April Maggie's Cancer Care Centre

“Maggie's is about empowering people to live with, through and beyond cancer by bringing together professional help, communities of support and building design to create exceptional centres for cancer care.  Maggie’s Centres are for anyone affected by cancer. They are places where people are welcome whenever they need us - from being diagnosed, undergoing treatment, or following treatment, to recurrence, end of life or in bereavement. We also welcome family and friends, as they are often deeply affected by cancer too. We know that those who love and look after someone with cancer can feel just as frightened, vulnerable and uncertain.”

Maggie's Caring Centre in Cheltenham is a place to turn to for help with any of the problems, small or large, associated with cancer.

Under the one roof you can access help with information, benefits advice, psychological support both individually and in groups, courses such as Tai Chi and Creative Writing as well as stress reducing strategies.  You don't have to make an appointment or be referred, and everything we offer is free of charge. It is there for anybody who feels the need for help, which includes those who love and look after someone with cancer, who often feel as frightened and vulnerable as those who actually have the disease.

Due to advances in medical care, the number of people living with and beyond cancer is increasing, so the support available to them becomes ever more important. The Cheltenham Maggie's Centre is just minutes away from the oncology unit at Cheltenham General Hospital and was designed by Sir Richard McCormac. It is a beautiful building, sympathetic to the needs of individuals; plenty of light, beautiful oak and bright soft furnishings which all make for an uplifting and homely space.

The Centre serves the three counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire where 35,000 people live with cancer."

Many thanks for choosing to support Maggie's. If any of your congregation would like to come and see our beautiful centre in Cheltenham, please do let me know.

Lisa Robinson
Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre
The Lodge, College Baths Road
Cheltenham
GL53 7QB
( 01242 250611

March - Cheltenham Youth for Christ

At CYFC we are greatly encouraged by the prayer and support we receive from people such as yourself. On a daily basis we see the fruit of the prayer that is offered up and the change that takes place in the lives of the young people. We work with over 150 young people every week with a majority of these being unchurched young people we meet in schools - largely in All Saints Academy and Pittville, with additional work in Bournside and Pate’s. One of the young people we’ve worked with for the last four years is Lucie, and recently she wrote the following:

“Rock Solid and meeting Cheltenham Youth for Christ are one of the best things that has happened to me. The team are amazing, they are friendly, welcoming, supportive, the list goes on. People’s initial thoughts, when you say a club based around the teachings of God and Jesus, are ‘boring’ and ‘rubbish’. Rock Solid is the complete opposite: they create ways to teach through fun and games. Whether it’s an egg and spoon race or doing quizzes, there’s always that element of fun. Without CYFC I wouldn’t be where I am today, Rock Solid has taught me to be myself and do what I believe is right for me, even if people don’t agree with me or think that I’m stupid. Rock Solid has helped increase my confidence. Leading a session was an experience that helped me with my confidence.”

We have never had so much demand for our work which continues to expand. Through CYFC young people experience change in their lives as they encounter Jesus through what is often the only Christian presence in their lives.

Besides our schools work we are also developing Underground, a prayer network of young people praying for their friends to meet and be changed by Jesus.  We have about 20 young people involved in this but are looking to have 500 young people praying within the next five years. If we get this many young people involved it will, according to sociologists, be enough people to change the culture amongst young people in our town. Since starting Underground last year the young people involved have told us about the changes they have seen in the lives of their friends, with many having conversations about faith, and some young people have even gone to church.

Please pray for these points:

• Finance - we face many challenges and need to see a large rise in income in order to maintain our staffing levels.
• We have a number of trust applications in at the moment, please pray for success.
• For continued success and favour in our work.

