“Charity brings to life again those who are spiritually dead.” -Thomas Aquinas

The importance of charity strikes more in demand than ever, a cause for human welfare and equity is sparse and in desperate need of awareness and action. The youth of MGOCSM Bristol have worked hard over the years to service the community in any way we can, source those who are struggling and promote awareness for societal dilemmas through our social media.

In today’s current climate regarding Covid-19, it became difficult to source money whilst maintaining the measures set in place for lockdown. We had started to raise money within the parish in February during the Lenten period. With some willpower, we had raised £149.35 in the short span of 3 weeks. However we had to change our method of collection when lockdown began and churches were shut down. We restarted our mission with a bigger scope as the issues we were facing became more pressing. We switched the physical charity box which was at our church to a Crowd funder platform which was strictly transfer based and online, making it easily accessible not only for church members, but also anyone who wanted to be involved.

Following this, we confirmed 3 charities as the causes we wished to aid; Crisis, Refuge and Gloria Bhavan in Kerala. We chose Crisis as it supported people out of homelessness for good, enabling them training, employment and support with housing. With Covid-19 restricting everyone to their homes, those who were homeless were left out in the streets fighting for themselves and Crisis were working to ensure each person was safe. Refuge is a charity that aid to protect women from domestic violence. Since worry rose for them during the period of isolation, where everyone was confined to their homes, it was particularly difficult to recognise who was struggling. And Mar Osthathios Gloria Bhavan, an elderly home for the old people based in Mavelikara who had reached out for financial help.

Finally, on the 12th of July 2020, after numerous promotion videos and posts on our social media, the 35 days of the page, raised £1670 + £107.50 (gift aid). We are super thankful to every single person that contributed towards this cause and making it super successful.

We as a Youth group look forward to contributing more and reaching out to as many as possible in the future by the grace of God.