St Mary's Charities' Fund

St Mary's Church is working to raise money to support an agreed list of local, national and international charities, and occasional disaster emergency appeals.

Our target each year is a sum equivalent to at least 10 percent of our previous year's Church income from direct giving including tax recovered under Gift Aid, and from collections.

We are doing this as part of our mission as a church, and out of gratitude for all that we have ourselves received in our community.

The appeal sum raised each year is divided between our listed charities in pre-defined percentages.

The sums raised and distributed between the individual charities are:

2003: £5,485

2004: £10,380

2005: £12,146

2006: £10,873

2007: £10,628

2008: £ 8,721

2009: £ 7,662

2010: Our target is £11,432

Emergency appeal collections are sent on in full to the charity.

 

Local Charities:
(63% of the total not dedicated to specific causes)

1. Brentwood Citizens Advice Bureau
   Offering free confidential information and advice to Borough residents
2. Brentwood Crossroads Care Attendant Scheme
   Providing respite care for disabled relatives living at home
3. Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
   Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in local schools
4. Chelmsford Diocesan Mothers' Union
   Supporting local contact centres
5. Essex Clergy Charity Corporation
   Supporting the needs of servingand retired clergy and their widows
6. Interact
   Supporting those with mental health and learning disability problems
7. Little Havens Children's Hospice
   Providing short term respite care for children and their families
8. St Francis Hospice
   Caring for patients with cancer and life-limiting illnesses and their families
9. St Mary's School
   For school funds to assist families
10. Shenfield High School
    For the religious education (RE) department
11. SNAP (Special Needs And Parents)
    Supporting local children with special needs and their families
12. Vitalise (formerly Winged Fellowship Trust)
    Providing holidays for disabled people and their carers

 

National/International Charities:
(37% of the total not dedicated to specific causes)

1. CARE (Christian Action Research and Education Trust)
   Supporting vulnerable people, expressing a Christian view on issues, providing pregnancy and post-abortion support and schools' resources
2. Church Army
   Supporting evangelism, training and resources in the parishes
3. CMS (Church Mission Society)
   Working with churches at home and overseas in evangelism, community development, inter-faith dialogue, and among refugees
4. Church Urban Fund
   Assisting community projects in the poorest urban and rural areas
5. FEBA Radio
   Running a Christian radio station broadcasting to Africa and Asia
6. Mildmay Hospital
   Working with HIV/AIDS sufferers in London, East Africa and elsewhere
7. The Leprosy Mission
   
Caring for people affected by Leprosy in 28 countries
8. The Mission to Seafarers
   Caring for seafarers of all nationalities in 300 ports around the world
9. USPG (United Society for the Promotion of the Gospel)
   Working with churches overseas in hospitals, schools, colleges, prisons and children's homes, and linking parishes with projects overseas

 

Additional Charities supported in other ways:
St Mary's church also supports other charities, as follows:

1. The Children's Society
   Caring for children in need and promoting their development
   (Through the Christingle Service in December and collecting boxes)
2. Crisis
   Helping homeless people at Christmas and through the year
   (Through special collections in church during December)
3. Haven in Romania
   Supporting the people of Piatra Niamt in Transylvania
   (Through collecting gifts of toiletries, stationery, toys, etc, during Lent)
4. Water Aid
   Providing safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world's poorest people
   (Through special collections in church at Harvest Festival time)
5. Christian Aid
   Responding to poverty and disaster worldwide
   (Through house-to-house collections locally during Christian Aid Week in May each year. Money raised from the community as a whole for this charity is not counted towards our Charities' Fund annual total)

 

You can help us reach the target by supporting our fundraising events during the year (see the events page), and by making direct donations to the Fund via the fund treasurer. Please agree to Gift Aid your donation if you are eligible to do so.

All donations to the Charities' Fund should be sent to, and Gift Aid forms are available from, the Fund Treasurer:

Cheques should be made out to: Shenfield PCC Charities' Fund

Treasurer: Karen Massie
Tel: Brentwood 221037
Karen@Massie.org.uk

Chairman: Barbara Brookes
Tel: Brentwood 230533
barbara@anaxsys.co.uk