The Bishop of Lichfield has launched his 2009 Lent Appeal with an acknowledgement that it comes at a time when most people have to tighten their belts. The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill is asking churchgoers in the diocese to fund an entire new floor for the Shanthi Mandiram care home, run by the Mar Thoma Church, in India - the first time the Lent Appeal has been used to fund a project in its entirety.
The home provides accommodation for up to 33 impoverished Dalits who would otherwise receive no care at all. Classed as ‘untouchable’ by the Indian caste system, the centre’s residents include the old, and those who suffer from physical disabilities or poor mental health. It provides care, love and fellowship to people who have always served others, but now have no-one of their own. Through the appeal the bishop also wants to support projects in Swaziland, Namibia and Bangladesh helping grandparents who are bringing up children orphaned as a result of Hiv/Aids.
Projects in the midlands will also receive funds; and, in another ‘first’ for the Lent Appeal, the Bishop has asked churches to nominate local groups who would benefit from receiving aid from the appeal. Groups such as the Cheadle and District Home Link Scheme, which provides care and support for the elderly and housebound to help them remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Working with local doctors and other health professionals, social workers and clergy, the scheme supports those who are lonely or isolated and people who rarely see anyone outside their family circle.
The co-ordinator meets the users and either matches them up on a one to one basis with a volunteer, or arranges attendance at a range of resources offered by the scheme, which includes a day centre, a luncheon club, a befriending service and phone link, voluntary transport with adapted mini bus, a drop in centre and even small social groups which meet in isolated rural moorland areas.
More than £750,000 has been raised for good causes in the Midlands and overseas since the Bishop of Lichfield’s Lent Appeal, and its sister-fund, the Bishop of Lichfield Emergency Appeal, were launched in 1990.
Each year the Lent Appeal funds projects ‘at home and away’; and local recipients have included groups working with a diverse group of people, including families, blind people, the homeless, children at risk and prisoners nearing release. The away element has included street children in Brazil, a milk-producing project in Kenya, Burmese refugees in Thailand and Aids programmes in South Africa.
Two emergency appeals have been launched during this time, including support for local farmers during the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001, which raised almost £90,000; and to support the Anglican Church of Myanmar’s response to the Burmese Cyclone in 2008, which raised £35,000.
Launching the appeal, Bishop Jonathan said: “This year my annual Lent Appeal falls at time when most of us have to tighten our belts. Many will face real hardship; some will lose their jobs and livelihoods. So I ask for your support this year knowing I am asking a lot. But the financial crisis is also world wide, affecting millions of the world’s very poorest. That’s why I ask you to dig deep and offer your continued support so that we can make a real difference in a practical demonstration of God’s love to a hurting world.”
NOTE: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (25th February 2009) and runs to Holy Saturday (11th April 2009).