For more information go to CYFC on the web

January Charity - St Dunstan's

Although we try to be quite specific that we support a local charity there are some whose work is so specific that it has to be centralised.  This is the case with this month’s charity, as St Dunstan’s work is to provide an independent future for blind ex-Service men and women.  The local link is that one of our members was very moved when she heard an account of how a Gloucestershire ex-serviceman had been helped by them.
Sir Arthur Pearson, a newspaper proprietor who owned the Evening Standard and founded the Daily Express, established St Dunstan’s in 1915. Pearson, who lost his own sight through glaucoma, was shocked at society’s attitude to blindness. He decided to help those who had lost their vision in the recent First World War by giving them the care and rehabilitation they needed to lead constructive, self-sufficient lives.
Nearly a century later, St Dunstan’s still cares for those blinded in action, but also supports blind and visually impaired ex-Service men and women who have lost their sight through accident, illness, or old age. They also help those who have served in the Emergency Services.

St Dunstan’s gives invaluable physical and emotional support to blind and visually impaired ex-Service men and women. With the help of their unique expertise, comprehensive range of services, and experience, they enable them to lead independent fulfilling lives. Rehabilitation is designed to help regain confidence and self-sufficiency by teaching new skills and fostering optimism.

Support from St Dunstans is available as long as it is needed, to help them and their families adjust to the loss of sight; and this support lasts a lifetime. Sometimes help is needed to resolve housing issues and assist with the difficulties of benefit claims.  Social activities and access to sporting facilities add to the sense of belonging to the St Dunstan’s family.

Christmas Collection - County Community Projects

We are fortunate in having the opportunity of showing our real commitment to love in action through our close relationship with County Community Projects. As you can see from their ‘Thank You’ letter below, our involvement is really valued. They mention the opportunities to give food and we will put some of the money we raise towards the Food Share scheme as well as aiming to make a generous donation of food.

In the past I have had some professional involvement with the CCP Education Centre and can assure you that they do valuable and challenging work. It makes sense to let them explain what they do so I have taken this from their website,

“The aim with all our learners is to involve them in positive activities which are tailored to meet their individual needs and address the issues which have led to their exclusion from school. We give each child what is often their first positive learning experience, and help to build their motivation to take part and succeed. This raises their self-esteem, which in turn raises performance and aspirations.

Using subjects such as art, sport, exercise, cooking and conservation, we help young people understand that education can be fun and rewarding. We undertake work with them on anger management, communication, group working and rights and responsibilities. We prepare them for a return to full time school education or a progression to higher education.

The Education Centre has recently move to a purpose-converted building in High Street, Cheltenham. It offers a selection of learning environments, a well equipped woodwork room, IT and Multimedia learning facilities, a full kitchen and a leisure area with a TV, video and a selection of board and video games.”

To further improve their environment we hope to collect enough money to be able to buy some garden furniture.

A big focus this Christmas is also going to be on stocking up the Food Share scheme and the Hamper Scamper with tinned and packaged food.


Dear All at Highbury Church

CCP would like to thank you for your donations to the CCP FoodShare - the emergency food distribution service for Gloucestershire people and families in times of crisis, which relies on donations from members of the public, churches, schools and businesses, and distributes over 500 emergency food parcels every year.

More information at www.ccprojects.org.uk

November - The Langley House Trust

The Langley House Trust is a national Christian charity. At its centre are Christians who, recognising Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, desire to express the love of God to ex-offenders and those at risk of offending, with the aims of helping individuals lead crime free lives and protecting the public. It runs 40 sites throughout England providing support for around 300 people.

In Cheltenham the Trust runs The Knole, a registered care home which provides accommodation for sixteen men aged 30 years and over. Their aim is to enable and equip former offenders to address their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs within a caring Christian environment. Each person is assisted to progress towards more personal independence, learning life and social skills in order to live a fulfilling and crime – free life.

Staff provide cover twenty-four hours per day. They are committed to offering support for the full range of people’s needs within an atmosphere of support and security. Each resident is allocated a Key Worker and during the initial assessment period an Individual Personal Support Plan will be worked out. The Support Plan is reviewed so staff can work towards helping residents move on into independent or semi-supported accommodation. The Knole has its own property for this purpose.
Langley House Trust doesn’t work with a ‘popular’ client group. Many have never had a stable relationship in their lives, and have never known any other way of behaving or relating. Isn’t this the very group that Jesus wants us to love – the unloved and those who may never respond to our love?

