Charities

Our parish supports a number of charities - CAFOD, Missio, Kasanka, Les Amis - Burkina Faso, Porridge Club Zambia, and many more. Please scroll down further down to find out more about them and how you can get involved.

Cafod

CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

CAFOD reaches out to people living in poverty, whatever their religion or culture, offering practical help and campaigning for global justice, so that every woman, man and child can live a full and dignified life. Through their global church network, which is one of the largest in the world, CAFOD has the potential to reach everyone.

At St Edmund's we are active in our support for CAFOD throughout the year. During Lent we organise CAFOD Stations of the Cross and support the Lent Family Fast Day; in October we support the Harvest Fast Day Appeal and hold an annual Quiz Night in aid of CAFOD. We fundraise for CAFOD campaigns such as the Walk for Water Appeal and highlight human rights campaigns in our parish newsletter; and in 2021 we met with SW Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt to discuss climate change.

If you are interested in finding out more about CAFOD please visit the website cafod.org.uk/ or contact Jo Lewry: jolewry@aol.com.

Missio

Missio is the Pope’s charity for world mission

Missio ignites God’s love by helping local missionaries to work alongside global communities that are poor or in need, regardless of their background or belief.

Sometimes this need might be very specific: a motorbike for a Priest to celebrate Mass in remote villages; a simple community hall so people can gather together; vaccinations to protect vulnerable children.

Or it can involve helping local communities in poor and remote areas to develop infrastructure by building churches, convents, schools, children’s homes, clinics and dispensaries.

Missio also help support the training of Priests, Sisters and Catechists who will lead, teach and serve the people of young and developing Churches.

Whatever the missionaries need to help them share the joy of the Gospel, Missio strives to provide it.

If you would like to support Missio with a Red Box please contact Nick de Caestecker on 07985 096233; and for more information visit Missio’s website: missio.org.uk

Kasanka

Kasanka is a small village in Zambia where the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (who have their mother house in the parish) have a mission and school. Over the last 20 years the parish has supported their work. Most recently we raised funds to upgrade the water supply and plumbing at the community school.

Sr Lucy writes, "Having another water tank in the school, especially at the new classroom block, and having running water closer to the classroom has increased the quality of sanitation in our community school. Before now we have always had to fetch water from two taps for the whole school. This meant when all the classes needed water, they had to queue in order to fetch water for drinking, washing hands, or even for watering our school garden.

"But with your help, we now have the solar water pump and have a 5000 litre tank which when filled daily we are sure of running water for the school use, and this has definitely increased the quality of sanitation in our school and improved the cleanliness of our pupils. You may not be aware that 98% of these learners come from homes which have very little source of water and with no running water at all.

"We as St. Francis community school are indeed grateful and may God bless you abundantly."

Les Amis - Burkina Faso

Les Amis – Burkina Faso has its roots firmly in our Godalming parish. Founded by Gillie Nicholls in 2007 it responds to the critical needs of girls, women and the handicapped in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

Children born handicapped are often, along with their mothers, rejected by the whole family. Elderly women with nobody to provide for them are left to lives of poverty. Girls and young women can be forced into early marriages and into lives of servitude and suffering. Families know the value of education, yet cannot afford to send their children to school.

These are the main targets for the financial support the charity gives and the projects which it runs. Les Amis is committed to ensuring that 100% of donations go directly to those in need.

For more information or to contribute, please visit the Les Amis website: www.les-amis-bf.org.uk

Porridge Club Zambia

For several years, our parish has supported the work of the Salesians in Zambia and a local woman, Mrs. Mweete, who runs a porridge club at the charity school of the Assumption Parish in Mazabuka in Southern Zambia. The school receives children from the ‘show grounds’, effectively a shanty town with the highest levels of deprivation. Many children eat once daily and, for many, they receive very little food other than the porridge we help to provide together.

The Club offers a simple model: a donation of £10 will pay for porridge for a child for a year. They sell £10 fridge magnets each year as part of their fundraising, usually after Mass in Advent, or they can also be ordered directly from the Salesian College here.

For more information please contact Richard Maher at the Salesian College, Farnborough.

Other Charities

Members of the parish support a range of other charities as volunteers and we are pleased to include them here.

Christian International Peace Service - Julie Finn