Social Justice
We are very fortunate to live in a beautiful area, but we try to work to support those people in our world today who are disadvantaged by poverty and injustice. We have an active Social Justice Team. Much of our work is to organise our church's annual charity project, which is chosen by our church members from a shortlist of suggestions of charities both at home and abroad.
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Over the past few years, we have raised funds for Toilet Twinning, Mosquito nets for Malawi, Christians Against Poverty, and many more.
Medecins Sans Frontieres
In 2023-24, our aim was to support Medecins Sans Frontieres, and were lucky enough to meet two local members of MSF who had experience of working in the field, sometimes in very dangerous circumstances. They very kindly came on two occasions to talk to our church members, which really brought to life the importance of their work.
Martin House Hospice
Our new charity for 2024-25 is Martin House Hospice, which provides free hospice care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions. At present, they have a special appeal called The Build, in which they aim to raise £2 million to build facilities for the future. We are thrilled to support them. Our first event of the year was the book sale during Burley Festival, which got us off the a fantastic start! The trust celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
Supporting PAFRAS​
We organise an ongoing collection of non-perishable food and toiletries for PAFRAS (Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) in Leeds, which provides food parcels, case work and mental health support for those most in need.
During lockdown in 2020, when unable to use the building, we held our collections monthly outside on the church steps. This was a huge success, as many more people were able to donate, and the size of our collections increased several times over, much to the delight of PAFRAS. We continue to organise the collection out of doors – watch out for us on the first Thursday of every month – come rain or shine!
Action for Children
Action for Children is a leading children’s charity, which we have been privileged to support for many years, through carol singing at Christmas in local supermarkets, as well as our Christmas Day collection in church.
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Christian Aid
We are happy to support the work of Christian Aid, including hosting the annual Lent Lunches, a multi-denomination event serving delicious soups and bread rolls. We also have the annual Christian Aid Coffee Morning, serving coffee and cakes, and selling Fairtrade items.
Harvest Festival
The work of the Social Justice Team is supported at our annual Harvest Festival. Fruit and veg are auctioned off and the money raised goes to our church charity – in 2024-25, Martin House Hospice. Donations of tinned and dried foods are saved towards our next collection for PAFRAS.
