triage point for referrals into appropriate accommodation. We are offering remote support to help those newly accommodated in the transition from homeless to housed. For those that are still on the streets we are providing medical care, hot drinks, hot lunch, and in partnership with Colchester Soup Run, sandwiches to take away for the evening, alongside working to secure them accommodation. We are adopting a policy of social distancing wherever possible and are grateful to the NEECCG for providing adequate PPE equipment for staff working on the frontline. We have also been able to distribute some of this to Colchester Borough Homes frontline staff.

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance
Essex & Herts Air Ambulance is not part of the NHS and receives limited Government funding.
We are a charity and rely on the money you donate. Your support provides a free life-saving Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the critically ill and injured of Essex, Hertfordshire and surrounding areas.
Our pre-hospital care doctors and critical care paramedics provide advanced medical care on-site that is normally only found in the Emergency Department. Once stabilised, patients are rushed to the most appropriate hospital for their needs. This early intervention makes a dramatic difference to each patient’s survival.

Charities supported in November/December 2020, to a total of £900

Friends of St. Joseph’s School, Sierra Leone
Combat Stress
St Helena Hospice
Alcohol Change UK
Next Chapter
Grassroots

Charities supported in September 2020 to a total of £600:
Amnesty International (donated in memory of Stephen Broadhurst)
Essex Carers Support
Five Talents
Freedom from Torture
Suffolk Refugee Support (donated in memory of Stephen Broadhurst)
Tree Aid
UNCHR (UN Refugee Agency)