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We support a variety of other
organisations through our annual Christmas Collections
The 2011 collection
was donated to The Barnabas Fund.
"The mission of the Barnabas Fund
is to support Christians where they are in a minority and suffer
discrimination, oppression and persecution as a consequence of their
faith. Our goal is to strengthen Christian individuals, churches
and their communities by providing material and spiritual support in
response to needs identified by local Christian leaders."
The 2010 collection was donated to Haylands Farm in Ryde - 2010 was their 30th
anniversary year.
Haylands Farm project is run for
people with learning difficulties by the Isle Of Wight branch
of Mencap. Haylands Farm is a working environment that provides work and
training services to adults with a learning disability. Their aim is to
provide and maintain an environment which is supportive to the training
needs of the students who attend Haylands Farm.
www.haylandsfarm.demon.co.uk/homepage.htm
The 2009 collection was
donated to the Cystic Fibrosis
Trust in memory of James Sparks (pictured right), a young man who
worshipped at our church but sadly passed away in June 2009 at just 17 years
of age.
Cystic
Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common, life-threatening, inherited
diseases.
The CF Trust has a unique way of
remembering those with Cystic Fibrosis who have died.
Families who have lost
a loved one can choose a special day and they will be
allocated a star. On that special day, their star will
twinkle on a special page of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust
website. James' special day is the 19th
October - his birthday.
Each person has a
unique star and by clicking their star, you can see a
photograph and read a memory for each person. James is
remembered in the constellation of Cassiopeia and his
star is in grid D5.
http://www.cfstarsinthesky.org.uk/cassiopeia/cassiopeia.htm
You can see a selection of photos from
James' life at his father's
Flickr page
The 2008 collection was donated to the
Earl Mountbatten Hospice in
Newport on the Isle of Wight in memory of Ray Smith, one our
members who passed away during 2008.
Ray contributed so much to the life of
our church as a whole, but he was heavily involved in the property side. One of the
lasting legacies he has left us is the fantastic book trolley that he made, which
can be found at the back of church. |