Operation Christmas Child – Shoeboxes

Radford Road Church supports the work of Operation Christmas Child. This is the largest Christmas shoebox appeal in the UK, demonstrating God’s love in a tangible way to millions of children around the world.

Each year the congregation is shown an Operation Christmas Child video and asked to take the shoe boxes and fill them with gifts for children who, otherwise, would have no present at Christmas. The filled boxes are then dedicated at a Sunday morning service and then sent to needy children throughout the world via the charity Samaritan’s Purse.

Our picture shows Ann Blower, Veronica Brown and the Revd. Iain Rennie receiving the boxes in 2010.

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Mission Projects

Each year the church undertakes a new Mission project and aims to raise £1000 to give help to others in the developing world.

In recent years we have:

• supported the building of a school in Bethlehem;
• made it possible, through Uttar Pradesh Gramin Shramik Shiksa Sansthan (UPGSSS),  for some children in India to be educated instead of being condemned to a life of manual labour from a very young age;
• enabled a heart monitor to be purchased for a hospital in North India;
• provided shoes for children in the slums of Kibera.
• provided 10 solar-powered Proclaimers to enable people in Tanzania to hear the Bible in their own language

In 2010-11, Radford Road Church supported the work of CORD, a local organisation which strives to build lasting peace in partnership with people living and working in conflict, or post-conflict situations.  The Church raised £1,000 to support this work.

CORD’s aim is to contribute to sustainable peace in Africa and Asia through the capacity development of individuals, civil society and governments. It will therefore also invest in developing its staff, promoting innovative practice and learning; and realising its agenda for vibrant devolved regional structures.

Violent conflict is a reality affecting millions of people across the globe.  Conflict forces people to flee their homes and to seek refuge. It breaks up families and communities, disrupts and destroys lives, livelihoods, societies and economies.  Cord works alongside people affected by conflict to make lasting peace a reality.

Congratulations to Cord, the Leamington-based charity we are supporting with our Mission Project this year. The Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation will be awarded to Cord at a service in Coventry Cathedral on November 14^th. Cord helps millions of people in some of the world’s most war-torn countries to re-build their lives and communities and focuses on peace building.

Please consider how YOU can help us to achieve our target of £1000 for this charity.

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In 2010 we supported the work of the Bible Society and bought 10 Proclaimers.

This project was chosen to celebrate the bi-centenary of the birth of Louis Braille. The Bible Society  are sending audio-visual Bible material to countries where  books are not available and/or where many of the population are illiterate. The Proclaimer is a rechargeable, solar-powered machine with the New Testament in a local language on digital chip. Up to 300 people at a time can listen to the Bible read aloud in their own language. This year we hope to raise sufficient money to provide 10 of these machines.

Members had home collecting boxes in which to save their loose change

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In 2009 our Mission Project was to raise money for Kibera in Need

Kibera In Need provides a school

to educate some of the children from the slums.

The Kibera is a slum area of 2.5 sq. Km in Nairobi, Kenya which is home to 800,000+ people.

Houses are sheds with corrugated iron roofs, roads are tracks strewn with litter, sanitation is non existent and raw sewage spills over the pathways. The stench is overpowering and disease is rife. Some 20% of children die before their fifth birthday and close to 60% of people living in the Kibera have HIV/AIDS. Few have jobs. Lives are short and high in misery, yet many people retain a sense of dignity and a desire to make something of their lives.

The Kibera is a slum area of 2.5 sq. Km in Nairobi, Kenya which is home to 800,000+ people.

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Christian Aid

The Church raises money throughout each year for Christian Aid

As part of the Church’s work for Christian Aid we take part in the annual Christian Aid collection in the Royal Priors in Royal Leamington Spa.  Volunteers are asked to work in groups of four and each group collects for one hour during the day.  Red CA Balloons are given to the children, Fairtrade chocolates are given to those who donate and passers by are invited to take a Christian Aid Present Aid catalogue home with them.

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We actively support the work of Christian Aid by an annual House to House collection during Christian Aid Week, taking part in the Mayor’s Charity Walk to raise money through sponsorship, taking part in collections in the Royal Priors and making other donations to this worthwhile cause.

In addition money from our Harvest service goes to Christian Aid.  We also have special collections to help people in places which have been devastated by major disasters.

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Leamington Christian Mission

We  support the work of the Leamington Christian Mission and the Poverty and Homelessness Project in attempting to meet the needs of those in the immediate area of Leamington Spa.  Our harvest gifts of tinned foods are donated to this work and the LCM uses Radford Road Church premises for a Christmas party for all those in need.

The Leamington Christian Mission works with the local poor and homeless and offers free evening meals: soup, sandwiches, pasta, pizza; cakes; crumbles and a hot drink. They work from their buses which are located in the coach bay on the corner of Newbold Terrace, Leamington Spa from 6.20-7.30pm on Monday to Friday.

Day trips are also organised in the summer months, and Christmas presents and hampers are given to poorer families in the localiy.

Our Hall is used to give Night Shelter to Vulnerable and Homeless People

A fire caused severe damage to Bath Place Community Centre. The building cannot be used and all the community activities are being accommodated elsewhere.  Radford Road Church offered the use of the Church Centre to house the Night Light project each Sunday night.  This offer has now been extended to Sunday and Wednesday nights. Food and shelter are offered to the most vulnerable and homeless people in the area by a team of volunteers from the community.

Ladies in the church have knitted gloves, hats and scarves and these will be dedicated at a special service on November 6th.  The knitted garments will then be gift wrapped and given to those who use the Night Shelter at Christmas.