In 2019, St Michael & All Angels raised the following amounts for charities:
| Equally for Upper Room, Amber Trust & WaterHarvest* | £18,837 |
| Children’s Church campaign for WaterHarvest | £1,092 |
| Mark Critchlow’s Channel swim for WaterHarvest | £2,995 |
| Lent Appeal: Christian Aid’s Community Partnership “Growing Opportunities for Young People in Ghana” | £2,460† |
| Christian Aid Week Appeal | £1,153 |
| Through the Chiswick Book Festival for Doorstep Library, InterAct Stroke Support and the Felix Project | £15,000 |
| GIVING A REMARKABLE TOTAL OF | £41,537 |
* These three charities raised an additional £3,304 at Green Days through sales, donations and sponsorship and received £4,000 in matched funding through Barclays, Chiswick. WaterHarvest gained a further £7,000 in other matched funding as a result of St Michael’s support.
† Christian Aid were able to claim an additional £17,266 in EU matched funding as a result of our Lent 2018 & 2019 appeals.
The charities group co-ordinates our giving at St Michael’s through these regular events:
The Charities Quiz Supper in January; Lent Appeal; Christian Aid Week in May; the Bedford Park Festival in June (including the charities stall on Green Days); and our Christmas Charity Appeal, with carol-singing at Turnham Green tube station. We get great support for our charities from local businesses, who sponsor the Bedford Park Festival and provide matched-funding, and in particular the Chiswick branch of Barclays Bank and Bown Design & Build, who organise an annual concert for our charities in November. We also support charities through the Chiswick Book Festival in September and through our Cards for Good Causes stall in the run-up to Christmas.
St Michael & All Angels’ Children’s Church raised money for WaterHarvest through estate agent boards kindly donated by Horton & Garton. The winning entry for the Design Competion was by Bea Bradley, aged 8, below.
If you would like to find out more about how get involved, please contact John Clark via the Parish Office.
Our three 2019 charities were:
The Upper Room
Registered Charity No. 1004354
www.theupperroom.org.uk
The Upper Room is a local charity based in W12 and working with the homeless, with economic migrants and with ex-offenders. It aims to give them the self confidence and support they need to become economically independent.
At the heart of the Upper Room is its meal service which provides nutritious evening meals five days a week. Free toiletries, bedding and clothing are also offered when available. Additionally help is on hand for onward referrals for health, housing and benefits advice.
In addition to the meal service, the Upper Room has two other projects. UR4Driving offers ex-offenders the chance to obtain a driving licence, making it easier to get work in the distribution industry, and reducing the risk of re-offending. To qualify for this potential participants must commit to 80 hours of voluntary work, giving them experience of helping others while being helped themselves.
The homeless and unemployed, especially those from Central and Eastern Europe, can join a multilingual and personalised programme of support – UR4Jobs – to help them with entry level skills training and access to work.
The Amber Trust
Registered Charity No. 1050503
www.ambertrust.org
The Amber Trust was founded in 1995 to help blind and partially sighted children across the UK, who have a talent or love for music. We believe that visual impairment and other disabilities should not prevent children and young people accessing appropriate musical opportunities.
Many families in the UK who care for one of the 25,000 children with little or no sight, live in relative poverty and cannot afford to give them the musical experiences that can transform their lives. The Amber Trust provides grants to these children for music lessons, music therapy, instruments, equipment and concert tickets.
For some children, learning to play an instrument or to sing can add immeasurably to their lives. For others, many of whom have severe learning difficulties, music therapy may offer a lifeline. With the right encouragement, these children can develop their talents to remarkable ends, breaking down barriers, promoting social inclusion and helping to fulfil their potential as individuals and musicians.
The Amber Trust works with other charities to raise awareness of the special value of music for these visually impaired children. We fund research into the impact of music and develop materials to help support the musical development of children. Through research, we know that music has the power to influence change in so many aspects of a child’s life: change that can last a lifetime.
WaterHarvest
Registered Charity No. 1127564
www.water-harvest.org
WaterHarvest (formerly known as Wells for India) is a small charity, based in Winchester, working in remote and arid villages of India, where people are still struggling to access clean water. Their mission is to work with rural communities to harvest the monsoon rains, enabling the poorest people to reap the benefits of safer and sustainable water. The St Michael’s project for the next three years is to fund the building of underground ‘taankas’ to harvest the monsoon rains for families in the state of Rajasthan. Follow this link to read WaterHarvest’s annual review.
Plus our Lent Appeal – Creating jobs for young people in Ghana
through Christian Aid’s Community Partnership
The SMAAA Lent Appeal for 2018 and 2019 supported young people in Ghana, helping them gain employment opportunities –particularly remembering those with disabilities and suffering from discrimination. More than one fifth of the population in Ghana have disabilities.
In Ghana, almost half of the young people are unemployed and, of those looking for jobs each year, only about 2% are employed in the formal sector. Helped by our fundraising, the Christian Aid Project will be working with CA’s Community Partners in Ghana creating new enterprises – such as sustainable fish farms in the coastal areas – and enabling more young people to be trained in paid jobs. And there is more to this project – with support for women in work, diversification in existing business, and starting-up new businesses including education in finance, marketing and understanding about taxes etc.