Charity Giving
Throughout the year, people at St Michael & All Angels devote considerable time and energy to charitable work. We’re very grateful to all those who help us raise money for a range of charities, at home and overseas. A list of charities we've supported in recent years can be found on the Links page.
Sums raised for charity in 2009
St Michael's Advent Calendar & Christmas Appeal 2009
St Michael's Advent Calendar helps raise money for our annual Christmas Appeal. In 2009 the works were created by 24 local artists and were sold by silent auction, at a party in the Parish Hall on Sunday January 10th 2010. The artists generously agreed to donate a third of the sale price to the Appeal charities. The Appeal raised a total of £6,884 and the proceeds went in their entirety to:
- Bhola's Children in Bangladesh
- St Mary's Convent & Nursing Home in Chiswick
- The Upper Room, feeding the community in need in West London
This sum included the collections from three of our Christmas services - Nine Lessons and Carols, the Children's Crib Service and Midnight Mass - and the money raised by our carol singers at Turnham Green tube station and other events.
Cards for Good Causes at St Michael & All Angels
Each year, through Cards for Good Causes, we sell hundreds of Christmas cards for charities at our shop in the Church (see also Cards for Good Causes shop). The charities are listed here. They include St Michael's own cards - the 2009 image shows St Michael & All Angels in the snow, photographed by David Beresford.
Harvest Thanksgiving 2009
At our Harvest Thanksgiving in October, we distributed food and other goods to the Upper Room and St Mary’s Convent & Nursing Home, with generous support from Orchard House School and Chiswick & Bedford Park School.
Chiswick Book Festival 2009
A team from St Michael's also runs the Chiswick Book Festival, though this doesn't directly form part of the church's charitable giving activities. The 2009 Book Festival raised a total of £6,195.36. St Michael's and three book-related charities each received £1,548.84. The charities were:
RNIB Talking Books Service and Books for Children. The Festival's contribution has been used to sponsor the recording of Claire Tomalin's The Invisible Woman and Sandi Toksvig's children's book The Littlest Viking, and is acknowledged on the CDs.
InterAct Reading Service, which provides a reading service for stroke patients in hospital. One of its patrons is Chiswick resident Richard Briers. It was one of five winners in the Guardian's Charity Awards 2009.
The Letterbox Club, which works with local authorities to send monthly book parcels to children aged 7 to 11 in foster families, to improve their educational outlook. It's part of the Book Trust and one of its patrons is Jacqueline Wilson. This year it will deliver almost 30,000 parcels to 4,600 children in 140 local authorities across the UK.
Bedford Park Festival 2009
Bedford Park Festival names The Microloan Foundation (which makes loans to the poor in Malawi) and the Upper Room (feeding the community in W4) as its charities for 2009.
Final figures for this year's Festival are still being compiled and will be published as soon as they are available.
Christian Aid Week 2009
For several years we have held a Quiz Supper for Christian Aid. This year's was on Saturday May 16th, at the end of Christian Aid Week when we also take collections.
The total funds raised during Christian Aid week 2009 were £2,246. These were made up as follows:
£195 from collection at Turnham Green tube station
£200 from collection on 10th May at morning church service
£387 from other donations during the week
£1465 (after expenses) from Quiz Supper
Lent 2009
Our Lent charity in 2009 was The Upper Room, which has been helping people in need for over 18 years. The charity provides a broad range of services for the homeless, vulnerable, and socially disadvantaged of West London, including serving over 30,000 meals a year (right). We raised £3,141, through Lent lunches and collections in our Lent Jar in the church.
Bach Cantatas
The Upper Room also receives the retiring collections from the Bach Cantatas concerts on Sunday evenings in the church.