Dignity in Destitution

Asylum seekers are often the bottom of the pile when it comes to support and sympathy.

Each person has their own story of how and why they have made the difficult decision to leave their home and maybe their entire family, to make a long, often terrifying and dangerous journey to another country. They are frequently traumatised, bewildered and confused by the hostile reception they get from the Home Office, when they finally get to the UK.

They are people like us, who had a home, a job, a normal life and a simple wish to continue living in peace. War, persecution and discrimination are common reasons for their need to escape, sometimes to save their lives. The choice is not made lightly, and their hope is to rebuild a life somewhere free from persecution and conflict. Sadly, they are likely to find the UK a less welcoming place than they hoped and have the added issues of language, isolation, poverty and unemployment to deal with.

Asylum seekers will initially be given Home Office support if their case is thought to be worthy of consideration. If their case is turned down after further consideration, they will then be left destitute, with no recourse to public funds and no accommodation. This can happen very quickly, leaving them street homeless.

One of the most distressing problems for destitute asylum seekers is lack of shelter. They rely on charities to find them accommodation of some sort and, of course, anything is better than being on the streets and vulnerable.

Continue reading “Dignity in Destitution”

In Giving We Receive: An Update

It is now 3 years since we started our In Giving We Receive journey and this year as usual we ask everyone to think and pray about their own giving and in particular to reflect on the question:

If I don’t give what I can, who else will?

First we want to share what’s been achieved in the last 3 years. We’ve come a long way!

  • Number of Planned Givers up 3% to 154
  • Weekly average per planned giving household up 28% to £10.21
  • Annual planned giving up 33% to £81,770
  • Cash collections up 26% to £11,980
  • Parish share up 71% to £90,000

This is a fantastic achievement and worth celebrating, but we have a little further to go.

Thanks to the generosity of so many we really are now within only a whisker of being able to pay our full parish share. What an achievement it would be to make the full contribution and in doing so help less fortunate parishes. Continue reading “In Giving We Receive: An Update”