Report of the Third World Group for the Year 2017
As Always, Thank you for your generous support of our collections for our Third World charities during 2017. This years’ Eight weekend collections raised £5159.38
The individual collections and amounts raised for 2017 were
January – DEC (CAFOD) emergency appeal for Yemen – £800.91
February – MCAI – £582.02
May – MSF – £751.51
July – Sylvia Wright Trust – £703.26
August – Save The Children – £614.18
September – Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) – £659.29
November – Spicma – £585.62
December – Embrace £462.59
(see below for a brief description of the smaller charities)
Unfortunately. we were unable to stage any further fundraising events this year.
However, we did host a visit by Sylvia Wright for an update on the Trust’s work:
Evening with Sylvia Wright on 18th July 2017.
Sylvia joined us once again with Tony Allinson and his wife Christine. We had an update on the Trust’s work and time after refreshments for discussion. Due to the Government providing more and better medical facilities, Sylvia has decided to hand over Rangammal Hospital to Dr. Pandian and a group of Indian doctors. who will invest money to increase and extend the services provided but still retain an element of charitable work as well as continuing to employ Sylvia’s staff. Sylvia’s provision for the deaf and physically and mentally challenged children will continue and improve; their needs are still very great and the government provision is still very basic .The Nursing College will expand and the Integrated Education and Therapy Centre has been opened. The Trust’s work continues to support Sylvia’s ongoing work and vision for the future. No retirement plans were mentioned!
We hope to see Sylvia again in 2018. She had a big birthday earlier on in the year so it would be nice to congratulate her in person.
Fair Trade Report
Fair Trade Report
Many thanks to all those who so generously give of their time to man the stall every month, setting up on Saturday before Mass, selling, and packing up on Sunday after Mass. Thank you to the parishioners who have supported our parish’s Fair Trade commitment and to the individuals whose commitment to the purchase of fairly traded products has made a wonderful contribution to the success of the stall. At the recent Fairer World shop social, when the Annual Report for the shop was given, we were commended for being the most successful stall so well done everyone. The total spending at the monthly stalls was £2208.60, £39.76 down on last year, but the sales from the Christmas Preview weekend and the orders that followed amounted to more than £2000, approximately £170 more than last year. £142.94 from the sale of tickets and donations for refreshments was sent to Tradecraft for their long term development work. Despite predictions that we might not be able to have our Fashion Show due to a depleted stock of clothing, we were treated to our usual stylish presentation of clothing and accessories, helped by the skill of our clothing and jewellery stall holder. Our gentleman model added his own special humorous contribution to the catwalk.
Some of you may be aware that some companies/supermarkets are switching from the Fair Trade Foundation’s labelling to their own, making their own arrangements for a fairtrade agreement with the suppliers. There is concern that these agreements will not be as good for the suppliers and the poor may miss out on previously agreed benefits. There is information available from the stall on various aspects of Fairtrade including Traidcraft’s current statement and the organisations from whom the Fairer World shop sources its products.
What Fair Trade Means:
If a group marketing goods wishes to receive Fairtrade certification their workers must all have equal rights, they must not employ any child labour and they must use the minimum of chemicals in the production of their goods, thereby caring for the environment. Once they have that Fairtrade mark, they are guaranteed a fair minimum price for their goods with a long term commitment to the purchase of the goods and an extra bonus which the group/community can use for specific needs in their community eg health provision, education.
Please consider volunteering to help the Third World group. We meet every few months to decide on the charities to support and to organise the collections for those charities. In recent years we have had a few retirements from the group and just over a year ago we sadly lost one of our long standing members. If you are interested in joining please contact us via any of the members – we are usually at one or other of the Margaret Clitherow Masses and always at the Fairtrade Stall which is usually on the second Saturday/Sunday of each month.
(More help on our our monthly Fairtrade Stall would be nice, either to help set up on a Saturday evening (from 4.00pm onwards) and/or help to sell the goods after mass, or to help sell the goods after mass on Sunday mornings and to help pack up after the parishioners have gone home)
Explanations of the (smaller) Charity Names:
MCAI stands for ‘Maternal & Childhealth Advocacy International’ The aim of the charity is ‘Saving and improving the lives of seriously ill pregnant women, babies, and children in low-resource settings’
SPICMA stands for ‘Special Projects In Christian Missionary Areas’. The aim of the charity is to reach out to the poorest and most marginalized in the developing world; it is open to the needs of small communities and individuals who neither fulfill the criteria nor have any way of approaching the larger agencies. They support and work through the various Missionary Congregations and Diocesan Clergy as we can then be certain that the relief gets to the people it is intended for.
Embrace Stands for ‘Embrace The Middle East’ which describes itself as a Christian charity with over 160 years’ experience helping people of all faiths and none to free themselves from a life of poverty and injustice.
Together with local Christian communities we’re bringing lasting change to the Middle East through healthcare, education and community development projects.
