Lesley Newton of St Laurence's Church, Scalby (Scarborough), writes:
We’ve been very enthusiastic supporters of Christian Aid Week for many years thanks to church member Norman Bogie and his successor, Chris Wright, who is also our organist and choirmaster.
Chris and his team thought hard this year about how to raise funds needed more than ever whilst we were in lockdown, and came up with some imaginative ideas.
The Little Breakfast
Sue and Ian Brown, who usually host the annual Big Breakfast in their house and garden, invited us to have our own, alternative, little breakfasts in our homes, share photos of them and donate what we usually do to Christian Aid.
This was a great success and a lot of fun, helped us to feel connected as a church family, and raised hundreds of pounds. Some of us sent the idea to our friends and family around the country, who also joined in.
Breakfasts ranged from a modest bowl of cereal or croissant to the full English!
Water Walk
Tracy, our Children and Families’ Worker, devised a walk of two miles or four miles, starting from the church. This year’s focus for Christian Aid was on bringing water to the poorest and most drought-stricken countries in the world where adults and children have to walk 4-8 miles to collect water so Tracy invited us to walk just half that distance to give thanks for our blessing of clean water, explore our beautiful surroundings and donate to Christian Aid. She spent a lot of time and effort in creating ‘goody bags’ which contained a map, guide and random items to help children complete a few challenges along the way. The route started at the churchyard tap, continued via the Victorian water fountain, duck pond, Sea Cut and Beck with water-themed activities along the way.
The ‘goody bags’ were tied to railings at the Church Rooms and social distancing was maintained by all who met each other.
The photos show Sam and Abbie taking part in the walk and the goody bags awaiting collection.
Face Masks
Helen Arnold, one of the members of our church family who had been making scrubs for use at Scarborough Hospital, decided to make face masks for her family and friends and asked for a £5 donation to Christian Aid. She ended up making 40 masks, raising £200 plus Gift Aid: a magnificent effort!
By the end of May £1,400 had been given via the Just Giving account which together with the £800 sent to Chris and unknown donations sent direct to Christian Aid meant the church had raised a magnificent £2,200 plus during lockdown.