May 7, 2020
Thousands of people across the UK have been taking part in fun and imaginative ‘2.6 challenges’ to raise vital funds for charities doing invaluable work while the country has been in lockdown.
CAFOD’s incredible community of supporters across England and Wales are making our global response to coronavirus possible.
Continue reading “Home heroes provide vital funds for CAFOD’s Coronavirus Appeal”November 12, 2019
With just over a month until Christmas, Sally Kitchener in our Communications team answers some of your questions about World Gifts – CAFOD’s virtual charity gifts.
November 6, 2019
Roisin Beirne, CAFOD’s Candlelight Funds Officer, shares a little about two special women who have been honoured by a donation to CAFOD in their memory.
July 16, 2019
CAFOD’s Film & Photography Officer, Thom Flint, reflects on his trip to Marsabit County in Kenya. There he met some of the most isolated communities, but saw the potential that our global Church network has to reach out.
Continue reading “Visiting out of reach communities in Kenya”February 27, 2019
Joe, a volunteer from the CAFOD Birmingham team shares some inspiration from the St Osburg’s parish in Coventry on running a soup-erb lunch for Family Fast Day.
With Lent rapidly approaching, our thoughts will be turning to what we might give up, but, even more importantly, how we and our communities might give. Well, if we’re looking for inspiration, the people of St Osburg’s parish in Coventry provide a wonderful example.
Continue reading “Soup-er lunches for Lent”December 12, 2018
Rachel works for CAFOD. Here she reflects on how meeting Katy, a CAFOD Gapper, helped her to discover the power of a simple birth certificate, and inspired her to create a new, very special virtual gift for CAFOD’s World Gifts collection that will help babies and children around the world.
A birth certificate. Every person needs one, it shows our citizenship, lets us get a passport – it tells the world who we are. And I think that here in the UK, we take this simple legal document for granted.
But for people living in poverty, perhaps in rural areas, where babies are born at home, it is often forgotten. And a child without a birth certificate faces problems.
In Zimbabwe, children without a birth certificate cannot go to school, take exams, apply for an ID card, vote, travel, nor access many other basic essential services.
You can buy a Birth certificate World Gift so that a child can go to school
I’ve worked in fundraising for years and am always eager to hear about how donations help. Katy, who recently travelled to Zimbabwe on a gap year trip with CAFOD, told me about the terrible and long-lasting impact of growing up without a birth certificate.
Katy said, “Children around the world continue to grow up without the basic human right of an identity.”
This startling comment gripped me.
Continue reading “The power of a Birth certificate – a World Gifts update”
November 13, 2018
When were you last kind to someone? Did you make a loved one breakfast this morning or give your colleague a cheery greeting when you arrived at work?
Therese, who works in our fundraising team at CAFOD has been reflecting on kindness and how to spread more of it through out the world.
On the international day of kindness, here are 10 simple ideas for you to carry out, to put some more kindness back into the world:
CAFOD World Gifts are kindness in action
October 31, 2018
Roisin Beirne, CAFOD’s Candlelight Fund Officer, shares a little about two special women who have been honoured by a donation to CAFOD in their memory.
During November, the month of Remembrance, the Church encourages us to come together and reflect on all those who have died yet continue to touch our lives.
As the Candlelight Funds Officer here at CAFOD, I offer support to those who have lost a loved one and are looking for a way to honour them through CAFOD’s work. Some families set up a Candlelight Fund. This is a special fund in memory of a loved one who has died, where all donations in their name are combined to make a life-changing difference to the world’s poorest communities. It truly does celebrate a life while touching the lives of thousands more.
Donate in memory of a loved one
Many have told me how much comfort they gain from knowing that good is being done in their loved one’s name. As a way of saying thank you for the incredible strength and kindness these families show, I’d like to share a little about two women who have been remembered in this way.
Continue reading “Honour a loved one by donating in their memory”
October 2, 2018
Caroline Collins is a Step into the Gap volunteer at Newman University in Birmingham. This week she is getting ready for Family Fast Day.
At Newman University we have been preparing to swap our usual Friday lunch boxes for a simple soup lunch.
For so many of our brothers and sisters around the world, the harvest determines whether their families will go to bed hungry tonight.
For Lilian in Zambia, a good harvest is so important. It means she can feed herself and her family in the coming months, and sell any extra food to buy school clothes, books and materials to build a home.
Donate to CAFOD’s Fast Day appeal
Continue reading “Step into the Gap: Tackling hunger one bowl at a time”
September 25, 2018
CAFOD’s World News Manager, Nana Anto-Awuakye explains how your donations for Family Fast Day will instill hope into those that see eating as a luxury.
On Sunday 23 September, pottering about in the kitchen, my constant companion – the radio – informs me that this very day is the autumn equinox, when day and night meet as equals, the official start of autumn.
I glance out through the kitchen window onto my garden, and see that the leaves are already falling, and turning their magnificent autumn yellows, browns and berry colours.
Host a Family Fast Day simple meal
