Service - Showing God's Love
The Church exists to be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice - Methodist Our Calling Priority
Part of New Song Network's mission is to stand alongside people and help them when everyday life is a problem. Below are three particular ways we are doing this as a group but we also believe that as individuals we need to be the person who makes a difference in somone else's life.
"We cared for you because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well." 1 Thessalonians 2:8
Food Packing
At the June New Song Café, Fran introduced our next big event that we are fundraising towards. Working with Feed the Hungry, we are hoping to pack meals to be sent to people across the world who don’t have enough.
Food packing is very simple; teams of volunteers work together on a food production line to bag, weigh, seal and box packets of dried food. Feed The Hungry will be bringing all of the equipment, food that we need to do this on the day. But there is a cost to running a food packing event; the rice, soya, lentils and micronutrients all have a cost to them, as well as the bags, boxes, labels and transport. This is calculated at 19.5p per meal packed, which is significantly lower than the industry standard of 30p to 35p per meal. For our session, each person packing will cost £25 and we are hoping that we can raise enough money that we can have many, many people packing. As a rough guideline…..
-
A team of 20-30 volunteers can pack 5000 meals in a couple of hours
-
A team of 40-50 volunteers can pack 10,000 meals in a couple of hours
-
A team of 70-80 volunteers can pack 20,000 meals in a couple of hours
On a great night at New Song Café or our recent Fashion Show event, we had enough people to pack over 20,000 meals! Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could do that!
The date we have set for New Song Food Packing is 27th October. In the run up to that, we need to raise money so that we can pay for the 20,000+ meals for each person to pack. How about doing a cake sale to raise money? Or a sponsored walk? A 24 hour sponsored fast (perhaps even on a NS Café day where the temptation to have some of Jayne’s Cherry Cake, Alice’s cake assortment or freshly made scones is almost too much to bear?) For more information, look at www.fth.org.uk/handtohand; look out on our Facebook page, or speak to Fran at a NS event.
The first fundraising event for our NS Food Pack was Orla and Piper’s coffee afternoon with drinks and cakes. (Shout out to Mille Feuilles – mmmmm!) They raised £215! This means that just over 8 people could pack food on the day! Orla and Piper – who else wants to help!?
KIVA
KIVA is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.
At a New Song Breakfast in 2012 money was raised to make loans through Kiva. The original loans have been repaid and new loans have been made - 9 new loans. It's a brilliant idea: the money keeps being recycled! and many more lives are transformed. To make a donation please contact John our treasurer or Fran our Kiva link by emailing us at New Song. Thank you
Hot Drinks Ministry
New Song Network provides free refreshments at Warrington Crematorium and Fox Covert Cemetery on Mothering Sunday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. See FAQ about this ministry.
It is an amazing and humbling experience to be there not just providing the drinks but listening to people's stories. NSN has also provided the refreshments at the annual Warrington Crematorium Memorial service and the latest start-up is on the 2nd Sunday morning each month outside Bold Street church when the market is on in Queen's Gardens next door.
Where else can we provide free drinks? Please get in touch and see if we can help - email us at New Song.
Toilet Twinning
Toilet Twinning enables people living in poor communities to have clean water, a decent toilet, and to learn about hygiene – a vital combination that prevents the spread of disease, reduces the number of deaths among children, and brings hope for the future.
Our first twinned toilet is in Ethiopia at Hurssa Simbo, Shashemene which is in the central part of the country about 150 miles from the capital Addis Ababa. The population in 2007 was just over 100,000. Map
We now have a further 6 twinned toilets.
Room at the Inn/Y Project
New Song supports those working with the homeless. One way is to collect items that they require.
At the moment here's what's needed:
Flasks
Blankets
Tea and coffee
Cup-a-Soup
Or you can give a donation for the purchase of perishables like milk and bread.
The Food Bank
Donations are received at all NS events although most supermarkets now have collecting boxes to make it easy to buy items when you are shopping and donate them straight away.
The local Food Bank provides a regular list of what foods/toiletries/cleaning products are required - along with carrier bags!
As above you can give a donation for the purchase of perishables .