October - Listening Post

Listening Post is a professional voluntary counselling service, Christian in foundation, founded nearly twenty years ago to meet the needs of adults in the local Gloucestershire community. Our mission is to relieve emotional distress in Christians and non-Christians alike and we do this primarily by means of offering professional counselling by qualified counsellors. We are unique in that we do not charge our clients any set fee, but rather ask them to make a donation to us based on what they feel they can afford. In this way we make counselling available to many who cannot be accommodated within the NHS and who cannot not begin to afford private counselling. Many of our clients have told us that without Listening Post they do not know where they would have turned.

We also provide trainings in listening skills, and offer a longer training which serves as a foundation course for people wishing to go on to train as professional counsellors. We also offer placements to counselling students to enable them to gain the practice hours necessary to qualification.

If you fall ill in modern Britain, you will, for the most part, receive medical care. If you are bereaved, for the most part, your family and community will respectfully support you. If you lose employment or you go bankrupt, distressing though this is, there are social support systems in place to give you food and shelter. But who addresses the vast isolation felt by so many as their lives privately crumble in the wake of broken relationships, either from the present or the past? In a culture that so often offers nothing but consumerism as a sop to grief or loneliness, what can be done to hold ordinary human beings in the midst of heartbreak?

Under these circumstances, the hour of compassionate and attentive listening provided by a counsellor can be life-transformative and is very often life saving. A single donation of £15 will cover the cost of one session, but any contributions are most gratefully received – particularly in this year where we anticipate facing a deficit that threatens the survival of the charity.”

Contact:
01242 2413

lpostcounselling@tesco.net

www.listeningpost.org.uk

September - Send a Cow

‘Send a Cow’ works hand in hand with poor families teaching them the skills they need to build new lives free from poverty and hunger. By providing training, livestock, seeds and support, we restore hope and create stronger communities for the future. In turn, these families then pass on young livestock, seeds or training to others. And so on. And so on.

This ‘Pass it On’ principle not only builds stronger communities, it allows us to help even more people to develop skills, confidence and self respect.
People are happier and healthier, children are educated, wealth is created and communities are more harmonious.

‘Send a Cow’ doesn’t offer a quick fix solution to poverty and rural development. In for the long haul, we typically work with groups of farmers for five years to effect substantial and sustainable change.
We also acknowledge from the outset that issues such as gender equality, health and family harmony are just as vital to the success of development programmes in Africa as simple livestock provision.

So in addition to ongoing training in animal wellbeing, sustainable organic farming practices and natural resource management, our work also provides courses in subjects such as gender equality, conflict resolution, health and hygiene and HIV/Aids awareness. This balance of practical farming skills with social life skills is a potent mix and produces remarkable results.

Providing practical assistance that will last for generations to come, we support families through every step of their journey out of poverty.

‘Pass it on’ ceremonies bring whole communities together to see first-born calves, sheep, donkeys, seedlings, or even training, passed on in these emotional events.
It’s a truly inspiring event, when very poor beneficiaries become donors.
Our work gets astonishing results because we don’t just provide isolated pockets of help; our experts give advice across the board, from agricultural training to environmental sustainability, from livestock care to social development.
Working carefully with each farmer, we identify a package of support that meets their needs perfectly and which can be adapted to meet the needs of different people, whether that’s young orphans heading up the home, disabled people or elderly widows.

Importantly, we support and share a family’s journey out of poverty for as long as it takes – typically three to five years. By that time, knowledge, skills, materials, hope and dignity have been passed on and on between even more families so that whole communities are transformed.

This year we will help almost 16,000 families along on their journey out of poverty. Each of those will go on to lend a hand to an average of ten further families, restoring real hope to communities in rural Africa.

Our Vision: A world without poverty and malnutrition.

Our Mission: To enable poor rural families in Africa to attain food and livelihood security, by developing strong community groups and sustainable agricultural systems which integrate crops and livestock.

“Now my family eats three times a day, and we are able to save in case of any future shocks. I am planning to support my kids until they complete school and also to train more farmers.”

Alemu Buka Birra, Ethiopia

This article has been taken from
the ‘Send A Cow’ website:
www.sendacow.org.uk
Mary Michael