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 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 Autumn 2018-19 we raised the following:
£ 8325.50 (including Gift Aid) for Commitment for Life – Christian Aid work in Bangladesh – a wonderful result.
£ 2970.07 from the Christmas Collections and Christmas Tree Festival – this includes £992.36 raised at the art exhibition at the Festival – enabling us to send £1485.03 to both the Colchester Night Shelter and the Colchester and Tendring Women’s Refuge
Our spring/summer 2019 Christian Aid house-to-house collections raised £816.39
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 focus charity from 2018-19 was Homestart Colchester, and from 2019-20 it is Acorn Village. Here are details of the charities to which we donated recently.
Acorn Village
£500 to Acorn Village which is our Focus Charity from September 2019. People First, Disability Second is the Acorn Village philosophy with the motto ‘Life is For Living’. Every individual, whatever their disability, is encouraged to follow their dreams and are supported to be as independent as physically possible. Acorn Village offers high quality care and accommodation to adults with learning disabilities. Within two models of care, residential and supported living services, they provide support to meet a number of needs within large or small care packages.
TEECH
£100 to TEECH (Telecoms Eastern European Challenge). Originally set up by BT employees at Martlesham Heath, TEECH is a small independent charity, run by an unpaid team of volunteers. They have been working in Romania and Moldova since 1998, renovating hospitals and other public buildings, and have undertaken projects in over twenty villages.
Haven Project
£100 to the Haven Project, based in Colchester, which offers support and recovery for people who have been diagnosed with personality disorders. It provides recovery group work, therapeutic support, crisis prevention call, and outreach. It has 190 registered clients and, over 15 years, has treated over 650 clients with a remarkable success rate.
Carers Trust
£100 to the Carers Trust. They work to improve support, services and recognition for anyone living with the challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems. The Carers Trust does this with a UK wide network of quality assured independent partners and through the provision of grants to help carers get the extra help they need to live their own lives. With locally based Network Partners they support carers in their homes, and they offer specialist services for carers of people of all ages and conditions and a range of individually tailored support and group activities.
Homestart Colchester (Focus Charity 2018-19) (£1000)
Homestart is one of the leading family support charities in the UK, and their volunteers help families with young children deal with the challenges they face. They support parents as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for their children. We were very pleased to welcome the Colchester Manager, Shelley Henderson, to Church Meeting on 18 February, to give a most informative talk about Homestart’s work.
Integration through Language (£200)
The Integration Through Language project (part of DNA Networks) aims to support clients by providing free English courses for refugees, migrants, and others. It has been running for more than 6 years. Located currently at the Bunting Rooms in Colchester, it is co-ordinated by an employee of DNA but relies on the generosity of volunteer teachers and classroom support staff. The students are of all ages and abilities and come from across Europe and the world, and, working at their own level, they learn vocabulary and usage for activities such as catching the bus, talking to officials, doctors, and shopkeepers. The courses are entirely free apart from a voluntary donations for refreshments.
Smaller hubs and centres have also been set up across Essex using the same model – but adapted to suit numbers and location.
DEC Cyclone Idai Appeal (£200)
A cyclone swept through Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Hundreds of people have been killed and around 3 million need help.
Tools for Self-Reliance (£100)
We are a UK based charity working to help relieve poverty in Africa. We work with local African organisations to deliver a programme of tools and training to bring about effective and sustainable change to trades people and their communities. The primary countries we work in are; Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia.
We run vocational training projects which provide people with the skills they need to set up their own business. We also equip them with a toolkit to get them started. As well as technical training in trades such as carpentry, welding, and bricklaying, we also provide training in business and financial management. We believe that this approach gives people the best chance of success.
Colchester Gateway
£100 to help support the Music Group of Colchester Gateway, for adults with learning disabilities. The group meets once a month and is led by a local singer/songwriter. Up to 20 people attend each session, during which they learn to play percussion instruments , and then develop arrangements of popular songs. During the sessions they also take turns in soloing, developing listening skills.
The Eagle’s Nest Worship Centre, Kabula (£100)
The Eagle’s Nest Worship Center Kabula is located in Bungoma County, Kenya: preaching the Gospel, they reach out to poor and needy women and vulnerable children. They deliver food, medicine and clothing to individuals, children and families who lack these essentials due to famine, poverty, and natural disaster. The key goal of the organisation is developing self sufficiency among their community with a support programme, and the building of an orphanage.
Donations made in December 2018
Benin Christian Support (£100)
Colchester Korban Project (£100)
Mercy Ships (£100)
Mines Advisory Group (MAG) (£100)
Practical Action (£100)
Refugee Council (£100)
Send a Cow (£100)
Suffolk Refugee Support Group (£100)
Tools with a Mission (£100)
UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency)(£100)
Donations made in September 2018
Stepping Stones Play and Learn (£200)
New Bridge Foundation (£200)
Mzimkhulu Trust (£200)
Young Dementia UK (£200)
CBM (£200)
Felsted Aid for Deprived Children (UK-Aid) (£200)
Donations made in May 2018
Samaritans of Colchester, Tendring and Suffolk Borders (Lion Walk Focus Charity)
Donation £500
Child Health International
Donation £200
Grapevine Essex
Donation £200
The Suffolk Law Centre
Donation £200
Trinity Homeless Project (Trinity Methodist Church, Clacton)
Donation £200
Trinity Methodists are in the process of building a Day Centre as part of the church building, to provide somewhere for homeless people to shower and spend the day; there is provision in the town for sleeping, but not for the day. Work on building the extension is due to start very soon. They are appealing for financial help to acquire a laptop and appropriate software, to book people into the Centre and help them with their needs.
There is a high level of homelessness in the Clacton area. Jaywick is one of the very poorest areas in Britain. Apart from the poor housing conditions, people often don’t have internet access, or have difficulty accessing online benefits even if they do. Without access to benefits they are not able to rent a property, nor do they have the documentation to open a bank account, and can suffer from social isolation. There is a definite need for help.
Donations made in February 2018
Samaritans of Colchester, Tendring and Suffolk Borders (Lion Walk Focus Charity)
Donation £500
Praxis Community Projects
Donation £200
Emmaus UK – Colchester branch
Donation £200
Iceni Ipswich
Donation £200
The Haven Project
Donation £300
Donations made in December 2017
Samaritans of Colchester, Tendring and Suffolk Borders (Lion Walk Focus Charity)
Donation £500
Christian Aid Rohingya Appeal
Donation £200
Talitha
Donation £200
Global Justice Now
Donation £200
Crisis at Christmas
Donation £200
Book Aid
Donation £100
Affiliations:
Amnesty International – we have having regular presence at their conferences and support activities, such as card signing around Christmas-time.