MISSION

WORLD CHURCH PROJECT

We are excited that Link to Hope is our new project over the next few years.  The Project that we will be involved in is Future Change – based in Romania.

They are setting up a Kindergarten providing education and social care. There is so much help needed to educate and support families. They provide medical advice, help with birth certificates, and  property. They run homework clubs which help with basic life skills and developing behaviour.

Ann Coleman

 World Mission group

Read about shoeboxes and fundraising below and more about Link to Hope on their website by clicking on this logo.

LINK TO HOPE SHOEBOXES AND FUNDRAISING

The Shoeboxes that we send at Christmas are very much appreciated, especially at the moment.  The Charity were delighted that they managed to collect over 20,000 boxes in difficult circumstances last year.

We will be supporting this Charity again this year and hopefully even more of us can get involved. This is a wonderful way to show love to the poorest people in Eastern Europe.

It is hard to believe that they live in temperatures as low as -25°c. Their houses are not heated and are poorly built huts/sheds. We have felt the cold over the last month, but we live in insulated warm houses!  They really appreciate knee blankets approximately 3×3 feet (these are collected with the boxes). If you have a fleece this can be cut up.

The shoeboxes do far more than just provide gifts. Often when boxes are delivered, they discover the real needs of a family. One year a young baby had died of the cold. Another dwelling found an elderly lady sleeping on a cold stone floor. The charity was able to help with getting a bed and bedding.

Here are  some ideas to collect for the Shoeboxes:

  • small toys/dominoes/balls/playing cards/cars/yoyos
  • candle holders and candles
  • if you are knitting, we are usually short of mittens.

Do check out the website www.linktohope.co.uk or look on Facebook where is a short video, which had a huge impact on my granddaughter.

The leaflets have arrived, and I will put some in Church, or please contact me or Yvonne directly. Each box needs a whole leaflet.  We would appreciate as many boxes being made up as possible.  Hopefully, we will have a coffee morning in September/October.

Fundraising at the moment is going to be difficult but the charity is struggling to provide the usual support. Regular donations would be greatly appreciated.

  • Make a donation by clicking on the button below
  • If you would like to set up a standing order please contact David Worrall.
  • If paying by cheque, please make it payable to’ The United Church CFL account’ to be sent direct to him. Please write Link to Hope on the back.
  • If you are paying by online bank transfer, details are ‘The United Church Winchester CFL ‘account sort code 40-46-39 Account No 91386808.

Many thanks in anticipation for your support. We are a small committee and welcome any fundraising ideas.

Ann Coleman

World Mission Group

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Our church community has decided to make Education for Sustainability a focus.

This means a focus across the whole community on education, awareness and our impact over time that is in tune with creation; consciously embracing environmental degradation as a call to transform how we live as a community – by linking up what we do, by learning, by creatively exploring our connections within nature, and our understanding of God.

Read more

CHRISTMAS PROJECT

Winchester Churches Christmas Project aims to help those in Winchester for whom Christmas can be a really difficult time. We show our Christian faith and witness in our practical help and our care for those we visit.

Despite the problems and restrictions, last year’s Christmas Project turned out as well as we could have hoped. All of us greatly missed the usual personal contact and shopping trips with families but we did what we could. We do know that we made a difference.

As I reported in Yours in February, we were thankful that, despite the anticipated problems, 70 volunteers from 13 different churches came forward, offering a range of skills and possibilities. As usual, they were amazingly thoughtful and creative in their planning! Wonderfully, we were able to help 33 families (47 adults and 74 children), 6 single people and 6 young people. That is almost as many people as in 2019!

We hope that this year’s Project might be more normal. We will be contacting volunteers from previous years directly to ask if they are able to help again this year. However, we are always in need of new volunteers (who would be paired with someone experienced). Please contact me for more information. We do need to know volunteer numbers by 5 November, please.

We know that funds are tight after the last year, but we would still be grateful for donations. There will be donation envelopes and boxes available in church from mid-October. Please make cheques payable to ‘Winchester Churches Christmas Project’. Individuals who would like to Gift Aid their donation should add ‘Gift Aid’ to the Project name on the cheque, use the special envelope, or provide their name and address and specify that it is to be Gift Aided, please. If you would prefer to give by bank transfer, please consult either me or our Treasurer, Jessica Tringham, for details.

Thank you to everyone for your prayerful and practical support.

Helen McTiffin (Joint Co-ordinator of the Project
with Janet Stewar

MHA COMMUNITIES WINCHESTER

MHA Communities Winchester is a charity offering support and friendship to local older people living in their own homes; helping to maintain independent living, improve well-being and reduce isolation.

For more information please email office@ucw.org.uk

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Our church community has decided to make Education for Sustainability a focus.

This means a focus across the whole community on education, awareness and our impact over time that is in tune with creation; consciously embracing environmental degradation as a call to transform how we live as a community - by linking up what we do, by learning, by creatively exploring our connections within nature, and our understanding of God.

Unprecedented international agreement through The Paris Agreement in 2015 urges that everyone needs to be involved in avoiding the most catastrophic effects of climate change, now! There always seem to be numerous pressing issues for our community to respond to.  The specific challenges of climate change present a different kind of pressing issue, because the need for finding different ways of living, is so urgent. The 2018 IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) pushes for no more than a 1.5 degree rise in global temperature to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.  We’ve already gone over the 1degree. Friends of the Earth say the period before 2020 is critical. This issue is of singular importance. But how does this translate down into each organisation, each individual doing their part to make it possible?

As an organisation that cares about love, justice, easing poverty, showing there is another way to live, our way of trying to do this is by a focus on Education for Sustainability (EfS).

What this looks like:

The urgency is uncomfortable and poses challenges, but the opportunity for us to be engaged in shaping a community that is willing to grapple with the shift to more sustainable ways of living is exciting, and profound, and deeply about God’s yearning for all to have life in all its fullness.

MHA COMMUNITIES WINCHESTER

MHA Communities Winchester is a charity offering support and friendship to local older people living in their own homes; helping to maintain independent living, improve well-being and reduce isolation.

Through our able team of Volunteers we are able to offer opportunities for companionship, support and advice to older people in the Winchester district. We have services which can be offered at home and group activities in a place where our members can be among friends. These include our weekly schedule of clubs and activities,  our one-to-one services and the opportunity to join our regular outings and  annual holiday.  Above all our members know that there is always someone to turn to for help, advice or simply a chat.

For a small monthly donation to the Scheme, Members benefit from a regular newsletter, birthday card, Christmas gift bag, regular telephone contact, transport to one off appointments (subject to availability), signposting & information.

If you would like more information about the scheme, would like to become a member or have an interest in volunteering then please contact us on 01962 890995 or winchester@mha.org.uk. You can also visit our website www.mha.org.uk/communities/near-me/winchester/ or on Facebook here, or come and see us at our offices based in the United Church.

Anna Miles
MHA Communities Winchester Manager

MHA Communities Winchester
Jewry St
SO23 8RZ
Tel: 01962 890995